Test carried out using the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions.
Now in the hands of the guys at Eurocom, on behalf of Disney Interactive Studios, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End wipes the slate clean with what had been done before. This explains the turnaround and the changes made in the gameplay. While its only predecessor on the home console told us a parallel story focusing on the character of Jack Sparrow, this 2007 vintage is inspired - it seems - by the greatest scenes punctuating the second and third parts of the trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean. Apparently, because for those who haven't had the opportunity to see the latest wanderings of our filibuster friends on the big screen, the script won't be any clearer. It's very simple, difficult to pitch the game as this title is disjointed. However, as the years go by, the link between cinema and video games is becoming clearer and we did not wait for the arrival of next gen consoles to delight in pearls of staging. Here, we will simply chain at a constant rate levels and enemies. According to the game description, we are dealing with an action/adventure game… Well, you can forget the adventure. Slice everything that moves, that's your watchword, no place is made for the narration so that the battles constitute 80% of the game time. The remaining 20% are shared between cutscene parodies and what the developers like to call them "Jackanisms", a sort of Quick Time Event. Agree, the directing effort is there, but this one seems very lame, especially after those seen in a certain God of War II. This laziness of the developers is even more unforgivable since they could rely on the narrative passages of the films.
Pirates of the Canaries
You will therefore have understood it, here we are only talking about charcuterie and butchery. At the same time, with a scenario modeled on that of the films, the adventure is necessarily linear. But that's not all, the levels are closed, affected by the famous syndrome of invisible walls, to offer only one and unique road to follow. What frustrate the poor candid who succumbed to what was originally a call to adventure. The meager pleasure that one could feel while browsing them fades very quickly. It's simple, four playable characters, unique gameplay. An Elisabeth Swann punching as hard as Captain Jack Sparrow? Barbossa as fast as Will Turner? Yes, the character changes imposed by this adventure bring nothing more to your way of playing, or rather bugging. There is no difference in the damage inflicted or in the sequences of hits. So very limited. So-called combos are unlockable, but believe me, they will not revolutionize the life of our pirates. Poker or dice games are also offered at certain specific locations, but they are optional and simply allow you to win a little money. And, it is certainly not the secondary game modes that will make you want to turn the console back on once the game is over. The Challenge mode allows you to review the levels with, as its name suggests, a challenge to succeed alone or in pairs: kill a certain number of enemies, succeed in such a combo or collect such treasure. Overall nothing interesting. Technically, if the models can hold up, the same cannot be said for the textures, which are insufficient even for the Wii version. For 20 euros more, we have access to another gameplay, revolutionary we are told. Small horizontal swipe for a horizontal sword swipe, the same bottom-up gesture also works, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End fails to make clever use of the Wii's features. Captain Jack Sparrow lacking finesse in his movements, the gameplay quickly becomes tiring. Pity.
