LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

Should it be swallowed by the Kraken?

by: Allegionary

©2011 Alex Hilton

From swinging on vines to duelling the Kraken, all the adventure of the Pirates of the Caribbean series is in this game. Disney’s Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is a great new game that lets you relive the excitement of the series with your favourite juvenile pastime, Lego.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by Disney. It is an action oriented co-op game like all the other ones in the Lego series. In this one you collect studs in all four movies (Four, you say? There is only three! However this game includes the new movie, On Stranger Tides).

You work your way through the story of each of the movies but there is a twist in this game. Some of the scenes have been changed to suit the Lego environment where nobody speaks.

Mum’s tharr word …

For example after Will returns from supposedly getting blown up in the first movie, the different scene in the game depicts the whole ship including the evil pirates cheering, which is very different in the original movie where only Elizabeth cheered. These new scenes add humour to the game, which is what makes the Lego franchise so enjoyable.

While playing through the game there are many features to take notice of. For example each character has a special move that they can perform. Captain Jack Sparrow has a compass that he can use to find different items, Will Turner can toss axes and anybody with a hammer can fix broken machinery.

Another good feature is that when you are using a person with a gun you can hold the B button and a crosshair comes up. You can move the crosshair across the screen to find the exact thing you want to shoot and not have to face towards it and hope that the character shoots it like some of the other Lego games.

• Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean screenshot slideshow

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Walk thaa plank yahh skirby scum….

One downside to the game is the swimming and diving. While swimming you sometimes jump in odd places, and many times the AI has been caught jumping over and over again in water.

One big frustration is the diving. You get nowhere near enough time underwater and many times I have missed out on getting True Pirate (a reward for earning a lot of money in the level) because I kept losing thousands of studs to diving deaths. I have played the 3DS version and it gives you way more time underwater using the better clam’s air bubble refills.

The environment looks very good now as the old way of having an environment that is made out of Lego pieces is gone and the new way of having a real looking environment is in.

This works exceptionally well as they have made the objects made out of Lego blend into the real textured background. This means that it is easy to tell which part of the environment is destructible and which part will not break to give you studs. This saves much time when you want to get lots of studs but finish the level quickly.

Shiver-me-timbers lads . . controls easy-as ….

The controls are very simple and easy to use which is good for a game like this. There is one button for jumping, attacking, using the special move and changing character. This means that there is no real complicated moves to pull off to beat an opponent (the most complicated is the jump – attack combo).

The camera works really well as it follows you in a good spot most of the time. In multiplayer the camera splits when one player goes off screen so there is no fighting about which side the camera goes to. However this split means that you get a smaller screen to look at your character and the when your character moves to the edge some problems occur.

The music of Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is from the movies and this works really well in the game as the film soundtrack was well composed. From the iconic music from the series to the background music that sets the tone, the music is very well done.

Another problem with the game, however, is the saving. The missions are long so you have to go through fifteen minutes just to be able to turn the Xbox off after a game save, which meant that there was no way of just playing for a couple of minutes in some spare time.  These days with people’s hectic lives, it is a must to be able to save after checkpoints, not just levels.

Another problem with this is that if your Xbox freezes while playing through a mission (as mine did a couple times with the review copy right toward the end of a level) you lose the hard earned studs that you have collected and lose your progress in the mission.

Pirates fun ’till the end…

However Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is an extremely fun game as the Lego spin on Pirates of the Caribbean is humorous and works really well.

The ships look like they were made out of real Lego pieces yet look like the ships in the movies which adds to the pseudo-realism.

Overall the issues such as the saving and diving are heavily outweighed by the pros.  The fun factor and the overall feeling that you get while playing this game soon cheer you up even if you ever feel frustration.

If you are prepared to attempt a few missions twice and drown a few times then this game will make you feel like a true (Lego) pirate.

OXCGN Gold Award

“8.5/10

©2011 Alex Hilton

xxxxxx
• Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean screenshot gallery

Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Parental Gaming, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | "xbox 360 review", Caribbean, Jack Sparrow, Lego, lego Pirates, lego pirates of caribbean reviews, lego pirates of caribbean screenshots, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, lego pirates reviews, On Stranger Tides, pirates of caribbean reviews, Pirates of the Caribbean, Will Turner, Xbox, Xbox 360