Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Given that the majority of attractions in Disneyland are based on movies it surprised everyone when the House of the Mouse announced some years ago that they were to develop movies based on The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, both of which were considered 'original' attractions. The Eddie Murphy led Haunted Mansion was not well received critically and while the general public still enjoyed the movie it didn't exactly break box office records. Pirates of the Caribbean was both a critical and financial hit causing Disney to green light two sequels immediately and three years later here's the first. Games were a different story though so while developers and publishers alike embraced Haunted Mansion, clearly nobody thought a Pirate game would exactly excite the gaming community. It's different this time around of course, with a version of Dead Man's Chest gracing all 3 handheld formats (PSP, DS and GBA) but are they worth crossing your local game manager's hand with silver?

Gameplay

Dead Mans Chest is essentially a brawler (think Double Dragon, Final Fight, etc) with the aim being to simply get to the exit, or checkpoint on some of the larger levels, with as much health intact as possible. This pretty much takes you through the plot of the movie so you get to play the three main characters: Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. In addition to your sword you can also pick up all manner of objects in order to inflict damage on the never-ending procession of foes. These include things like better swords, bottles, guns, knives and even barrels of gunpowder. They only last a few seconds though and some, such as the bottle or gunpowder, you can only use once. While some areas don't require you to kill everyone it's always wise to do so as almost every foe will leave behind a reward of some description. It may be gold to purchase unlockables or a useful weapon of some description. It could even be one of the mysterious red gems which are always worth seeking out even if you have to explore every corner of your current location. It's not all about simply fighting your way through to the end though as some areas contain puzzles, which you must solve before continuing with your quest. Unfortunately these are few and far between and never challenging enough that you have to stop the game and work through the problem.

There are a handful of mini-games that can be played both from the main menu and as part of the game in order to earn extra loot for those unlockables. The first problem with these is that they don't really reflect the pirate theme other than in the first where you have to shoot the rather troublesome ship's monkey whilst avoiding the crew. The next is Walk the Plank and while this sounds like it should be fun it's simply based on the 'Simon' theme where you must input a series of colors in order to battle with the enemy. Finally there's Boom Barge, which challenges you to fire at floating boxes of explosives so they avoid your ship and damage your opponent's.

Controls

The control system is really at the heart of the gameplay although the number of moves at your disposal is a little ambitious given the enemy AI. In addition you'll be rewarded with a new attack every time you collect four red gems in any one area. It doesn't matter though as the majority of foes can be defeated with really basic moves and it was only the odd end-of level boss who required anything more. On the plus side, the collision detection is very good which is important given some of the environments you are fighting. It's just a shame there isn't anything more challenging to fight as the whole thing simply descends into a mindless button bashing exercise.

Graphics

The well-designed 3D engine allows for some impressive detail and the various environments you travel through are really quite pleasing. The characters are also believable and generally look like their on-screen counterparts. It's just a shame their animation tends to come off a little wooden at times. The best visuals are saved for the 'unlockables' department Here you can sample a fine collection of the pre-production sketches and paintings, illustrating just how much time, effort and skill go into a production like this.

Sound

While the music isn't too bad it does tend to be a little repetitive especially when you consider how long this game is. The sound effects are a little strange really and while the bottles smashing and swords clashing are fairly generic, the voice samples are really surprising. This is by no means because the voice acting is particularly bad, or even that they say odd things, no, the strange thing is that for the first hour or so, no one even mumbles so when the characters do speak it all seems very random and, occasionally, has no bearing on what's actually happening in the game.

Dual screen

This is just for the mini-games, which while enjoyable are hardly going to win any innovation awards.

Final comments

In theory Dead Man's Chest should have been a killer game with the developers managing to fulfill many of the aspects required for a high scoring game. There's strong source material, engaging gameplay and great visuals. The problem is it's all just too similar and every single location has the same objectives: defeat the enemies, collect the booty and find the exit. In addition it is an incredibly linear affair with paths only ever slightly deviating from the main route. Even so it's still one of the better movie tie-ins available, just don't expect to be still playing it by the end of the summer.

Pro: Nice Visuals, Entertaining Touch-Screen Mini-Games.
Con: Repetitive, Multiplayer Requires Two Copies of the Game.
Final score: 6.5

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