Story 4/10
The point is that it’s Pirates of the Caribbean... in LEGO.
There have been several instalments in the LEGO series, including Star Wars,
Batman, Indiana Jones and now we get to play as our favourite Pirates of the
Caribbean characters.
The premise is that it follows the story of the films but
does so in LEGO form which is great. However it differs from the story of the
actual movies as the LEGO, and probably the age certificate, mean that the
scenes can’t play out as they do in the movies. They are much less gruesome with
no LEGO blood, however there are several LEGO decapitations which is always
good for a laugh.
Plus the main problem with basing a game on a film is that
everyone already knows the outcome so ‘finding out what happens’ isn’t a reason
to get to the end.
Picture 7/10
It would be unfair to mark the game down for picture as the
whole thing is LEGO. There are areas that could be improved though. Sometime
the background and interactive objects get in each other’s way and sometimes
you can’t work out if you can go through a gap to the left or right of the
screen because you can’t see it.
Sound 8/10
For any movie based game (I now realise two out of three o
my reviews are movie based...) Having the original music is a big win for me.
So it gets a thumbs up. However, after a while it started to grate on me which,
if you are looking for a direct comparison, means that the Star Wars music is
far more epic that Pirates.
Gameplay 7/10
LEGO games, at the heart, are just simple fun for all the
family. I bought the game for three reasons:
1. It’s a game to play with the kids.
2. Easy Achievements.
3. I was a tad hungover and my friend ‘insisted’ we pay a
visit to Game.
The gameplay is relatively straightforward and is user friendly
for kids and adults alike. The kids can play through the main story easily
enough with minimal supervision and for the adults (bigger kids) there is the extra
challenge of reaching 100%, which requires some out of the box thinking.
However reaching 100% can be a massive frustration and not
because of difficulty. NPCs can go fuck themselves in this game, especially
when they are required to help you progress through the levels. There are
several instances where you need both characters, you and the NPC, to flip
double switches.
Certain characters have different skills which allow you to
progress. A good example is that Captain Jack
Sparrow can use rope to ascend to higher levels. In free play mode where you
can change to any character at a whim, so I can switch to Jack and use a rope
to ascend to a different level. However, the NPC will not do this and will wait at the
beginning of the section while you go on ahead, meaning that you then have to
switch to the NPC and navigate them through the level for a second time.
This is problematic enough but is made worse when you make
the switch back to the beginning, the fucktarded NPC you leave where you want
to get to will start backtracking to your current location. Which means that
level navigating is totally fucking stupid when trying to collect all minikits
and compass items.
I also experienced a few crashes and a lot of lag in the hub
once I had unlocked all the other characters but I think this could be a
problem with my disc more than the game itself.
Oh, and then there is the issue of Blackbeard. Blackbeard
appears in a set location in the hub for unlocking and he is required to get to
some of the optional areas. He doesn’t always appear there which means I had to
wait until the game decided to place him there before I could proceed with my minikit
collecting. On top of this, when he did appear, I didn’t have enough coins to
buy him so I had to do it again.
Achievements – 1,000
points - 40 Achievements
In terms of achievements the game ticks all the right boxes;
No online, no secrets and all can be obtained through player skill as opposed
to luck. Granted, they aren’t that tricky and because the in game extras don’t
disable achievements (in fact, there is even an achievement for having them all
active at the same time) the ones that would be normally very time consuming
(Get 88,888,888 coins) can be done
relatively quickly.
Downloadable Content
– Not Applicable
Summary
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is a great family game. It
probably isn’t challenging enough for serious gamers and can be repetitive for
those who want to think about what they’re doing, but it was great for me to
play when I was ill and it’s also a straight forward 1,000 points.
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