Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is an action oriented role playing game that was developed by Amaze Entertainment, and published by Buena Vista Games in June of 2006. This game was originally released for the Sony Playstation Portable, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
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Developer: Amaze Entertainment Publisher: Buena Vista Games Release Date: June 28, 2006 Platforms: PSP, DS, GBA JustRPG Score: 69% Pros: +Appealing characters. +Great for fans of the movie. +Action oriented combat. +Good soundtrack. Cons: -No replay value. -Poor controls. -Clunky gameplay. -Very short. |
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Overview
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is an action adventure role playing game that was released for the Sony Playstation Portable, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo GameBoy Advance in early 2006. This game puts you in the shoes of your favorite characters from the movie and allows you to play the story as you saw it in theaters. The controls are fairly hard to use, the game is very short, and the graphics are less than appealing. Overall Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a typical movie based video games, that falls short of the movie experience, but may provide a few hours of fun for die hard fans of the franchise.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Screenshots
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Featured Video
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Review
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a PSP action title that is based on the recently released Disney film sharing the same name. In the game, players will take on the role of the film’s star, Captain Jack Sparrow, and travel through key moments of the film. |
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Just in case you are one of the few who aren’t familiar with the film, Dead Man’s Chest follows Captain Jack Sparrow, who seems to owe some sort of debt to the ruler of the ocean, Davy Jones. If Davy Jones has his way, Sparrow will be forced into a lifetime of servitude among Davy Jones’ crew on board the Flying Dutchman. Of course, Sparrow isn’t too keen on this idea, and will stop at nothing to save his soul. |
| As I stated earlier, Dead Man’s Chest on the PSP is an action-adventure title where players will be taking on the role of Jack Sparrow. Throughout the game, players will be taking advantage of Jack’s sword skills and slashing their way through a number of enemies. The game features two main types of physical attacks, including speed attacks, which are used by pressing the X button, and strength attacks, which are used by pressing the square button. In order to successfully defeat an enemy, though, it will normally be necessary to use both types of attacks in a specific order. For example, even to defeat the weaker prison guards, it will first be necessary to complete a few speed attacks and then finish them off with a strength attack where Sparrow will stab his sword into the enemy. The thing is, you won’t even be able to hit the enemy unless you use a specific attack, which, if it is the wrong one, they will just dodge and get off an easy attack. In order to determine which type of attack you are supposed to be using, above your enemies’ heads will be either the X button or a square, indicating which attack to use. Aside from the sword attacks, Jack also uses “dirty moves,” where he will often head butt or perform kicks to the groin, which can definitely help out when he is constantly surrounded by enemies. |
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One of my personal favorite things about the combat system is that, throughout the levels, Jack will be able to obtain alternate attacks. Aside from using his sword, Jack will be able to pick up random weapons that include pistols, hatchets, throwing knives, bombs, and, my personal favorite, glass bottles. These different weapons will be placed throughout each of the levels, and whenever you pick them up they will go into Jack’s stash of alternate weapons. When using an alternate attack, normally they should be a one-hit kill, and, to be honest, I really enjoyed these weapons, especially smashing the glass bottles over the heads of random enemies. |
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| While the player progresses throughout the game, eventually Jack will also obtain a few powerful moves that the game calls “power moves.” There are a total of three of these in the game, and they can be performed by using the left, up, and right buttons located on the D-Pad. In order to perform these actions, Jack must first have enough charged on his power move bar that is located on the top left of the screen under the health bar. As Jack defeats his enemies, the power bar will begin to increase and he will be able to perform these attacks. The first power move Jack acquires will be the weakest, taking up only one of the three portions on the power move bar, and can be used by pressing the left button on the D-Pad. As for the other two power moves, the amount of power removed from the bar will depend on the strength of the attack, with the second taking up two of the bars and the third, and most powerful, depleting the entire bar. |
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Obviously, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the main focus of the gameplay is the combat system. While the combat is fast paced and heavy on action, the real problem is that the combat easily becomes very repetitive, especially considering that you will basically be using the exact same actions to defeat every enemy throughout the game. Plus, it would have been nice to see some more abilities or even more combo attacks to defeat your enemies. |
| When players aren’t going around battling it out with pirates, cannibals, or Davy Jones’ crew, they often will be completing the game’s different puzzles. Throughout the game, Jack will encounter certain puzzles that must be completed in order to progress through the story. Some of these include lighting barrels of gunpowder to blow open blocked areas, carrying a cannonball to cannon and igniting the fuse, or something as simple as kicking shut windows so enemies won’t climb through. |
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Throughout Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, the player will also have to rely on the occasional platforming to complete certain levels. One specific level I recall is where Jack would have to jump across a large section of water using pieces of debris from nearby sunken ships. During some of these platforming puzzles, the camera will occasionally change, giving a view similar to that from a side-scroller. Naturally, with any platformer, a good camera is necessary, and while Dead Man’s Chest normally is pretty strong, there are those times when the camera tends to be a little difficult. |
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| Visually, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a rather good-looking PSP action title. The characters in the models of the game, especially Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, look great and very closely resemble the actual actors. Plus, the different characters’ animations, mainly Jack Sparrow, are nicely done, and even the characters’ movements closely resemble that of the film’s characters. Throughout the game you will also encounter a variety of different locations, featuring some fairly large levels that are also nicely done. |
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While Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chestdoesn’t feature the voice work of Johnny Depp himself, it does have someone who sounds awfully similar. The voice work throughout the game is very good and the game features a whole lot of it, both during combat and in cutscenes. Considering that this is Jack Sparrow, he will be making smart remarks to himself or the enemies. As for the music, the game features some good background music and the Pirates of the Caribbeantheme that we are all used to hearing in the films. |
| Easily one of the biggest problems with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is the fact that the game is way too short. The game can easily be completed in less than six hours of playtime, and there really is no reason for a replay, either– no unlockables or anything. However, one thing that does add a little value to the game is the fact that there is also some multiplayer gameplay. Using one UMD, players can find other PSP owners and play against each other in ship battles. There are a few different modes for the multiplayer, and even some of the ships from the films are available, including the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman. |
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With a little lengthier quest, some tweaking with the combat, and maybe a little better camera, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for the PSP could have been a great action title. While hardcore fans of the film might be able to look over some of the flaws, it is a little difficult to recommend spending $40 on a game that could easily be completed in a day. |
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| Final Grade: 69% |
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Screenshots
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Videos
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Trailer