Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Game: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Platform: PSP

Studio: BVHE

Rating: 7/10

GAME DESCRIPTION: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, based on the Walt Disney Pictures’ film, is a swashbuckling third-person action/adventure. Players will engage in game play that reflects the cunning world of the film franchise — with an abundance of disloyalty, humor and revenge. Players embark on a daring adventure as Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann while sword dueling and hunting for hidden treasure in the quest for the legendary Dead Man’s Chest. What’s at stake? Only the player’s immortal soul! Six playable enemy characters available by beating each of six enemy bosses and returning to that level to find a statue to unlock the enemy character, including Mortician, Cannibal Warrior, Voodoo Doll and Captain Pirate.

PLAY: Dead Man’s Chest is a heck of a lot of fun. The main reason is that there is a lot of gameplay involved. There is plenty of combat and puzzles to keep gamers busy. The battles are never easy and that is a relief over most of the kids games that have been released based on movies. The puzzles are never exceedingly tough to sort out which makes the game a bit challenging for kids—but not impossible. Fighting on the open ocean is fairly easy and mostly the same throughout the many scenarios.

GRAPHICS: Dead Man’s Chest does a great job to push the graphics on the PSP. The environments are well done and the character animations are very good. The water battles are surprisingly nice even though there can be issues with frame-rate.

SOUND: The soundtrack is from Pirates of the Caribbean and has a distinct pirate sound. It’s a shame the voice acting isn’t from any of the actors.

FRANKLY: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is a lot of fun. It’s not the best game on the PSP—but it’s above average. Kids in particular will get the most out of the game since they won’t be able to beat it in a day.

+ Richie Wright