Traveller’s Tales first started Lego-fying movies with the Star Wars series in 2006. I have to say that I haven’t played much more then just demos since the first two Lego Star Wars games came out; just because they have seemed to all be the same game with just different characters and backdrops. When I heard they were going to be turning Pirates of the Caribbean into a Lego game I knew I had to give it another go. I absolutely loved the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and thought that due their combination of action and witty humor that they would translate well into the Lego world.
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean brings you through all four of the movies including the most recent not yet released “On Stranger Tides“; so this game should have a “spoiler” disclaimer. Each movie is broken down into 5 chapter or levels that are far from being short, and are chock full of treasure.. just what every pirate wants. There are still ten mini-kits in each level that are in the form of a ship in a bottle. If you haven’t played any of the previous Lego games, mini-kits are hidden in places all around the level and when you collect all ten you get to create a Lego structure. In this game, you are creating ships from the mini-kits. With every ship you create, you will get a gold brick which unlocks areas in the main screen. However, in order to get all of the mini-kits you will have to replay levels after you have unlocked certain characters. This is because each character has a special ability such as guns, double jumping, and breaking glass that you will need to get into certain areas; and you will not have access to all characters unless you are in free play mode.
Collecting the mini-kits are not the only way to get the gold bricks, of which there are 85 in total. You also get one for just completing the level on story mode. Then when you fill up the stud meter you will achieve “True Pirate” which will also give you a gold brick. The last way to get them is to find eight hidden objects using Jack’s special compass. The way that Jack’s compass works is you select an object to locate and a trail of footprints will show you what direction you need to go. Sometimes the objects will just appear in front you when you reach the end of the trail, and other times you will have to dig them up or just smash some stuff.
Once you have found all of the gold bricks you will have full access to the main screen and can find all the red hats. The red hats are basically a mix of cheats and Easter eggs. Each red hat you find will give you something different that you can buy for a large price tag. There are a total of 20 hats that give you things such as disguises, multipliers, faster forge, faster building, and a mini-kit locator. If you are going to buy any of the red hats I suggest starting with the multiplier ones. You are able to have more then one multiplier on at a time so you can get your multiplier up to 7,680x (double treasure,2x,4x,6x,8x,10x)! You can never have too much treasure, especially when you need the money to buy characters so that you can get all the mini-kits and gold bricks or just so you can buy the red hats.
I found the game play very enjoyable and there is a ton of replay ability with just trying to get all the bonuses. For each level, there isn’t typically too much going on; you are either on a ship battle or on an island or small town. A lot of the time each level is broken down into parts that once you leave the area you can’t go back. So, you have to be careful to not miss some of the bonus stuff or you will have to replay the whole level. It does seem like they have made it a little too easy to figure out what to do next to progress through the level. I remember in the first Lego games spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do next. However, in Lego Pirates of the Caribbean there is a big pointing arrow that is on the screen most of the time telling you what you need to do next. I would have liked this to be optional because the big blue and gold arrow interrupts the visual flow.
The graphics were very impressive, and every thing looked very clean and sharp. I was very intrigued by the use of depth in the game. It was very cool to run into the backdrop of the game and see your character getting smaller. Also the water looked very realistic in both its movement and its reflectivity. Even the transitioning of the crew of the Black Pearl into skeletons in the moonlight was just as seamless as it was in the movie. I found the over all game to be too dark. In the very first level I had to turn up the brightness because there were areas where I just couldn’t see anything because they were too dark. At least they were aware of this potential problem and gave the players a way to fix it. I also didn’t like the A.I. so much. First of all, when you are getting attacked from every direction and you have to build something in order to move to the next area, the A.I. will just stand around and follow you. This makes it very hard to build, because you keep having to stop to kill the mobs that are pummeling you. Then there are many points where you need two people to operate a switch to open a path and the A.I. doesn’t always seem to understand that; it gets to the point where you would have to take control of the other character to get them to do it.
Overall, I would definitely recommend getting Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. Sure, there are a few problems with it but they really are just minor inconveniences which can be worked around. There is a ton of replay ability for this game,which is alone a good reason to get it. It will have you playing for hours on end to the point where you will get the theme stuck in your head. Also, the cut scenes are great and the added Lego humor will have you laughing and having a good time. I played the Xbox 360 version of this game, so there might be some differences if you play it on a different system.
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