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Pirates of the Caribbean 3!


flameboy

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US, March 19, 2007 - Believe it or not, there was a time when movies about pirates were doomed to fail. Take, for example, the little-known 1986 Roman Polanski film Pirates, which bombed in theaters. A decade later moviegoers ignored Cutthroat Island, one of the biggest movie flops in history. So what, exactly, prompted Disney to give the sea-sailing antagonists another try? Whatever the reason, the gamble paid off in a big way. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl made $305 million in America alone and its 2006 sequel, Dead Man's Chest, raked in nearly $430 million. That's a lot of cash. So we're not surprised that videogame publishers are now hoping to get into the party with Pirates of the Caribbean based titles. The first effort arrives from newly renamed Disney Interactive Studios and adept development studio Eurocom. It's called Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and we recently played through a brief demo of the forthcoming Wii build, which is set for release in late May.

 

The Wii incarnation of At World's End is similar to the PS2, PC and PSP versions except with a new control scheme designed for Nintendo's remote. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 builds, meanwhile, take players to the same locations and introduce many of the same characters, but are completely different. The title follows the second and upcoming third movie in the Pirates trilogy and gamers will at one time or another control Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann as they battle cannibalistic tribals and sail the seas. Although the adventure travels gamers through the events of the film, they will also play through scenarios not seen in the movies, which Disney Interactive Studios feels will help flesh out the overall storyline.

 

The PS3 and 360 version of Pirates feature manual camera control and wide-open environments. The Wii title, in contrast, sports a fixed camera that shoots the action from the side during the majority of situations, although it changes dynamically when the action calls for it. In the first stage, Port Royal, players control the flamboyant, seemingly drunk Sparrow through a shipping dock setting. The nunchuk's analog stick maneuvers the character and the Wii remote's A button can execute context-sensitive moves. It's very straightforward so, for example, if Jack needs to sneak by an enemy, all players do is hold down the button and he will go into a crouching position. In a later stage, a context-sensitive button press will cause Will to throw a tribal into a boiling pot, at which point Sparrow will hit them over the head with a coconut. These context-sensitive moves, which are plentiful, are referred to as "Jackanisms" -- at least, when Jack is being controlled.

 

During combat, which is the backbone of the game since it's very action-oriented, gamers are auto-locked onto enemies and can toggle between them. Blocks are performed with the Z button and attacks are assigned to gestures on the Wii remote. A horizontal swing will inflict a light attack and a vertical swing will deal out a heavy attack. It's very simple stuff, but it seems to function just fine. Combos can be linked together with a forward stabbing motion of the Wii remote. The characters always carry their swords, but they can use other weapons too, which are assigned to the D-Pad. Knives, grenades, and a gun comprise a few of the items available throughout the adventure.

 

Combat is complemented by what Disney calls an ole system -- the means for players to side-step oncoming attacks and instead throw enemies with a shake of the nunchuk. This move is particularly useful for battles set atop high locations, as foes can be tossed over edges with the greatest of ease.

 

The title is one or two-player compatible and gamers can jump in or out at any time, from what we can tell.

 

Disney only showcased a few key areas from the Wii version of the game -- all from the second movie. It wasn't allowed to unveil any bits from the upcoming film, although these areas will, of course, be featured in the final product. There will be 10 or 11 different stages to play through, of which we saw two: the tropical cannibal-infested island and the shipyard. The Wii game runs in progressive-scan and 16:9 widescreen modes, and it never drops from 60 frames per second -- the same cannot be said of the PS3 and 360 versions, which stutter show frequent fluidity drops and stutters. That noted, the Wii build is based on current generation technology and it shows -- the worlds are not only smaller, but skinned with lower-res textures and comprised of fewer polygons. It all does, at least, look pretty good in motion. The game comes from the developer of Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy for GCN and we can assure readers that the screens we've posted with this article don't really do the product justice.

 

The game features the real Hollywood voice talents of all the side characters, but the three main heroes and heroine are voiced by sound-a-likes. Speaking of all those side characters, gamers will apparently be able to unlock them as they adventure through the quest, at which point they will become selectable for the main mode.

 

Check out the first Wii screenshots in our media section and look for much more on the game in the coming weeks and months.

 

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sounds like we are getting very limited version compared to the 360 and PS3

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I'm not much of a graphics whore, but those shots really are dire. The textures are ridiculously bad, I know the Wii doesn't exactly push the limits of graphics technology but it's able to do better graphics than the Gamecube, which evidently Eurocom haven't realised. Instead we get this game that looks like it should be on the DS.

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The game comes from the developer of Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy for GCN and we can assure readers that the screens we've posted with this article don't really do the product justice.

 

one bit of the original quote I should have perhaps put in bold, so is Matt saying it does look better than this? If so why bother posting the pics!

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Well, if this picture doesn't look particularly great, I'm begining to wonder just what the hell is it that gamers want these days...
I just meant in terms of 360 titles, it's not one of the best looking; but then alot of 360 titles have been just incredible lately!

Also I posted the best looking 360 screenshot; the character models close-ups aren't all that great!

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Well, if this picture doesn't look particularly great, I'm begining to wonder just what the hell is it that gamers want these days...

 

The models and textures are quite low, the water is ok, but it's nothing on Sunshine's water.

 

I think the lack of the main 3 actors shows how low-budget this is.

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  • 1 month later...

fuck me seriously what did us Nintendo fans do to deserve this turdy looking game, would it really be that hard to give us something that looks better than the PSP version, god damn it!

 

I'm not a graphics whore at all, but seriously, what makes them think they churn out this crap!

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Why are you getting this game at all :hmm:

 

Because a) I liked the 360 trailer for the game and b) I am a massive fan of potc - in general. Been on the potc ride in france, california and florida also got so much merchandise from the parks as well. I just love the films.

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Because a) I liked the 360 trailer for the game and b) I am a massive fan of potc - in general. Been on the potc ride in france, california and florida also got so much merchandise from the parks as well. I just love the films.

 

well guess thats as good a reason as ever!

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