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Lego Pirates of the Caribbean - Game Review



About.com Rating



Pros: Typical fun Lego formula.
Cons: Overlong cut scenes.


After basing Lego action-adventure games on such famous film series as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, the release of Lego Pirates of the Caribbean raises a question: Have we run out of good movie series?

The Basics: Typical Lego Formula With Pirates

The Lego game recreates versions of the first, entertaining movie, the second, execrable movie, the third, reportedly execrable movie (which I haven’t seen) and the upcoming film, whose entertainment value is unknown.

Of course, Lego games aren’t really affected by the quality of the source material, because ultimately all these games are the same basic game gussied up with sets and characters from whatever movie they’re riffing on. You’ve seen it before. A bunch of little Lego characters run around, break Lego objects, build Lego objects, fight, fall into Lego pieces when they die and immediately reappear intact, solve puzzles, build ladders, jump, climb, find objects and everything else that makes up the fun, family friendly Lego game formula.

All of this is done in a way specific to the movie. Characters have swords, they sail ships, they dig for buried treasure. Almost every character from every movie is represented. The Lego Jack Sparrow has an erratic gait reminiscent of that of Johnny Depp’s in the movies.

And as in all the Lego games, there are comic cut scenes that recreate scenes from the movies. The cut scenes in Caribbean sometimes feel endless, although I don’t know if that is because they are actually longer or just because they aren’t as amusing as they ought to be.

The Specifics: Less Action, More Puzzles

This game is less ambitious than the recent, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, but it does have some interesting ideas, like feeding animals so you can use them to help you, and some clever sequences, as when you must battle Jack Sparrow while on a giant wooden wheel rolling down a mountain.

The game is also less action-oriented than many of the previous games, leaning more closely to the puzzle-centric approach of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4. While that game was a bit dull, developer Traveler’s Tales is more successful this time, with simple but occasionally clever puzzles and just enough action to generate a modicum of an adrenaline rush.

The game also – and I suppose this is the goal – makes me rather curious about the other movies. Surprisingly, the Lego take on the first film is less intriguing than their portrayal of the sequels. The second movie has some clever ideas, the fourth movie begins with a rousing action sequence, and as for the third movie, it appears to be some sort of trippy hallucinogenic fever dream that I’m very much afraid I am now tempted to check out on Netflix.

I’ll probably be disappointed. Even though Wikipedia says the P.O.C. series is the 6th most successful of all time, it can’t be considered one of the best, and from the perspective of what movies warrant Lego immortalization, it seems less deserving than Lord of the Rings or The Terminator, which also make the top 20. Even in terms of series comprised of a good movie followed by bad ones I would prefer a Lego Matrix, just because that sounds kind of cool.

The Verdict: It's Almost Impossible to Go Wrong with a Lego Game

Still, from a gaming perspective this is a fun game, and Traveller’s Tales could probably make as good a game out of a terrible film series like Home Alone or Twilight as out of a good one. So even if we do someday run out of good movie series, we will still always have good Lego games.



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

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