Lego Pirates of the Caribbean

Film tie-in video games are, in general, something to avoid. Then again, if they've got the word 'Lego' on the front, you can usually ignore that advice.

Lego Star Wars began this wonderfully fresh and exciting mashup of children's toy and video game, and the likes of Batman, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter swiftly joined the blocky ranks.

Now it's the turn of Johnny Depp and co. as the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film gets the Lego treatment.

Unfortunately, as with the movie series, some of the charm has begun to wear off.

Sharp as a cutlass

You'll immediately notice that all four films are available to play through as separate storylines for the game.

What's great is that you can tackle them in any order, so there's always tons to do and plenty of freedom in terms of how you do it.

Levels consist of cutting baddies up with your sword, building routes for progression out of Lego blocks, and saving your friends.

Each character has specific abilities, and you'll only be able to progress once you have the necessary character.

This also gives the game plenty of replay value, as you can go back through past levels with a different set of characters, finding areas that were pretty locked.

Yarrr!

All these levels are accessible through a central hub, which acts as a great way to check out hidden extras you've collected and other little side-experiences.

Traveller's Tales has really honed the concept well through the many years it has been putting these Lego games out, and it definitely shows.

There are tons of secrets and unlockables to find, and you'll spend many hours gathering them all together and finding every hidden character.

The environments look great, with the stereoscopic 3D effects being used in marvellous ways - the cut-scenes in particular put the idea of depth to use multiple times throughout.

Of course, as with the other Lego games, there's plenty of humour. The first time you see the Lego Jack Sparrow swagger along, you know that a lot of effort has been put into matching the style of the films.

Not very Depp

Unfortunately, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is by far the easiest Lego game to date.

These games are obviously aimed at younger children, but there's usually enough intrigue to keep older kids (read: 'parents') happy.

No such luck here. There wasn't a single puzzle that even remotely troubled us, and finding all the hidden extras is simply a case of smashing everything with your sword.

This rapidly makes the game rather dull. The StreetPass features don't really help to bump up the playtime, either, only offering 'pirates duels' - random numbers indicating either that you've beaten somebody or that somebody has beaten you.

Throw in other issues, such as hopelessly repetitive music and some terrible framerate problems, and this is one of the lesser Lego packages available.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean

As far as film tie-ins go, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is easily one of the better ones, but it's doesn't compare so well to the other Lego tie-ins
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Mike Rose
Mike Rose
An expert in the indie games scene, Mike comes to Pocket Gamer as our handheld gaming correspondent. He is the author of 250 Indie Games You Must Play.