A good slice of movie tie-in; pity the pie's parched.
That's one of those thoughts you DON'T want to have.
The game looks great, and they've really captured the mannerisms of the characters perfectly. The voice acting isn't too bad, and the overall concept appears to pull off well. The score fits in perfectly- and did I mention how great it looks?
So great, in fact, that you'll quickly forget the all-to-familiar 'tutorial level', cliched fetch quests, and sub-par story editing and sequencing that's all supposed to make you feel like you're, 'Living the movie!'. Problem is, this is an epic movie crammed into an after school special of a game. Starting with the camera- which allows such a high degree of precision that there is absolutely no way for the game to automatically move it on its own- even while you're fighting. Fortunately, the quick click of the thumbstick will revolve the camera to directly behind where you're standing, allowing you to concentrate on one enemy at a time by obscuring all the others. For more precise movements, you can even try to readjust the camera while moving the right stick while you now have to reach across and mash the fighting buttons with your other hand. Brilliant- it's this kind of novel approach that will allow this version of the game to outsell any others' production.
This leads me into the fighting- repetitive, bland, button-mashing. The duels are awesome and work brilliantly (once you get the slant), but are over far too quickly. The innovative use of the SIXAXIS for tight-rope walking is also well incorporated- and also used sparsely.
The sequencing of the story really killed it for me, though. This is a glaring flaw noticed within the first twenty minutes of the game, and is just rough. I can't even describe how awful and broadly nonsensical the amalgam of final product is. I played this for the story- the great novels it could fill, and such. I got the airliner emergency card.
I consider myself a formidable fan of the movies, and will still attend opening night. I would recommend to those considering it, to wait until opening results of this game come in. It's a mixed bag on likeability, and you would have to forgive the franchise for a LOT of hackneyed excuses. The die-hard's are going to kick and moan the most, as their precious story is ruined. Those that like [any] pirates, and don't mind a 'go rip down those posters to get your next mission' style of game won't mind. Personally, I can't help but feel I've done a lot of this before- and it was more fun then. Sure, it didn't look as good, didn't star pirates, and didn't have Depp's voice acting samples, but if I've done it all before, why do it again?