Hello Beasty
Either way, the gameplay is sadly too simplistic, and worse, the game seems to think that players can't remember what button(s) to push in order to accomplish any task. This is all fine during the beginning mission, but becomes annoying once you're well into the story, especially since interaction with anything is always the same. And this brings up a point about what demographic the developers were after: youngsters or adults? Certainly, young players will have no problem smashing away on the A button and watching their favorite pirates hack his and her way through hords of baddies. But, as Gamespot also mentions, if that is the case, it's a bit disturbing to see some very graphic depictions of death in the "finishing moves" - though keeping with Disney tradition, moves lacking any blood. Still, that can be forgiven; it's hardly the worst young gamers have seen, and there is alwasy - just like the movie - a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun to everything. I really liked the mini-boss fights when play switches to a kind of side-scrolling timed button puzzle. You face off against an enemy and either defend or attack depending on the cues given by small circles on the side of the screen. These are fun - and simple - but still challenging enough to make each one something to look forward too. Gamespot complains that the "notoriety" count is usesless, and I agree, collecting money and earning points for special moves seems to have no effect on anything other than displaying a running total of your collected points. But if Microsoft has shown anything with Xbox Live, it's that players will do anything to collect Achievements, which, like this game's "notoriety" are worth exactly the same: squat. But that didn't stop me from trying to find every last bag of gold, or sea shell, or flag, or whatever. We like to see numbers get bigger, and At World's End taps directly into that want. And just like Achievements, encourages replay if you missed anything the first time through.
So in summary, if you want jaw-dropping graphics with some simple yet fun action and wall climbing, this game should satisfy. Those who thrive on mastering the precision of Prince of Persia, Ninja Gaiden, or Tomb Raider: Legend, or the technical squad mechanics of the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series won't find the same visceral thrills here, but there is still plenty of laughs, challenges, and swordplay to make this game worth a chance. Sometimes playing a game should be just that: playing.