Apparently, I have a thing for licensed games. It would seem that way – at least if you keep track of my review history here at GameAlmighty. The funny thing is that I usually end up reviewing games based on licenses that I’m not very familiar with. Spider-man, Star Trek, The Godfather, and now Pirates of the Carribean – all games based on licensed characters and scenarios, and all of them with movies I either didn’t like or just haven’t seen. Of course, I also get to review games based on licenses I do like – TMNT, Superman, Family Guy – and that experience is usually more disappointing.

What that means is that I go into the Pirates of the Carribean game as an impartial observer. I saw the first PotC movie a long time ago, and to be honest I barely even remember it. I mean, I’ve been to Disneyland and ridden the ride, but that’s about all the investment I have in this franchise. In the interest of full disclosure, in the eternal debate of pirates vs. ninjas, I got ninjas every time. That’s not to say I’m not up for some swashbuckling fun, though. I popped in Pirates of the Carribean in search of just that, and actually walked away somewhat pleased.

The first thing you’ll notice about Pirates when you drop the disc into either your PS3 or your 360 is that the game looks great. The graphics are crisp and well polished, the lighting is dramatic, the water is beautiful, and the environments are atmospheric, well varied and interesting. There may be some framerate problems occasionally, and there are definite tearing issues that rear their heads on many occasions, but it’s pretty easy to overlook. When comparing the two most powerful versions of this game side by side, however, there’s no question that the 360 looks way better. The lack of anti-aliasing is extremely evident on the PS3 as early as the first loading screen, and that’s the main reason the 360 version scores a little higher.

The audio is fairly impressive as well. The music, dialog and ambient sounds all do a great job of setting the atmosphere, be it dark and creepy or the lighter mood set in the port town. The 5.1 mix is decent, but not ever really amazing. The nuances of the characters come through really well, even though not all of them spend a great deal of time onscreen; especially considering my complete lack of background with the franchise.

Unfortunately, looking past the presentation of this game is where things start to get a little nasty. The gameplay here is derivative and boring. It’s a mix of hack-n-slash combat that’s far too easy, bland platforming, and uninspired boss fights.