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Pirates of the Caribbean Online from Disney and Buena Vista Games could become a surprising rival to some of the existing MMO’s. After playing the disappointing children’s MMO Toontown Online last year I was not expecting much. I’ve seen the films and though they were amusing eye candy, I’m not a fan. I wasn’t anticipating that it would be as good as it is so far…
The game has been in development for several years. Some of the recognizable of the franchise stars appear in the game as non playing characters. They make comical remarks and are voiced like the movie pirates. Surprisingly Pirates of the Caribbean is an MMO with the regular interface and features like the other MMO’s. It doesn’t seem to be targeted specifically to children. Teens and adults will enjoy this game. Beginning MMO players as well as advanced players will like it because it has several new twists that make it unique and worth checking out.
You start with a very fully optimized character creation engine to make your own pirates. You can choose faces and then refine them with individual controls for each facial element. The possibilities are endless. It’s one of the most customizable systems for creating characters that I have ever seen. You can change clothes and acquire new outfits as your notoriety points increase.
You can specialize in weapons, guns, magic which is called ‘voodoo’ in the game. In the taverns you can ‘gamble’ in games of poker and blackjack. The sword fighting is still pretty rough it is a hack and slash system that has a little more feel to it, but it can use improvement. Later in the game there are instanced “treasure map” zones.
You get a boat, a naval vessel with cannons on both sides. Sailing out on the open sea with the little boat was terrifying and some care has been taken to give a sea voyage experience complete with rolling seas, billowing clouds and wide sky. Playing it on the new flat screen iMac made it all the more beautiful. The combat at sea is exciting and sure to draw PvP players from other games out to give this a try. The multiple cannon stations can be manned individually by your crew and they hold up to dozens of players.
The game’s environments on land aren’t as spectacular. The characters are rendered in a cartoonish style that works for the context. But they aren’t as refined. The colors of the clothing also look muddy. The environments at this point still look empty and broad. Perhaps that is done in anticipation of there being lots of avatars hanging around in the common areas of the towns and inside the buildings.
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