Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow was developed by Bethesda Softworks, the people behind the Elder Scrolls- and Knights of the Old Republic series. The games, however, can't be compared at all. Where we get two very well developed RPG's on one side, this title is a simple hack&slash where the only RPG-element is the development of your character. In the end you can't even really call it development. You can collect gold with which you buy new moves and the game doesn't go any deeper than that.

A fun thing in this game are the cutscenes. As I said, Jack Sparrow tells his story, and does this with twists that make him look good all the time, while being with his head in a tightrope. When he's done talking, you can play a part but then again from his view (so the "I'm a hero" point of view).

There are also additional parts added to the storyline like you ending up in a Spanish gallion where you need to take on a captain who's got a problem with his intestants and requests a timeout in the middle of a fight to be able to do his thing. You'll also hear the accompanying groams which make the "What the f*ck?"-level even bigger. Things like that happen all the time during the game so laughing is guaranteed.

The atmosphere is perfect, you'll truly feel like a pirate at times and would almost shout "Arrrg" when chopping the head off an opponent. Not only the weapons and surroundings help with this but also the music (actually, especially the music). Just as in the film there's plenty useage of classical music with tons of drama.

You can do single and multiplayer. The first isn't too special as you just start bashing around with a loyal companion at your side (in this case William Turner), while in multiplayer there's co-op where one plays with Jack Sparrow while the other takes on the role of Turner. There aren't many possibilities qua game buildup but it's hard to have it otherwise with this type of game.

There's little to say about the graphics, they just don't suffice.. The PS2 can do so much more than what's shown in this title. The faces of the most important characters aren't too bad as you can even recognise them, but what happened with the textures is a big question. The surroundings look awful and at times this really starts to bother.

The controls on the other side are pretty decent. Simple combinations of sequential attacks are all you need to easily get through this game. A shortcoming on the other hand is the camera which often strongly makes navigation a lot more difficult. Try finding your way in a complex building or forest while your camera is almost in your pants. It's often that you hardly see anything. Sometimes the camera will be "hooked" to a corner in the surrounding and then you'll have a pretty decent overview, a bit like in the old Resident Evil games. Again a point that varies too much and screws up the gameplay experience a bit.