A few segments of the game allow for new characters to take part in the fray. Elizabeth Swann shares the same style of flailing around manically until she hits someone. Brief mini-game excursions are simple "press this button at the right moment" types of challenges. Actually, it's almost impossible to screw these up, so challenge isn't the proper word.

The somewhat interesting mechanic of always controlling two characters (swapped by pressing down on the d-pad) could have led to some innovative puzzles. Instead, the AI-controlled character rarely does anything other than get in the way or slowly dwindle away their own health bar by standing still and taking blows. Even after telling them to be aggressive, they take far too many hits to be effective.

It's not even possible to assign your AI-controlled fighting mate an action. For example, an early and rather weak segment has players shooting cannon balls at incoming boats. Unless you're playing with a friend, the AI character will stand there looking at you instead of grabbing the other cannon and firing away. It's impossibly frustrating until you realize you can miss over half the boats (if not more) and still progress.

Even beyond the simplistic and rather stupid challenges, Pirates captures nothing of what makes these films enjoyable. Jack Sparrow's wit is kept to a minimum, the action is bland, and the animation is oddly choppy (especially when opening treasure chests). Sword fighting can make for a great video game. Unfortunately, the dull hacking and some weak slashing in this adaptation fails to excite gaming or movie fans.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Alcohol Reference, Violence. This game can also be found on: PC.