Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

Question: What makes the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise so popular? As someone who found the original film to be an excessively long cartoon and is mortified by how much the sequel is raking in at the box office, I find the success of the re-packaging of pirate clichés to be highly disturbing. Even stranger is how the film’s possibilities for cross-marketing has resulted in a mere two video games based on Dead Man’s Chest—one for the PSP and one for the DS. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (DS/BVG, Amaze) is as much fun as a bout with scurvy, and you’ll be shouting “ARGH” at your DS in disgust.

Whatever it is that makes the Pirates of the Caribbean so popular, this drab and unoriginal title doesn’t have it. The sword fighting is slow-paced and repetitive, and the environments are as wooden as Long John Silver’s fake leg.

At least Pirates of the Caribbean the film had some rousing action sequences that were fast and fun. This game, on the other hand, is an ultra-linear beat-’em-up with a plodding pace. You play as all three main characters (Depp, Knightley, Bloom) although never at the same time. They all control exactly the same way—basically a typical button-mashing Final Fight-type setup. The fighting in this game should have been tighter and faster, to be more reflective of the bombastic nature of the film, but the inclusion of multiple hit combos and sword parrying is the most redeeming quality of the game.

If the game walks the plank, it will be because of the hideous environments that would have you believe Pirates of the Caribbean takes place in a funeral home and not the open sea. Blue and brown are the predominant colours here, and the boring backgrounds and redundant character designs will make you want to bury your DS at sea. There are only a couple of types of enemies per level, so you’ll be killing the same creatures over and over. Even worse, since there are chandeliers in nearly every level, why can’t I swing from them like in every swashbuckling caper I’ve ever seen?

Not only does Dead Man’s Chest not do the movie justice, but it really is a mediocre title in the beat ’em genre. I can’t answer what makes the movie so popular, but I do know what makes a good action title. You need loads of people on screen to beat up (source: Streets of Rage), bright colours and fun characters (source: Turtles in Time), easy to perform moves (source: Jackie Chan Stuntmaster) and you must have huge, scary and seemingly unbeatable bosses (source: God of War).

As per Nintendo DS dogma, thou shalt include stylus pad mini-games no matter how pointless, and the mini-games in this title are possibly the most forgettable ones yet. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for the DS is certainly no treasure. But do note that the PSP version of Dead Man’s Chest is a different game.

Race factor

Granted, Formula 1 weekend feels like eons ago, but at a press event with BMW Sauber, I received a demo for the rFactor racing sim, Formula 1 edition. The presentation is great and it looks, sounds and feels like an F1 game. There are more car templates than merely Formula 1, and graphically the game is above average.

rFactor, developed by Image Space Incorporated (who did the EA F1 games), has frequent multiplayer races and there are community forums for gearheads. Because of its customizability, new skins for cars are always being released. Racing sim fans should visit www.rfactor.net.