E3 06: Pirates of the Caribbean 3 Impressions
LOS ANGELES--Everyone knows about Pirates of the Caribbean, the improbably successful movie that was based on a Disneyworld theme park ride. Most people know that there are two sequels to the movie in development, with one coming out this summer and one coming out next year. What no one knew until today was that development has already started on next-gen adaptations of the next two films in the series. Well, we went behind closed doors today at Buena Vista games to get a quick look at a playable demo of Pirates of the Caribbean 3, which is under development at Eurocom.
The plot of POTC3 obviously wasn't divulged to us, since the films that it's based on haven't even arrived yet. We're told that it involves plot elements from both the second and third games, but our contacts at Buena Vista say that they intend to flesh out the backstory of the characters involved in the films with new events and plotlines specially developed for the game. Obviously enough, though, as an action game, the centerpiece of the title will be swashbuckling action, and we got the chance to take a look at two different fighting systems that the developers intend to use for special situations.
In the demo we were shown, Captain Jack Sparrow was walking around Port Royale, doing his patented wussy-looking prance around town. Graphically the game looks pretty good for being so early in production, with Sparrow obviously having had the most work done on his appearance thus far. Each braid of his hair was individually modeled, and his eye shadow was the perfect raccoonish shade. The background characters were well done, as well, and we're told that the individual portions of each character model can be mixed and matched to create an almost limitless number of new character models for the purposes of background illustration.
Anyway, combat! The first combat scenario we witnessed faced Jack off against multiple simultaneous foes, four in all, of the dreaded cutthroat variety. The melee-combat system has been designed to be easy to jump into, but also complex enough to satisfy more advanced players, with the intent to create a cinematic experience--apparently the developer has been working with William Hobbs, the fight director for over 40 films, to help craft the fight system on display here. Sparrow's primary fighting moves consist of sword swipes, stabs, and punches from the off hand. Although multiple enemies will attack you simultaneously, it appears to be a fairly simple matter to target individual enemies, in a matter similar to Prince of Persia. The Prince of Persia influences also extend to some of Sparrow's acrobatic moves; in some areas, in fact, he'll be able to wall-run up a wall, plant his sword into the wall, then use it as leverage to jump away from the wall, as you could do with dagger plates in The Two Thrones.
Eventually, Jack was joined by a teammate, which shifted the battle into another dimension. With his fellow pirate at his back, Jack took on a gaggle of redcoat enemies. Instead of engaging in freeform fighting, though, the pair stood at the center of a group of enemies that were constantly rushing at them. According to the attack that the enemies presented as they rushed, Jack and friend could either jump over low attacks, parry medium attacks, or simply stab the enemies as they approached, resulting in a quick death for their enemy.
Another completely separate aspect of combat was on display in the game's dueling system. When facing off against a boss enemy, you'll engage in a one-on-one duel to the death. In our case, Sparrow took on a rather sweaty brute in the rafters of a home. These duels currently appear to be locked to a 2D plane, not unlike an old-school fighting game. Since Sparrow is a pirate, though, he'll have a number of cheat moves at his disposal, including a reversal move that caused his foe to land on his back, and, after they had fallen to the dirt floor of the building, a little dirt throw that resulted in a wad of material being thrown in his foe's eyes.
Although Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is still a way off, since it's not going to launch for at least another year, what we've seen so far seems to show a fair amount of promise. Keep an eye on GameSpot for more details as we get them.
