It is above all the gallery of colorful characters that makes the charm of the Pirates of the Caribbean quadrilogy, Jack Sparrow in mind. Character perfectly embodied on the screen by an inspired Johnny Depp, he is obviously at the heart of the adventure in this LEGO version, which revisits not without an ounce of humor the trilogy directed by Gore Verbinsky. But where the developers have been great lords is that unlike LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Harry Potter, there is no need to wait several years to discover the outcome of the final chapter. Indeed, Pirates of the Caribbean: Fountain of Youth, the fourth installment in the series, is well and truly integrated into the game, which will delight fans of the most eccentric pirate on the big screen. And as always, it is through the Story mode that we will dive into the bath. Little room for improvisation here, the interest is to stick as close as possible to the cinematographic reality of the films. Therefore, you will be required to play only with the characters in each scene and find out the highlights. With over 80 characters to unlock, it was obvious the developers were going to nuance the gameplay. And every feature is carefully considered to spice up the challenge. It will be necessary to regularly switch characters in order to be able to progress in the adventure. For example, female characters like Elisabeth Swann or Tia Dalma will be able to jump much higher than most other characters. But men do not have to be ashamed of this ability, since they have access to firearms, explosive devices and other throwing weapons. As for Jack Sparrow, he is equipped with a compass, very useful for finding objects hidden in the levels. So what's the point of having so many characters if the story mode is as linear as possible? And that's the whole attraction of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: the possibility of repeating the same level several times via the Free Play mode. And it is by replaying with all the characters useful to the level that it is possible to unlock all the bonuses, which make it possible to reach the 100% progress so much sought after by the most aggressive players.
A bottle in the sea
As the expression says so well: "no pain, no gain". You will indeed have to suffer to unlock all the content of LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. Patience not being the virtue of all, some will face weariness against all odds, in order to be able to visit the seabed thanks to the undead characters of the game. This is one of the small novelties of the game since t is possible to swim, dive and use certain subterfuges in order to explore the vast expanses of water in the game. This is confusing at first, and it is not uncommon to lose hearts of health and LEGO pieces due to lack of oxygen. The opportunity therefore to call on the skeleton versions of Jack Sparrow and the other crew members of the Black Pearl who do not need to rise to the surface to breathe. So the joys of sunken treasures are yours and that's not what's missing in the game. characters, to unlock certain codes such as coin multipliers, invincibility or treasure indicators. All this with a view to visiting the smallest corners of the Port where characters, secrets and missions are concentrated. And wanting to unlock everything will not be an easy task since it takes a good dozen hours of play, compared to barely 5/6 hours if you simply content yourself with Story mode. Aficionados of LEGO games will easily find that this LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is more digestible than their last productions, thanks to a better balance in the duration of the levels. There are practically no sequences in vehicles, the latter being often replaced by animals, but above all, the game is pleasant to watch. The graphics engine, although similar to the first LEGO Star Wars II, has been tweaked for a more attractive result. Even the water effects have been reworked with much believable waves and reflections than before. And then there are those cinematics with incomparable humorous features, accompanied by the original musical themes of the films. If LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean really has it all, it's a shame that you sometimes have to reboot your console because of an image freeze. The kind of bug that works when you're accompanied by a friend in co-op mode.
