''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a 2003 action role-playing

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

, developed by

Akella Akella (russian: Акелла) was a Russian software company specializing in the development, publishing and distribution of video games and multimedia products. The founders of Akella met in 1993 and decided to start a company together, and ...

and published by

Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...

. The game was initially developed as a sequel to ''

Sea Dogs The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

(Корсары)'', but was eventually changed to correspond to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was still marketed as ''Корсары 2'' in Russia. The Xbox version was the first U.S. console game developed in Russia. An unrelated game by the same name was also released for

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

, as was a Game Boy Advance game.

PC/Xbox version

''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is an

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

in which the player, as Captain Nathaniel Hawk, goes on a series of quests for any one of the countries that control the islands of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

in the 17th Century. The player can buy new ships, recruit a crew and hire officers who will follow Hawk on his quest and help him in battle. The game features gameplay that takes place both on land and at sea, and allows the player to upgrade their character by earning skill points and gain new abilities. The game was originally developed under the name ''Sea Dogs II'', and is an indirect sequel to ''

'', which was released in 2000. In Akella's native Russia, the game is still referred to as ''Corsairs II'', with ''Corsairs'' (''Корсары'') being the Russian title for ''Sea Dogs''. Apart from the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

theme, the setting and the presence of the Black Pearl, the game otherwise has few connections to the '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' film, which was released around the same time as the game. The PC version of this game is one of the first video games with multi-threaded code that is optimized for the Intel's Hyper-Threading technology. Actress Keira Knightley, who played

Elizabeth Swann Elizabeth Turner (née Swann) is a fictional character in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' film series. She appears in ''The Curse of the Black Pearl'' (2003) and three of its sequels, ''Dead Man's Chest'' (2006), '' At World's End'' (2007) and ...

in the film series, voiced the narrator (only two simple cutscenes at the beginning and at the end) in the game.

Plot

After a fierce storm, Captain Nathaniel Hawk arrives on the island of Oxbay. His first mate Malcolm Hatcher is retiring, and so Hawk must hire a new first mate and crew. As he leaves Oxbay, a French armada attacks the colony and captures it. Hawk manages to slip away and warn the English governor on Redmond Island, Robert Christopher Silehard, that Oxbay was attacked. The governor sends Hawk on a series of quests to aid him in the war against France: Nathaniel is sent to investigate the condition in Oxbay; prevent a supply ship from reaching Oxbay; unload English troops in the jungles of Oxbay and rescue the English spy from the clutches of the French. While preparing for his next quest - annexing Oxbay, Nathaniel meets his old friends: Danielle Greene and Ralph Fawn. However, Ralph is killed when the soldiers arrive to arrest Danielle and Nathaniel himself is captured and imprisoned. While in prison he gets to know an old ex-cannoneer Edgar Attwood who was fired for drinking too much rum. He can be later hired by the player into his crew. Some time later governor Silehard arrives and tells Nathaniel that a big mistake has occurred. He sends Nathaniel Hawk on another series of quests until Nathaniel meets an old inventor who aids him in finding a treasure that could defeat the

ghost ship A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a vessel with no living crew aboard; it may be a fictional ghostly vessel, such as the ''Flying Dutchman'', or a physical derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead, like the ''Mary Celest ...

called the Black Pearl. There are also a large number of side quests. For instance, in one such side mission Hawk is enlisted to help a Dutch colonist find several kidnapped children.

The Black Pearl

The '' Black Pearl'' is in this game but it is unknown if Barbossa is the captain (although Barbossa is set as the ship's default captain in the game codes). It cannot be destroyed. At night you see the Black Pearl's crew as skeletons. It can only be seen during the middle of the game and the end of the game—however, some people have reported seeing it at random points in the game. The ship can be found randomly around the world, normally mostly near towns. There will also be warnings in town if the Black Pearl is sighted nearby. In the final end game mission, Captain Hawk is confronted by the Black Pearl. Only during this fight can the Black Pearl be damaged. When the fight ends, the game is complete.

Reception

''Pirates of the Caribbean'' received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The ''

Armchair Empire Armchair may refer to: * Armchair (furniture), a chair with arm rests * Armchair (band), a Thai pop rock band * Armchair (bus company), in London * Armchair nanotube, a carbon nanotube with chiral symmetry * "Armchair", a song by Avail from th ...

'' gave a game 7.7 out of 10 praising its visuals and gameplay but cautions about slow naval battles.

Game Boy Advance version

Mobile phone version

The mobile phone version was developed by Flying Tiger Development and published through Walt Disney Internet Group on July 25, 2003, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

References

External links

* {{Piratescaribbean 2003 video games Adventure games Akella games Bethesda Softworks games Disney video games Flying Tiger Entertainment games Game Boy Advance games Mobile games Naval video games Open-world video games Pirates of the Caribbean video games Role-playing video games Single-player video games Trade simulation games Ubisoft games Video games developed in Russia Video games set in the 17th century Video games set in the Caribbean Windows games Xbox games