Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on the 3DS is crazy fun, especially the first time you play it.
Lego Pirates features gameplay from all four movies (!!), so basically you get 16 levels in total (do the ridiculously complicated math to see how many levels are in each movie). As you might expect, the game is extremely faithful to all four films. You get the fight scene with Jack Sparrow and William Turner from the first movie, the wheel from the 2nd movie, the final fight with Davy Jones from the third movie, and the hunt for the holy grail from the fourth movie. And in between, there's plenty of puzzle solving, fighting, and treasure collecting. It's always fun to solve puzzles and see the outcome of what happens next. For example, in the first level, riding a donkey in a circle will reveal a path that goes to a fight against Jack Sparrow. Each character also has unique abilities, such as Will Turner climbing walls with two swords, or his dad going through holes in the floor (which for some reason look like BOTTLES), and even Elizabeth swinging across gaps with her trusty catapult hook. I also love occasionally swimming underwater to solve even more puzzles.
As I stated before, Lego Pirates is heavy on item collecting, and for good reason too! It's a pirate game, DUH!!! One red block is carefully hidden in each level (unlocking cool cheats such as huge heads and banana swords for you to buy in the hub world), and getting some of the other items might require you to row boats, control toy boats, and roll dice (the last one is really boring). There's a lot to explore in this game, and there are a few side-quests such as collecting ducks, crabs, pigs, and even destroying totem poles. At first, the 3D didn't do much for me, but in retrospect, it makes the game look a lot better and does help in terms of judging your position, since this is a 3D action adventure game. At first, some of the items and areas are locked, but once you unlock new characters, you'll be able to use their abilities to get there again. My favorite is Jack Sparrow's "cursed mode," where you go under mysterious looking light and use it to break down strong barriers. You even get to use animals such as a dog, monkey, and a bird to get items you couldn't normally get.
The game is extremely faithful to the franchise, and even makes fun of it in a few situations. For example, in the ending cutscene for Dead Man's Chest, Jack Sparrow grabs a hairbrush (!!!) and jumps into the Kraken (where in the actual movie the Kraken attacked first and he had a sword), and then the ship is hilariously sunken into the sea so quickly that I was literally rolling on the floor with laughter. The cutscenes are pixelated and hard on the eyes, much unlike the console versions, but let's be thankful they're here in the first place.
So how is the fighting action? Not very good. In fact, it's boring somewhat. Sword fighting is basically limiting to hearing clanks of swords and then your enemy finally going down with one hit. Some characters have guns, which is more fun to use, but the controls for aiming are slippery and you'll often get hit trying to shoot down foes. And if it's one thing I absolutely despise about this game, it's the boss fights. These appear more appropriate for a Disney on Ice show for God's sake!!! There are quick timing button presses, but these fights go on for far too long and I'd rather skip them if I had the option! In most cases, you'll have to fight the same enemy twice (Crap!)!
Graphically, this game is a beast. There's some slowdown with the 3D on (such as the fort level in Dead Man's Chest), but in general with or without 3D, the framerate does an excellent job. Complimenting the smooth framerate is fantastic scenery taking you from tropical jungles, to the beach, to foggy forests, caves, and even underwater! These are fascinating to explore, and even better to look at in 3D! The music is lifted from the films, and it's freaking awesome. The only problem I have with the otherwise excellent audio is that when Jack is moaning, it sounds like he's thinking about SOMETHING ELSE....I'll leave you to debate what I meant by that.
Despite a few flaws, I really enjoyed Lego Pirates on the 3DS. The game is generally easy. In fact, there are hearts scattered everywhere, but you almost never need them! I guess the easy difficulty makes the game more compelling to play, and it does. It's really fun to play, and if you ever need a game to play on the go where you can say "This is the day you'll remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparow," then this is your game. No questions asked.
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Final Score: 9.2/10 (A-)