Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow E3 2005 Impressions

We had a chance to take an up-close look at Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow, the upcoming pirate-themed action game from publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer 7 Studios (the latter is currently working on the Fantastic Four game for Activision). Unlike the previous pirate-themed game released by Bethesda (which was a strategy game similar to Sid Meier's Pirates!), The Legend of Jack Sparrow will be a full-on third-person brawling game in which you'll play as the titular pirate Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp in the motion picture) or as Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom in the motion picture).

The majority of the game will focus on sword battles against groups of scurvy swabs. The level we saw took place on the cobbled streets of a New World colony in the evening, lit by flickering torches. We watched Sparrow fly through small hordes of enemy swordsman using button combinations to perform a series of flashy sword strikes. The game's environments will also be full of objects that can be manipulated, such as a hanging scaffold (on which enemies are hiding) that can have its support rope cut to send the enemies crashing to the ground.

You'll be able to improve on the sword maneuvers you know, as well as learn new ones, over the course of the game. Even though both swashbucklers are agile and can dodge out of the way of incoming sword attacks, there will apparently be absolutely no platform-style gameplay elements (so no jumping over pits or crawling up ledges) in the game. There will, however, be in-mission puzzles to solve, as well as humorous cutscenes, such as one scene in which Sparrow and Turner fight their way through a group of enemies to reach the town's gate and happen to see a pig. Sparrow asks Turner, half in jest, if he knows what sort of animal the pig is, and he doesn't understand why Turner keeps replying "Duck!" until he looks past the gate and sees a cannon aimed straight at him.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow should offer plenty of hack-and-slash action to go with its cooperative multiplayer mode, which lets two players take control of Jack Sparrow and Will Turner simultaneously. The game is scheduled for release later this year on the PC, the Xbox, and the PS2.