A promising game that instead feels like an endless tutorial.
The Legend Of Jack Sparrow is much like The Two Towers game: it combines elements of the first two Pirates films just like Two Towers combined elements of the first two Lord Of The Rings films. Where Legend differs however is how this is presentated, and at first it sounds like it can't fail, as its the events as told by Jack himself.
Johnny Depp provides the voice of the titular character, and though he's inspired at times, the game itself detracts from it as there's too long of a pause between one characters dialogue and the next, making a 3 minute scene bloat into a 6 minute one thanks to silence and slow editing that honestly could have been cleaned up quite easily. No other film cast returns, though Bloom's replacement is quite wooden in an ironic accurate way, and Knightley's representation sounds ok, yet has a bit of a slow delivery herself, making it seem overly enunciated, even for a Knightley impersonator.
As mentioned, this is Curse and Chest as told by Jack, and its all thanks to him and Will getting caught and pleading their case to stay their execution by hanging. Jack takes liberties with the stories, which Will and Elizabeth argue regularly, allowing them to put Jack into scenes where he was otherwise imprisoned or not even there, and then he does the same inserting his compatriots into scenarios they weren't in. Sure its wildly inaccurate, but its a hilariously clever way to account for it.
The opening level leads up to their capture, but Port Royal, the Governor's Mansion, and even Asia and more follow suit, and it all begins with a simple introduction to the combat system, which has upgrades and battling similar to the aforementioned LOTR titles. Where Legend differs though is it seems to rely more on adding moves as you progress levels instead of letting you purchase them, making every level, even the sixth and such, open with a tutorial style description of the new move you unlocked.
The game continues to be a poor man's LOTR clone in that the combat isn't even fun! You have limiting combat with the same few foes that spells itself out the same way every single time, and sure you can keep playing with the hope for more, but you won't find it. The worst part is it seems painfully easy, and then you encounter something so frustratingly difficult on the other end of the spectrum that the boring combat just isn't fun enough to meander through a second time, and its more enticing to simply give up rather than attempt again. Not exactly the feel you'd expect from a carefree franchise like this.
Because of this, It's clear the game was intended for younger audiences dispite its Teen rating, and really was built as a quick cash in to Dead Man's Chest. The graphics are sound and yet somewhat embarrassing given that this is an A-list title, and the cutscenes are fundamentally simplistic as well.
I really did want to like this game and gave it many many chances, but overall it's a boring, bland, repetitive title, with the caveat of being Jack's retelling of the story not even being remotely enough to redeem this waste of time. Sadly, At World's End looks to simply follow suit and will likely not fare any better.