Were one to pop Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End into his or her Nintendo DS, the first thing they would be greeted with is a splashy title screen featuring a massive pirate ship lumbering towards an endless cliff the titular World's End and then over it. What may at first appear to be a cool introduction is in fact a subtle means of psychologically preparing the player for the emotions they're about to encounter while playing this game.
How ironic. Pirates originally designed their cutthroat flags to strike fear into the hearts of commercial traders. Now, however, the skull and crossbones has become a symbol beloved of those very traders thanks to the fullon merchandising power of Depp, Knightley, Bloom and the whole Pirates of the Caribbean pantomime.
While Activision's Call of Duty 3 wasn't a bad firstperson shooter for the Nintendo Wii, it wasn't exactly the game that would highlight the revolutionary Wii Remote as a capable controller fit for the genre. After having taking a breather for quite awhile, Electronic Arts' Medal of Honor series makes a return with Medal of Honor Vanguard.
Super Paper Mario from Nintendo and development studio Intelligent Systems is a 2D platformer, a 3D adventure, and depending upon how snooty you are about your qualifiers, a roleplaying game, too.
Rival Swords sees the third (or fifth, depending on how you count them) in the series hitting the Wii and, for no apparent reason, getting a different title. Don't let it fool you this is a straight port of Two Thrones, with a wellconceived control revamp and little else.
Shrek The Third is made for kids so keep that in mind as this review unwinds. The game itself is based on the movie and it's a shame that the game isn't nearly as fun or interesting as the opening moviestyle sequence.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has shipped for every platform under the sun. The movie tiein is based on both the second (Dead Man's Chest) and third movies and extends beyond the world created by director Gore Verbinski. Players can look forward to exploring environments from the sequels, but there are also new areas to see and characters to meet.
Now that they've released Shrek the Third, which is virtually the same as the last game, the flaws are tougher to swallow. The graphics and audio both feel antiquated, and the game is just a bit too kidfriendly for its own good.
It isn't an action adventure game in the traditional sense. Instead of jumping between platforms and hacking away at enemies with one character, you have to jockey control between three different characters and put their individual skills to use to help all three characters reach the exit at the end of each level.