As we wait for the Dead Men Tell No Tales release in 2017, it’s easy to forget just how long it’s been since the first few movies were released. In fact, the second of the series, Dead Man’s Chest, has been out nearly 10 years now. It comes as no surprise, then, that it was released the same year for DS.

Released in 2006, Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest is an adventure brawler game for the Nintendo DS. You fight and play minigames as you progress through the game.

It’s worth playing as a diversion - In other words, it’s basically a brawler. Button mashing is your key to progressing through the game.

Let’s dive in.

Decent Graphics with Minor Issues - 6 / 10

As you start playing, the graphics do give you a feel of the setting of the game, which adds to the experience. Along the walls litter items, and you’ll quickly notice an impressive amount of object detail. However, very few of the objects in the background allow a player to interact with them. This means that the level of detail can actually hinder gameplay, since most of it is extraneous and distracting from the objects that the player can interact with.

The actual fights look little better than what I might expect on the GBA. This is unfortunate, as most of the game is fighting off opponents. Characters have a distinct lack of clarity. It is sometimes difficult to see which direction a character is facing, which might be necessary when throwing objects. I will not be particularly harsh, because as a 2006 NDS game, the graphics are decent.

One aspect of the graphics the game lacks is a POV change. This lack can be particularly annoying in itself, as we are used to having control over such a feature in modern games. However, such a critique would be superficial as very few NDS games allow for POV changing. Instead, what I am talking about is the POV interfering with gameplay itself. In a few instances, the player can go behind behind the background buildings and disappear from view while being attacked. In one such instance, I lost a good deal of health trying to escape. I was stuck in some objects that were masked from view, and after a few seconds I still found myself masked from view even though I had tried moving in various directions. Through some button mashing and jumping in random directions, I did manage to escape the enemies and whatever objects were hidden from view, but it was a clear flaw in the layout design.

With it’s issues, the score will not be particularly high. However, considering the date of its release and other games released around the time, the score won’t be particularly low either.

6 / 10.

Music Can Get Annoying - 5 / 10

The tracks aren’t as familiar as I thought they would be. The quality is low, but the music itself isn’t particularly bad. It does get repetitive and annoying if you get stuck on a level, which will often happen at the higher two difficulty settings.

Sound effects were similar to what was to be expected of a brawler. That is to say, this part of the game was also repetitive. I haven’t played many old brawlers that excelled in this area, but while I won’t hold this against the game, I’m not finding any reasons to rate this category highly.

5 / 10.

Addictive - 8 / 10

Brawlers are so widely played for their simple addictiveness. We’ll often choose to go at them until our hands can’t take any more or we develop eyestrain. In part, this might be due to our intrinsic love of being overpowered. For the most part though, it’s because we don’t have to think much.

Dead Man’s Chest does not deviate from this pattern.

It is addictive.

The repetitiveness of the music hurts this category the most. You’re better off muting the game and listening to something else.

8 / 10.

More fight than Story - 4 / 10

While the storyline does play a role in the game, you don’t have to follow along that closely to be able to play. At several points I felt lost, even after having kept up with the dialogue, and I persevered simply by finding my way forward and button mashing.

Like most games, the storyline does not hold true to the movie storyline, but it’s close enough that we wouldn’t classify it as just a pirate brawling game.

4 / 10.

Not much depth - 3 / 10

In terms of depth, this game offers very little. At the start you do get to choose the difficulty level, which does add some replay value, but other than that you are given few choices. The depth to the weapon system has some depth, with some weapons functioning in different ways than others. On the whole, however, you’re probably going to feel like this game is as linear in its gameplay as it is in its plot.

Overall, the depth is below average. Not much more can be expected from a brawler. (At the same time, we must realize that it is not without reason that handheld brawlers are given mediocre scores.)

3 / 10.

Minor Gameplay Issues - 7 / 10

The game isn’t too difficult. On an easier setting, button mashing will lead to a win. At harder settings, there is a balance between button mashing and somewhat-calculated button use. In these scenarios, however, it does not feel like the designers actually put much thought into how difficult or easy the game was at different settings. Also, the levels vary in difficulty.

At harder parts, it is possible to get stuck when there are too many opponents and your health doesn’t last long enough. In these sections is more about maneuvering around your opponents and into positions where you’re only fending off one (or at most two) at a time. That was my personal technique, but there are several more that can be utilized when in tight spots.

Overall, while this game is indeed challenging at higher difficulties, most of the difficulty is unfair. Therefore, this section rates an 7 / 10. (with a 4/10 ideal rating)

Mediocre. A Decent Brawler. - Overall: 6.4 / 10

Graphics : 6 * 20% = 1.2
Sound / Music : 5 * 20% = 1.9
Addictiveness : 8 * 25% = 1.75
Story : 4 * 10% = 0.4
Depth : 3 * 15% = 0.45
Difficulty : 7 * 10% = 0.7 (Optimal difficulty was 4/10)

Sum = Overall Score = 6.4 / 10.0

To sum up, Dead Man’s Chest is a decent brawler. It has the faults of a brawler and some of the benefits. The fact that there was nothing that really stood out as impressive, especially with the low standards we impose on brawlers, meant that this game could score no higher than a 7. The actual problems this game had almost dropped it another point. If button mashing is your thing, or if you’re a fan of the movie series, you might decide to check it out. I doubt I’ll return to it, but I’m glad that I played it.

If you’re curious, check it out. Maybe you’ll feel differently.

Have you played this game before? Thinking of trying it out? Comment below.

That's a very good review, congratulations. It's well-divided, you don't lose yourself into details and go straight to the point

Although it convinced me not to play the game - I hate button-mashing - you still did a very good job!