After a raid by a squadron of French ships on the British island of Oxbay, you (Captain Nathaniel Hawk) and your ship limp into port looking for repairs, somewhere to sell your meagre cargo and also a new crew. It soon becomes apparent the PotC is a fine looking game, and as you explore the town of Oxbay and its surroundings, you'll notice all kinds of detail. Nice textures abound, and grass that parts as you walk through it and fauna like rats, butterflies and lizards all add to the tropical atmosphere - and vitally for a pirate game, the water looks nice..

Throughout the game you'll have to bargain and steal, fight on land with sword and pistol, trade between islands, complete missions for the powers that be, fight sea battles and storm ships, but the biggest battle you'll have is with the unintuitive controls and menus and the cruel learning curve. To say that you get thrown in at the deep end would be an understatement; Other than a quick sword fighting lesson from your boatswain Malcolm at the start, you get nothing in the way of tutorials and are expected to be an expert swordsman and seaman from the start.

Just getting to the next island can be difficult, with a combination of hostile ships and storms just waiting to sink you. Once you've completed a few trips things get to be more fun but the game seems to repel rather than appeal to everyone here who's played it. The problems aren't all at sea either. Stray out of the many island towns to the "outskirts" or into the various dungeons and you're going to die - A LOT. Gangs of bandits (well there was four of 'em guvnor) or skeletal nasties wait to surround you and slice or dice - all you can do is guard and hope for the occasional stab/slash or pistol shot - and your best bet is to run away (at least until your stats improve substantially) - it hardly makes you feel like a mighty pirate, does it?

   

Although the game looks fine, the graphics jerk occasionally and the text-only conversation interface harps back to point & click adventures of the early nineties. A timeskip button and "quick travel" facility allow you to teleport at certain times, but these tend to rob you of the more pleasurable bits of the game rather than avoiding the unpleasant ones. Signs of a rushed PC to Xbox conversion also raise their ugly head when buttons are referred to as "keys" during what little onscreen instruction you get. There might be a massive and immersive adventure in PotC, and you can even end up owning a fleet of four ships, but I seriously doubt that many gamers will have the patience or dedication to see it through.