Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow looks okay - the main characters of Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann all look pretty close to their movie counterparts, while many of the side characters only look right in cut-scenes. Levels look good and portray the feel of the movie fairly well. Based on the way that the main levels were structured, I was reminded more than once of more recent Gauntlet titles.

As for The Legend of Jack Sparrow's sound, there isn't really a whole lot to gawk over. The music is very energetic and overpowering at times, causing a distraction more times than not. When enemies appear -- the music pipes up really high, but unlike most games doesn't die down or stop once the foes have been cleared out. Instead, the music stays just as loud and powerful as before, making you wonder if you are really out of danger or if you are missing some baddies, since enemies have a habit of spawning out of nowhere and the enemy A.I. has a habit of getting stuck in a corner or behind some crates (but more on that later).

The game's voicework is okay. Though the only star to reprise his role is Johnny Depp as the infamous captain, the other actors do a fair job of impersonating them. As for Depp himself, though I am a fan of the man's acting in general, his performance in this game is less than spectacular and quite frankly felt phoned-in more times than not.

Surprisingly, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow doesn't follow the story of the new movie, Dead Man's Chest and would make more sense had it been released either along with or soon after the first Pirates movie. Sometime between the two movies, Jack and Will are on an adventure for some precious booty, but when they are betrayed and find themselves at the top of the local gallows, Captain Sparrow decides to delay as much as possible by telling the story of how he, along with the slight help of Will, saved Port Royale from the dreaded Black Pearl.

As the name suggests, this game is all about Jack Sparrow and how it is that such an unusual pirate had so many disproportioned myths tacked onto his name, like the raft of sea turtles. People who have seen the first movie know the actual events and by seeing how Jack spins the tale, it is no wonder he has become the legend he is.

As the game progresses, Jack will be paired with either Will or Elizabeth and either the first player will be able to control either character whenever he/she wants or a second player can pick up the controller and join in on the action.

An interesting note is what the second character is doing while you are fighting your way through a pack of enemies. At first I thought the other character's A.I. was actually helping out and taking care of some of the opponents, but it wasn't long before I realized that he or she was just knocking the enemy around, but not actually killing them. It's still up to you to finish off the enemy.

Most levels consist of running around a very linear 3D environment taking out wave after wave of pirates, zombies or naval men. Scattered throughout the game are mini-game levels where you will have to fend off small boats with cannons or tap face buttons in the right order to break down doors.

During the non-mini-game levels, you will have to complete objectives, but for the most part, you don't have to look and see what they are because its typically "defeat all the enemies". The annoying part is that every time you get new objectives, a voice lets you know the updates happen. Unfortunately the objectives get updated so frequently that this gets very annoying fast.

Pirates of the Caribbean also sports an upgrade system where you spend your gold on more powerful attacks. Though this attempt at an RPG feel is a bit wasted since you can just hack away at your opponents and you will win. Sure stronger attacks means that you can mow down the opponents that much quicker, but why waste your time on the upgrades if there is no consequence to dying? Yup, that's right, when you die you just get right back up and keep on playing, so any thought of strategy or caution is completely thrown out.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow isn't hard at all. Quite frankly, if you sit down with the game one Saturday, you will be finished with the game well before its time for dinner. Enemies attack at one or at most two at a time and while you aren't facing off with them, they are just standing around waiting for their turn. When they are fighting you, they pretty much just charge head on and are down in a couple of swipes. In order to increase the difficulty, the game tries to overwhelm you with sheer numbers.

Typically this makes the game harder, but since there is no death, or at least no penalty when your health runs out, you don't have to play through levels over and over again. Instead you just get back up and continue on your way. Because of this, the numerous enemies are more of an annoyance than any real kind of challenge.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow's fighting mechanics are simple and have a shallow learning curve. X and Square are your light and heavy attacks respectively, Triangle uses your projectile weapon (hatchets or Molotov cocktails) while Circle is used to pick up and throw boxes and barrels. L1 allows you to lock onto enemies so that you can throw your projectiles more accurately, while R2 lets your character use his/her more powerful special attack.

Like I said, its a simple scheme; where the controls do fall apart is when you are interacting with other objects in the world. Whether you are dealing with a chest or other objects marked by a floating skull and crossbones, you have to be in just the right position before tapping Circle in order to activate it. This is really annoying when you are close enough to the object for the Circle to appear above it and you aren't actually in the right place to activate the event.

The Legend of Jack Sparrow is an okay game, but is definitely a rental only. Besides the fact that it is a quick play, you will see pretty much all the game has to offer in the first half, so it's just not worth the purchase.