The setting takes place in 17th century and your character's name is Nathaniel Hawk, a lonesome captain trying to make something of himself in the Caribbean. We all know from early history that the Caribbean was filled with profitable natural resources. No wonder so many pirates and privateers set up shops here. This place became the obvious attraction for the European nations - the English, the French, and the Spanish among others - who desire nothing but world power.

The story begins when the French starts messing around in an English colony, and Hawk almost did not make it out alive. Eventually, he ends up aiding the French back in their place, not knowing that he is digging himself deep into some very bad spots. What's more is that his involvement with the French has awaken the dead of the past, which in this case the dead pirates. Their presence is what associates this game to its title in the first place.

As captain of your own ship, you will venture out into the islands of the Caribbean. You will notice vessels materialize on the horizon. Some of these vessels may attack you or you may attack yourself. Sometimes you will see ships already engaged in heavy fighting and may join in for a piece of the action. During these types of events, the game adjusts to a third-person perspective in which you can manually control your sails, aim your weapons, and board nearby enemy vessels.

Boarding is relatively the same every time except when you board larger ships where you will undergo several stages of combat. Thankfully, your character knows a bit of cheap moves, and is able to take cheap shots when the action first begins. He uses a saber and a trusty pistol for his protection. His greatest arsenal is the ability to blend in with the locals. Like any good merchant, he is able to obtain information to check out key locations that are significant to him. You will visit the tavern, the shop, the shipyard, and the town hall where you might exchange business.

You have access to a trade book that illustrates which goods are imported and exported in each island. Like today's stock market, you decide whether to buy low and sell high. To get what you want, you need to learn a little bit about the game's trading system. Having the knack for the "tricks of the trade" means survival of the fittest. Here is one trick worth jotting down, the more ships you have in your fleet, the more profit you can generate. (The fastest way to earn big cash is to sell a few of your ships.) The commerce infrastructure in Pirates of the Caribbean is plain and fixed. There is steady demand for the same goods at each location. You can easily discard all your trading goods at the main store found in each island.

Trading is one way you can increase your bank account. Another way is by unraveling the main story quests, or taking on random missions. Your payment could come in the form of small arrangements with wealthy merchants to accompany them to various secluded islands. The quests are straightforward and usually involve reaching a particular destination or eliminating a certain target. The scripted sequences are rather disappointing. There are annoying pauses and interruptions before you can start communicating with other characters. The game is just poor at telling the story.

As previously mentioned Pirates of the Caribbean is an open-ended role-playing game, meaning you will be able to gain experience and level up your core attributes. The attributes that you can improve includes items like leadership skill, combat skill, defensive skill, commerce, luck, and grappling. These skills have an immediate effect on either your ability as a captain, a tradesman, or a swashbuckler. With each level gained, your character improves significantly. For instance, you will be able to board enemy vessels from longer range and boost your cannon's capacity to damage other ships.

As you survive countless battles and gain new experience, you will be able to command ships of substantial proportion with hundreds of crew aboard. If you have enough fleets on your side, you can launch an invasion to seize island fortresses. The downside of naval combat is that it is too slow and relatively simple. You just aim your ship's arsenal at the opponent and begin firing. You have various types of ammo at your disposal, ranging from the traditional cannonballs to knippel. You use knippel to destroy sails and rigging. If you want your attacks to have a devastating effect, go with bombs. Although you will find that bombs are more expensive, they are the most destructive than the other types.

You will want to keep your crew happy and keep its morale high. You can easily achieve this through monetary incentives. While the game offers plenty of objectives, none of them is complex enough. In addition, the game suffers from bad frame rate and annoying load times. You will often have to put up with missing transitional sequences during the loading process. It would have been nice to see some small clips introducing the next scene. Sometimes you feel that you are playing the PC version of this game because the controls are complicated as a keyboard. These kinds of technical issues impair the game to some extent.

The positive side of Pirates of the Caribbean is that you are able to save anywhere. So if you are suddenly called into a meeting, for example, you wouldn't have to worry about starting your mission from scratch. The game looks great for the most part. The ships are highly detailed; the oceanic currents are very realistic and so does the weather effects. The towering grass folds and changes directions as you walk through it. These kinds of graphical attention give Pirates of the Caribbean a particularly convincing appearance.

The game's sound effects are somewhat demure. Speech is often limited to basic catchphrases. Their actual dialogue is all in the form of text. Some of the sounds are quite good like the big dramatic battle on the high seas. However, the most striking piece to the game's audio segment is its musical score. It is captivating and fits the setting and conditions very well.

Despite certain technical issues, Pirates of the Caribbean is still an enjoyable game. This is the style of role-playing that compels players to achieve success through serious decision-making. Pirates of the Caribbean does an excellent job of making you feel rewarded for your efforts and each (experience) level gained has a significant effect on your skills. The ability to improve your character's core attributes is one feature that will help extend the game's life. Everything else looks great graphically. In the end, Pirates of the Caribbean could have been the ultimate voyage on the high seas if not for its shortcomings.