Pirates of the Caribbean Online
Family fun for all piratesIt's no secret that Disney is a family-friendly enterprise and PoTCO fits right into that mold. Free chatting with other players is restricted to those with pay-to-play Unlimited accounts who have exchanged special codes True Friends Code, a la Friend Codes on the Nintendo Wii console. Communication is moderated for content, both automatically by the game and manually by game masters (GMs).
No detail escapes sanitizing, as custom player and ship names are filtered by staff before approval (alternately, you may build names from supplied lists). I can't say that I disagree with this, as my WoW-addicted friends tell me that Blizzard's game is a breeding ground for innovations in cursing. Player-vs-Player combat is limited to a special "undead" mode, where each player holds a cursed Aztec coin and neither character actually dies.
And speaking of death – your character never dies but is instead knocked out and sent to prison when the health meter reads zero. Maybe PoTCO is a step in the right direction for MMORPGs, which get their share of criticism for inviting behavior that many parents don't want their children exposed to. In my experience, the controls put in place didn't detract from the game in any meaningful way, but more experienced MMO fans will likely cringe at the lack of substantial PvP combat. Bilge rats, beauties and grog!Starting off with just a sword and a dose of courage, the game introduces you to the various control and combat mechanics. It's all very easy to get a handle on, and you're soon fighting skeletons and crabs on the beach for a bounty. Each type of combat – hand-to-hand, cannon, sailing and Voodoo – has its own set up upgrades and special abilities, which are upgraded with Skill Points.
Timing is crucial in hand-to-hand combat, with extra damage doled out based on various combination attacks. Out on the open sea, ship-to-ship combat is varied and can be a bit difficult if you're sailing solo on your vessel, as you have to alternate between captaining and manning the artillery. But sinking another ship is a satisfying endeavor and as with on-land combat, the plundering can be lucrative. As you complete various Quests and defeat enemies, you gain Notoriety – PoTCO-speak for levels. There is a main storyline to follow, of course, as well as numerous side-quests. I particularly enjoyed sailing aimlessly and sinking Navy ships, but often a well-equipped and heavily armored East India Trading Company vessel would spoil the party and fill my hull with holes in short order. I'd scour the beach for hours, killing enough crabs for a bounty to pay for ship repairs, then set sail again to repeat the process. New ships are expensive, so be prepared to complete some menial quests over and over to gather enough gold for upgrades.
Back on land, my combat skills increased substantially over the first few levels, and soon I was purchasing better weapons and learning new skills. Unfortunately, hand-to-hand combat is, on the whole, a bit dull. It's a hack-and-slash fest without much variation, although the combos and special moves (accessed with a right-click pie menu) break up the monotony a bit. Like all MMORPGs, damage per hit is based on a roll of the electronic dice, and this isn't something that interests me in the least. Born-and-bred RPG fans will be right at home, I'm sure. At least you can drink a soda with one hand and slash away at rogue alligators with the other. On more than one occasion I made the mistake of wandering off into the swamps or woods, only to be greeted by enemies many levels above my own. Instant death – err, knockout – was the general result, if I failed to turn tail and run in the opposite direction. While combat offered little in the way of variation, it was satisfying to finish off a group of Navy guards while fending off an undead pirate. For the same reason that combat in Diablo is fun, I suppose the combat in PoTCO is enjoyable as well: simplicity.
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