PoTCO is a mixed bag in the visuals department. The minimum requirements according to Disney are an 800MHz Intel Pentium 3-level processor (1GHz recommended), 256MB RAM and a 32MB (64MB recommended) DirectX9-capable graphics card. I gave the game a whirl on a well-spec'd system, and at maximum detail settings the visuals were nice but not breathtaking. Models are relatively low polygon and textures are well-done but not detailed; the shaders are passable but not exciting, even when cranked up. Effects such as explosions are varied and keep with the cartoony feel of the graphics. Not quite cell-shaded but certainly not realistic, the graphics point to an animated influence, which is no surprise considering the developer.
Jim was adamant that I not captain his ship, so I enjoyed the breeze.
A ray of light guides you on your current quest.
Overall, it's a nice visual theme with a vibrant color palette and some neat effects, like water reflections and day-to-night ambient lighting changes. I wasn't looking for Everquest 2-caliber graphics, but I can't help and think that if the graphics are passable at maximum detail right now then it won't be long before the game looks dated. I swapped a NVIDA GeForce 8800GTX card for an ATI Radeon X1800-based card, and even at the same maximum settings with a stock Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 processor, the frame rate rarely dipped below 45. We'll wait until release before giving the game a go on a wider array of hardware and giving our YouGamers hardware recommendations.
With graphics options set to their highest, the visuals are nice but not brilliant.
Looks like I'm about to be ganged up on.
I enjoyed my time with PoTCO, but the multiplayer aspect certainly took a backseat to the single-player questing. Whether or not the game will retain its fun factor with hordes of players and mandatory group quests is a question best left for after the go-live. Thankfully, Disney has offered up far more than a cheap movie tie-in. They are throwing enough resources at this game to keep the Pirates franchise going long after the final movie is made. An MMORPG lives and dies by its players, though; will PoTCO have the draw to attract a large, dedicated crowd of would-be pirates? We'll know soon enough. There are some technical issues to sort out, from the usual lag issues and rendering bugs. There are daily updates to the code, which makes me think the release may not coincide with the U.S. movie release. And, yes, I admit that I had some fun.
Blackjack is one way to earn some extra gold (or go broke trying).
Yes, that is a ship sailing through the beach and yes – the game still has some bugs.
So does this mean that I'll stop making fun of my WoW-addicted friends? Never. Let's keep this our little secret, OK? Don't make me feed you to the sharks.
NVIDA GeForce 8800GTX
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