Lego is back for another instalment and this time we delve into the world of swashbuckling pirates and bounties of treasure. Come join Jack Sparrow and myself on a journey across the high seas as we let you know whether this latest Lego centric title soars to the top of the mast or sinks to the bottom like a canon ball filled ship.

Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean follows the stories of the 4 films in the franchise including the recently released “On Stranger Tides”. The four movies are broken into 5 chapters each which cover main plot points from each of the titles. The main focus is on Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) whilst there is no voice acting in Lego titles, the humour and mannerisms are captured surprisingly well especially the flailing arms of Sparrow. For those unfamiliar with the franchise our main antagonist Captain Jack Sparrow is the greatest pirate to ever sail the seven seas.

Your first play-through will put you in charge of just a handful of characters specific to each scene. Saying that even fans of the movies may find it a stretch to identify some of the cut scenes related to the movies and levels in the game. Just like the other Lego titles each player will have a unique set of skills to unlock puzzles and reach secret areas. A very nice touch is Jacks special compass which helps you find 8 special items in each level some of which some are mandatory. The subsequent play-throughs are the real strength of Lego games as there is always some area you couldn’t reach initially. It will have you thinking outside the box to find all of the Minikit’s (a collectable) and compass items, whilst smashing enough blocks to reach “True Pirate” status. One fantastic addition to Lego pirates is no cheat codes for the special unlocks such as Double Treasure, Minikit finder and a host of others. These special codes need to be unlocked by finding Red Hats in the Hub (starting area) and then purchased with coins that you have collected. This really added to the replay-ability for myself personally.

One gripe of previous Lego titles is the combat, it is often tedious, Lego Pirates has done a great job of including it whilst making the primary focus the puzzle solving which is the strength. This ranges from breaking blocks to build pieces you require, to finding special Lego blocks, right too manoeuvring barrel into place to raise a bridge.

Whilst there is no online co-op the local drop in drop out co-op is back and class leading. The dynamic split screen experience is a model which all other games should take note of. The camera always gives equal shares of screen real estate to each player whilst allowing you to focus on what you want to achieve, with the added bonus of not falling off the map. I still personally prefer playing Lego games solo but it is a nice touch. But please please please give us online co-op in the next title it may just change my mind.

The visual tweaking continues on from the improvements released for Star Wars III Clone wars and looks fantastic for a Lego game. The music score has been lifted straight from the movies and is excellent and gets you in the spirit. As mentioned earlier there is no voice acting but the character grunts and groans sound like they were lifted straight from the movies.

Difficulty is not a word that can really be associated with Lego games and that’s why it’s the perfect games for youngsters whilst older gamers will enjoy chasing the 100% completion and 1000 gamer score or platinum trophy with relative ease. The AI is quite good and your fellow companions are quite adept at clanging swords, shooting guns and breaking bottles over the baddies. You start off with 4 hearts and if you ever manage to lose all of these the only penalty is a loss of some lego studs which can be picked up again if you are quick enough or have the treasure magnet cheat turned on.

The levels offer an excellent variety as do the puzzles. My only gripe with the levels was that sometimes when you needed to jump from say a post to another post the camera does a horrible job of keeping you in perspective and is fiddly to say the least. Also walking over beams was sometimes controller breaking material. Levels vary from land to sea and from day and night and they all have their unique look and feel that will keep you interested as you progress through the story.

In conclusion Lego Pirates is right up there with the best of the Lego games. The lack of cheats really encourages a second play through and this is backed up by a stack of attainable chieves or trophies to go hunting for. Whether you are a Lego games aficionado, new to the franchise or just love the movies I think you will love your time as a pirate. So all I can say is set sail, Ahoy me mateys Master Bates is on deck to help old Sea-man Staines conquer the seas. ARGHHHH