Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 video game)



Pirates of the Caribbean is a 2003 video game for Xbox and Microsoft Windows, developed by Akella and published by Bethesda Softworks. A Sony PlayStation 2 version was also originally in development, but was later cancelled. An unrelated game under the same title was also released for mobile phones. It was developed by Flying Tiger Development and published through Walt Disney Internet Group on July 25, 2003, in the United States.

Pirates of the Caribbean is a action role-playing game in which the player, as Captain Nathaniel Hawk, goes on a series of quests for any one of the countries that control the islands of the Caribbean in the 17th Century. The player can buy new ships, recruit a crew and hire officers who will follow Hawk on his quest and help him in battle. The game features gameplay that takes place both on land and at sea, and allows the player to upgrade their character by earning skill points and gain new abilities.

The game was originally developed under the name Sea Dogs II, and was to be the sequel to Sea Dogs, which was released in the year 2000. Apart from the pirate theme, the setting and the presence of the Black Pearl, the game otherwise has few connections to the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl film, which was released around the same time as the game.

Actress Keira Knightley, who played Elizabeth Swann in the film series, voiced the narrator in the game.

Plot
After a fierce storm in 1630, Captain Nathaniel Hawk arrives on the island of Oxbay. His first mate is retiring and he needs to spice things up a little. As he leaves Oxbay the French attack the colony and capture it. He manages to slip away and warn the English Governor on Redmond Island that Oxbay is attacked. He sends you to run several quests until you meet an old inventor who helps you find a treasure that could defeat the evil ghost ship, the Black Pearl!

There are many side quests, for example, you help the Dutch colonist find several lost children.

The Black Pearl
The Black Pearl makes an appearance but it is unknown if Hector Barbossa is the captain (although Barbossa is set as the ship's default captain in the game's code). It does not attack the player unless attacked, in which case it will destroy the player. At night the Black Pearl's crew appears as skeletons. After the adventure on Khael Roa, The Victory enters battle with it and destroys it.

Modifications
The game Pirates of the Caribbean was released prematurely in order to coincide with the release of the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Numerous fans of the original Sea Dogs franchise were disappointed to find that the gameplay suffered because of its early release.

As a result modifications of the PC version of Pirates of the Caribbean have begun springing up. These modifications alter the content and gameplay in order to make, what the modifiers consider, a more palatable game. These modifications often add music from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to the game as well as characters, ships and locations. One of the most popular modifications adds a more accurate duplication of the Black Pearl to the game. These modifications are becoming increasingly common due to the apparently simple coding language of the games engine.

Certain modifications either decrease or increase the difficulty of gameplay. Modifications are also created to make the sailing a more accurate simulation, rather than than the simplistic arcade-style sailing that appeared in the original game.

Individuals

 * Clement Aurentius
 * Virgile Boon
 * Ewan Glover
 * Everard Gordon
 * Danielle Greene
 * Nathaniel Hawk
 * Malcom
 * Valentin Massoni
 * Arabella Silehard
 * Robert Christopher Silehard

Locations

 * Falaise de Fleur
 * Gray Rock Bay
 * Greenford
 * Octopus Bay
 * Oxbay
 * Redmond

Ships

 * Albion
 * Black Pearl
 * Oiseau
 * Victory