Consider this a heads-up: Propaganda's seafaring action-RPG is looking pretty cool.
Though I've ridden the ride like eight or nine times, I've never seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I think I just got caught up in some serious pirate burnout, brought on by too many lame indie rock chicks and all the stupid "YO DOG PIRATES AND NINJAS SHOULD FIGHT" crap that came and went a few years back. That and I guess I haven't really enjoyed anything Johnny Depp has done since Blow. Anyway, with that in mind, it shouldn't surprise you to hear that I wasn't really too keen on checking out the latest game to bear the name, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. But this Propaganda-developed action-RPG looks pretty promising and it's set before the films, giving the game a cohesive universe to work with without forcibly strapping its narrative to that of a simple movie.
Me timbers are shiverin' already. Armada of the Damned is designed as an action-RPG with a combat system that includes basic light and heavy attacks, a pistol that can be worked into combos, blocks and parries on defense, and special moves that require you to fill a meter before they can be deployed. That combat system, along with a lot of other things in the game, are impacted by the moral decisions you make as you quest your way around the high seas. Though it sounds like the game's developers are attempting to make those moral choices less obvious than a simple "are you good or evil" decision-making process, it eventually puts you in the role of a legendary (good) or dreaded (bad) pirate. Your abilities, skill tree, and even the look of your pirate ship are governed by that role. Though I don't normally play the evil path in games unless I'm reviewing them, the dreaded pirate is armed with a gigantic anchor that you bust out during combos. Certain special attacks, such as one that slams the ground and pops enemies up into the air with a surprise geyser of water, make great use of the anchor, as well. Special attacks are governed by a meter that fills as you fight.
Piratas! The quest being shown off at Disney's pre-E3 event had me making my way to the highest point on an island, where an idol needed to be tinkered with. The end choice essentially asks you if you want to keep the idol for yourself or carve your own face onto it. The carving is the "legendary" choice, because even though defacing an item of worship isn't especially "good," you are, after all, still a pirate. The immediate result is that keeping the idol causes the ensuing boss fight to come along with some additional enemies--in this case, creepy-looking crab men. But there's a longer-term impact, as well. Apparently carving your face into the idol gains favor with the locals--since you look just like the thing they pray to--and gives you discounts on local goods. Keeping the idol lets you sell it for a lump of cash... and sends the entire island crashing down until everything of worth is destroyed. It sounds like you'll have to return to this specific island later in the game if you want to truly see the effect your actions caused.
It's just one example, but it was a pretty effective one for the brief time I spent with the game. It sounds like you'll have plenty of other opportunities to shape the world as you see fit and experience a long, twisting narrative. To hear Propaganda's Dan Tudge tell it, there are around three novels' worth of dialogue in the game, or around 180,000 words. I realize that isn't exactly a useful number, since games don't often get broken down into word counts, but hey, that at least sounds big.
All of that action is backed up by a great-looking stylized world that will feature some familiar locations from the films. It'll also feature the open sea, as you'll be able to put together a crew and set sail. Ship combat--including ramming other ships into tiny pieces--will also be a factor, though only the on-foot stuff was on display for this demo. It was certainly enough to leave me interested in seeing more. You'll be able to hit man-sized crab monsters in the face with an anchor yourself this fall on Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.
