The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is set to take off this summer. With the new movie, Dead Man's Chest and games coming out on multiple systems, it's going to be hard to miss. One of the biggest games that will be coming out is Pirates of the Caribbean Online. We had the opportunity to sit down with Mike Goslin, Vice President of the VR Studio at Disney Online to see the game, and talk a bit about it. The first thing that is clearly noticeable is this game is not the typical MMORPG. The only other game Disney Online has worked on is Toontown, a game targeted at younger players. Mike made clear from the very start that Pirates of the Caribbean (PoTCO) is aimed toward the mass market. Like Toontown, PoTCO will run on almost any hardware configuration. To run PoTCO, all the player needs is 256 megs of ram, a 32 meg video card, and a dial-up connection As you can expect, even at the highest settings Pirates of the Caribbean is not the most graphically impressive game, but what it lacks in pure aesthetics it makes up for in style. The world, which is based off the first, second, and next year's third movie, is huge. Mike said that the world should support between fifty and one hundred thousand players concurrently, but the world will include some types of instancing. New players start out in a cell with none other than Jack Sparrow. Jack will teach you the basics of the game, and will throw you right into the experience. When asked if other characters will make an appearance, Mike said they will, and frequently. Notoriety is a huge factor in Pirates of the Caribbean. The #1 goal is to become the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean. The ways to do this will vary, but your characters level, skills, and PvP achievements will factor in. In addition, a leader board of sorts will be in place so you can show off to everyone else in the world. Instead of the typical party in MMORPGs, players will be grouping up to control a ship. Ship control, which is fast and almost arcade like, is extremely fun, and ships can go as large as 10 people per ship, though 4-8 is the normal. As of this demo, players can take one of two roles on the ship. One person will captain the ship, controlling the ship entirely, while others take on the cannons. Once a ship is engaged, the canon fight begins. Ship damage is completely realistic. If you want to slow the enemy down, you can fire burning shots which burn the enemy's sails, or even better, fire chain shot which can severely hurt or destroy the masts of the ship. All canon fire is done through a first-person interface, and accuracy is important. Players cannot only hurt the ship, they can also fire upon other players on the ship and knock them off into the water. Melee combat can take place on ships or on land, and is also quite interesting. Players will have access to seven types of weapons, and 3 types of "voodoo curses". Each of these weapons has different styles, and performs differently under specific circumstances; so much so that you can only choose 3 weapons or curses to bring with you in a party, so balancing the party is key. Combat is fairly action-oriented. Close-combat melee is fast paced, and combos seem important. Ranged combat is 3rd person over-the-shoulder shooting, with an importance placed on aiming. Curses seem to work like magic, with one twist. To curse an enemy you have to run out and pull out a piece of its hair, and then you can curse it from almost any distance. Overall, Pirates of the Caribbean seems to be shaping up like a great title. Hardcore World of Warcraft raiders might not like it, but with the license and the broad-appeal, in one year we might be seeing a new king in the MMORPG realm. We would like to thank Mike Goslin and everyone at Disney Online for giving us the tour and talking about the game with us. Be sure to check back here at the Zam Network for more information about Pirates of the Caribbean Online.
-Ryan "Draknorr" Bohmann