Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Pirates of the Caribbean Online
Developer(s)	Disney Online
Publisher(s)	Disney Online
Platform(s)	PC/Mac
Release	October 31, 2007
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Online

Pirates of the Caribbean Online is an MMORPG created by The Walt Disney Company, based on their film series and theme park attraction of the same name.

The game software is free to download, and players can choose either "Unlimited Access" for a $9.95 monthly subscription fee ($4.95 for the 1st month for new subscriptions), or a free-to-play "Basic Access" version which restricts most of the game content and displays advertisements in part of the game window. The game is officially available to players in the United States, United Kingdom (basic access only), parts of Mexico and Canada only. Disney also will announce this online game to be distributed in South East Asia by AsiaSoft in 2009

History

The game was developed by the VR Studio, a group of technologists and artists that are part of the Walt Disney Internet Group. It is the second MMORPG developed by the VR Studio, the first being Toontown Online which launched in 2003.

The game was first announced by The Walt Disney Company on April 26, 2005. It was originally scheduled to be released in summer 2006 to coincide with the release of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but its release was pushed back multiple times. The game went through two beta testing phases during 2007 and was officially launched on October 31, 2007.

Gameplay

Key features of the game include the ability to create your own pirate, own and sail ships in combat, and complete quests for gold (the game's currency), notoriety (the game's experience system), and unique weapons and treasure items.

There are various weapons to learn, and various skills to master in the game for each weapon. Currently, character leveling tops out at level 40, and skills max out at level 25, so only a fixed number of skill points (26) can be assigned to the skills in game. Weapons can be upgraded through purchase shops and quests found in the game. This is done to keep players from maxing all of the skills on one pirate, and encourages players to create new pirates with different attributes (unlimited players can make 4 pirates, and limited players can make 2).

Currently the weapons are:

The Cutlass: Your 1st in game weapon. You can learn various strikes and attacks that confuse the opponent to make them hit less often. It is a close quarters weapon and highly favored in PvP (player versus player) combat.

The Pistol: Your 1st ranged weapon. The pistol can fire different types of ammo to cripple and damage different types of enemies. Some examples include poisoning an enemy or draining a foe of all of their magic power.

The Voodoo Doll: The voodoo doll uses magic, and enemies must be attuned in order for the magic to take effect. Higher level voodoo doll players can increase the amount of enemies they attune, and can also heal and cure other players. Voodoo magic allows players to plague foes with bee swarms, curses, and fire, among other things. The doll is another highly favored weapon, due to the fact that it is the only healing weapon and you can also heal your character as well through the Life Drain spell.

The Dagger: A close quarters weapon like the cutlass, the dagger can produce multiple strikes on a single enemy, increasing the damage dealt. Daggers can also be thrown and other skills within the dagger training route boost close quarter weapon attacks.

Grenades: Powerful ranged bombs that can be thrown at multiple enemies for mass damage. They have a limited supply, and certain bombs set foes on fire while others blind them. Grenades have a wide area of effect, and players must make sure that they are out of the blast radius as they will also take damage. This makes the grenades one of the harder weapons to level.

The Voodoo Staff: A powerful ranged staff that can target many enemies, the voodoo staff must be charged in between blast to use the full potential of it's power. Weaker shots can be fired in between charges, and the player cannot move while charging the staff for a full blast. Some spells poison groups of monsters, while others work well against certain enemies, like Banish.

Players can also play parlor games for gold, and currently the games available are Poker (Tortuga Hold'em) and Blackjack. These games can be played with NPCs (non-player characters) or other online players.

Reception

The game has had mixed reviews overall. The game was criticized for the restrictions on "Basic Access" player content, as players who wish to experience the full game must pay a monthly fee. People who played free experienced extremely limited gameplay. The character could not be leveled up fully, only three weapon types are available, two types of ships are available, and many more restrictions.

External links

• Pirates of the Caribbean Online - Official site
• Game Created with Panda3d