In practical terms, the game employs a clever dynamic split screen to assist you. You are often reminded that another player can join in, and a second player certainly adds to the experience. It is no surprise that the game places such importance on local co-op gameplay, as it is a mainstay of LEGO titles. It is just a shame that for every moment of enjoyable gameplay, there are red-mist-inducing sections around the corner. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls are reasonably intuitive, the puzzles can be challenging and engaging, while some platforming and combat is fun and smooth. On the other side of the gold doubloon, however, there are moments where the game delivers solid gameplay. It is entirely possible that inexperienced or easily irritated gamers will have similar experiences. We consider ourselves experienced gamers here at Nintendo Life, but near-impossible jumps, puzzles that defied logic and exits that are barely perceptible to the naked eye almost destroyed a few Wii Remotes. Playing in both single player and co-op, we experienced a number of puzzles and areas that would halt our progress for up to 20 minutes at a time. It isn’t always team members who slow down progress, but sometimes obscure environmental puzzles. Maintaining teams with only a couple on screen would, in our opinion, help to alleviate these problems. When in smaller areas it becomes completely chaotic, with too many characters on screen. The AI is a nuisance, with so called team mates often getting in your way and occasionally even pushing you off ledges to your doom. This is partly due to the team dynamic, meaning that you are often running around with around half a dozen other characters. While smashing objects for lego studs is as fun as ever, the puzzles and general level progressions run into problems. Issues with level design aren’t restricted to the size of the level, but are also exacerbated by common features from the series. Frustration and confusion occur too frequently as a result. Areas are so impressive in scope that the camera will often pan-out to allow to you take in its splendour, making it difficult to see what you're doing. A series full of large-scale set pieces and locations is perfect for video games, but in the case of this title it leads to gameplay problems. One thing that's immediately clear in this iteration is that the developers aimed to portray the epic scale of the movies.

Lego pirates of the caribbean