Despite most gamers’ enduring affection for all things piratical a breakdown in the usual laws of licensing (which decrees that any movie with an explosion in it must be turned into a video game) has conspired to make this the first serious attempt to actually adapt the whole of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. To make up for lost time this actually tackles both Dead Man’s Chest and the new movie. In this sense the bloated narrative of the two Pirate sequels leaves just enough plot to stretch out for a single game.

Although you do get to control the other characters occasionally, most of the game is spent in the heavily swaying boots of Captain Jack Sparrow. This is a shame, not because the characters play exactly the same, but because their virtual likenesses are almost scarily realistic. In fact the game’s graphics as a whole are extraordinarily good, showing a level of effort and attention to detail that sadly isn’t really matched by the gameplay.

On a basic level this is exactly the sort of third-person action game you’d expect for a movie tie-in. As such there’s a smattering of very simple Prince of Persia style platforming and lots and lots of sword fighting. The latter actually seems a lot of fun at first, until you realise you’ve really only got one attack button that matters and jabbing that at random is enough to get you through most of the game. There is a separate fighting system for boss encounters, but this also seems to have a rather patronising opinion of the average player’s hand-to-eye co-ordination. Although, if not for the excellent graphics, that makes it no different than most other movie adaptations.