PotC also allows you to take to the high seas, not just to reach new islands but also to participate in ship-to-ship battles. Controlling your ship on the ocean is pretty simple as there is no wind to contend with. Ships can easily turn and move in any direction and you can control your ship's speed as easily as if it were a car. Attacking enemies is a matter of aligning one of the sides of your ship with your target while trying to keep your ship away from enemy broadsides. Despite its simplicity, the ship combat can be enjoyable and there are always plenty of ships on the high seas.

PotC Online is pretty weak when it comes to supporting team play. Teams can only be formed when players are facing each other in the game, making it difficult to find and assemble a team. However, there's not really any motivation to do so. There's not really anything in the way of quests that require team play in the game and players can gang up on enemies at any time without the need to team up first. You can walk up to an enemy currently fighting another player and start hacking away, and once the enemy is killed all of the players involved will get experience from the fight.

No one ever dies in PotC Online. Should you find yourself defeated, whether it be by ghost pirate, British guard, or alligator, you'll be transported to jail. Getting out of jail is a simple matter of kicking down your cell door, after which you're free to return to the game. There's a minor penalty involved in that your max hit points will be slightly reduced until you win a few fights, but there's nothing along the lines of experience debt or lost items. The one place that death does appear in the game is in PvP battles, but in this case death is a voluntary state. By using a cursed coin players "die" and are taken to a special PvP realm where players can duel each other while no one gets "hurt" since you're all dead anyway.

PotC Online can be enjoyable enough, but it's a bit rough around the edges. There are some animation issues that cause enemies to appear as if they are blinking from one location to another and the like. The game also features numerous load screens as the island environments are broken up into numerous sub-areas. In addition to the annoying load screens, it can be difficult to navigate your way around an island because it's often not clear where to locate something. There are also some balance issues in that the enemy levels can be wide-ranging within an area. Nothing is more annoying than to be close to victory against an enemy at your level, only to have an enemy ten levels higher than you suddenly walk up and take you down quickly.

PotC Online is a good choice for anyone who has always wanted to try out massively multiplayer gaming but has been hesitant to start paying monthly fees for a game. It's simple to learn and master gameplay, along with Disney's watchful eye, make it good for younger gamers as well. And then there's always the tie-in to the movies, which will make the game a treat for those who loved the film trilogy. Make no mistake though; the game is not nearly as polished or sophisticated as top-tier MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 70%. It won't make anyone want to quit World of Warcraft, but it can be enjoyable enough if you'd like to try out a pirate's life for free.

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