Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a third-person action game currently scheduled for release alongside the movie of the same name next month. The game will be based on both the upcoming movie and last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and will feature all-new action sequences in addition to those that you'll recognize from the movies. We had an opportunity to check out work-in-progress versions of the game on both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 during a recent meeting with Disney Interactive, and we're pleased to report that we had a lot of fun doing so without catching too many movie spoilers.

　　The first level that we were shown before being allowed to play the game ourselves was set in Singapore, and it will see you assuming the role of Will Turner as he attempts to escort Elizabeth Swann and Barbossa to safety through a network of alleys and raised walkways. There were plenty of pirates in town with other ideas, of course, and they wasted no time making their intentions known with swords, muskets, and the like. The offensive moves you'll have at your disposal include sword attacks, punches, grabs, and the use of any offhand weapons that you've found. You'll also be able to perform some flamboyant counterattacks and evasive moves by facing enemies who are about to attack you and tapping a button when they move to strike—as indicated by a red circle appearing at their feet. Your arsenal won't be particularly varied, then, but you'll be encouraged to mix up your moves as much as possible because that's how you fill up the special attack meter used to power finishing moves. Those one-hit-kill moves are the only way to beat many of the minibosses, and they're also a great way to earn notoriety. You'll only have one finishing move for each of your characters at the start of your adventure, but you'll earn more as you progress, and you can then earn bonus notoriety by using the "correct" finisher when its corresponding button is highlighted on the screen.

　　Notoriety is essentially how your score will be measured in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and there are plenty of different ways that you can earn it. Picking up bags of treasure that are scattered throughout each level is perhaps the most obvious way to improve your score, but you'll also be rewarded for doing things in a "piratey" way. When in combat, for example, you might earn notoriety by throwing an enemy off a walkway or off the deck of a ship. All of the locales in the game will be interactive, and we get the impression that there'll be some fun to be had figuring out the more interesting ways to deal with enemies.

　　Jack Sparrow isn't the only character you'll be playing as.

　　The interactive environments should go some way to ensuring that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End doesn't become a repetitive hack-and-slash action game, and we had an opportunity to check out a couple of other action sequences that will make the gameplay more varied as well. During the kraken level based on Dead Man's Chest (in which giant tentacles rise up out of the water and set about demolishing the ship), you'll be able to distract the tentacles using grenades in a sequence that's not dissimilar to one seen in the original Half-Life. That level also features a brief sequence in which you'll be tasked with crossing a narrow beam, maintaining your balance using the analog stick on the Xbox 360 or by tilting the Sixaxis controller on the PlayStation 3. Another memorable level that we were given a chance to play for ourselves took place on the deck of a ship where at least a dozen or so enemies were engaged with Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Joshamee Gibbs, who—like all of the key characters in the game—were all instantly recognizable from the movies. For the duration of this sequence, we were able to switch between all three characters, and because all of them had to survive for us to complete the level successfully, we had to keep an eye on all of their health bars regardless of who we were playing as at the time. In another, similar sequence, we were tasked with doing our bit to influence the outcome of a ship-to-ship battle—setting our sword alight and then using it to fire cannons while fending off attacks from enemy boarders.

　　Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End support 1080p visuals and use the in-game engine for all cutscenes. The only noteworthy differences between the two games are that the PS3 version supports the Sixaxis controller's tilt functionality and the Xbox 360 version will have achievement points up for grabs. We look forward to bringing you more information as soon as it becomes available.