Like the original, the Gummi Ship is used to travel between worlds. Instead of simply arriving at each new planet, the Gummi Ship has to go through an asteroid belt of sorts. These levels remind me of StarFox 64. Shoot the aliens and rocks until they blow up and collect whatever items they leave behind. These levels can get annoying, considering each level must be beaten before moving on to a new planet.
The game is quite linear, probably due to the age of the target audience for this game. It is obvious what the next objective is, as it is recorded in Jiminy’s journal. In some parts of the game several planets are opened at once, but some objectives cannot be accomplished because certain items are required. Therefore, there is little chance for exploration.
Some of the movie cut scenes are also influenced by catering to a younger audience. Obviously Pirates of the Caribbean involves dead people and violence. There is not much focus on the “dead” part of the pirates. Also, at the climax of the movie where Barbossa shoots Sparrow, all we see is the gun being pointed and then hear a “bang”. The camera is focused on other characters as the gun is being fired. Cuts such as these from the original movies are really disappointing.
The music and vocal acting are superb. Each world has an orchestral rendition of its respective Disney theme, and some battle jingles from Final Fantasy can be heard as well. Haley Joel Osment (you know, the kid that sees dead people!) does the voice work for Sora, but Christopher Lee absolutely steals the show (no spoilers here!). The lip-synching is good as well.
Also impressive is the group of actors used to voice the characters. Each Disney and Final Fantasy character that had a voice (not Cloud!) sounds exactly the same, although many of their characters are not voiced by the same actors. The only really noticeable differences are Mushu (Eddie Murphy) and the Genie (Robin Williams).
