During a press presentation earlier this month, Disney Interactive representatives demonstrated the "multiple pirate control" system of switching between characters in real-time on the ship of the Flying Dutchman. If you're fighting as Jack on one end, you can see your friends fighting across the deck and take control of them with a simple button press. The ship is very climbable. You can scramble up the rigging and walk across beams if you have decent balance (which in the PS3 version takes advantage of the Sixaxis motion sensor).

Another important gameplay feature is "adaptive swordplay." Rather than just cutting up your enemies, the sword is useful in other ways, such as lighting barrels of gunpowder on fire to solve Kraken tentacle involved puzzles below deck. For doing piratey things, you earn notoriety -- on the 360 version, your scores will be recorded on Xbox Live leaderboards.

In the Wii game, combat is remote-oriented, with light, heavy, and unlockable combo slashes, as well as a timed block and fake-out move. The PS2, PC, and PSP versions, on the other hand, all use essentially the same graphics and content as each other with traditional controls. Also specific to the Wii game are "Jackanisms," which are Jack-specific interactive moments with button prompts so you can have a hand in some scripted mischief. There will be tons of characters to unlock, and any level can be replayed as any of them. Some minigame-esque side-offerings include Multiplayer dueling, Liar's Dice (probably not wagering souls, which you may recall from the second movie), Texas Hold 'em style Poker, and Hearts.