Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is yet another installment of Traveller's Tales hit line that brings everyone's favorite buildable-toys to life. This time, of course, it is Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, and with this newest installment, we have a few new features as well.

But first, the graphics. I will say, I felt a bit remiss when the version that came in for review was for the Wii. With this version comes the less-than-stellar graphics and, well, controls that just don't quite seem right. Maybe it just comes from playing the other Lego titles with normal controllers, but I found there were certain actions that I constantly hit the wrong buttons, but that's a discussion for another part of the review.

Visually speaking, the game looks good given the Wii's capabilities. Besides details like palm-tree fronds looking pixellated and the shimmering water causing similar effects, all of the Lego characters, locations and set-pieces really fit the style of the Lego toy line. As always, this is a high point in these games.

Sound is also a big plus. While the characters still don't talk, their grunts, hums and noises still convey the full meaning of the dialogue from the movies. This, combined with the great background music from the films, completes the package.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is exactly what any one would expect, provided they've played any of the other similar Lego games.

This game will take you through the four existing films, Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End and the most recent release, On Stranger Tides. As always, the game follows the movies rather closely, if you don't mind the overly-slapstick manner that it conveys the story.

Each movie has five levels filled with collectibles that you will have to go back to multiple times in order to get all the goodies. Long-time followers of the series will know that the Story Mode of a level restricts you on the characters you play as and teases you with areas you can't get to. When Free Play is unlocked for that level though, you can go back in with all of the characters you have unlocked and make your way into all of the various locations you could only see before.

This time around, there are some new skills and character types that add a bit of variety to the game. While all characters can build, some items are broken machines that only certain characters, like Gibbs and Mr. Brown, can fix. Other places can only be reached by the cursed crew of the Flying Dutchman, while characters that don't need to breathe, i.e. the Cursed, the Dutchman crew or zombies, can walk along the bottom of lakes and rivers indefinitely in order to get to hard to reach locations and switches.

There are, of course, the standard character types like the ones that can blow up shiny Lego parts and the ones that can double jump, but probably the most interesting character in the whole bunch is Jack Sparrow himself. The main reason is because one of the collectibles in each level is eight items hidden such that only Jack's compass can find them. So while the game boasts the standard Mini-kit (in this case, ships in bottles) and stud collection (called "True Pirate" this time around), there is also Jack's Compass items that need to be ferreted out.

I do have to say though, that there were two separate occasions in different parts of the game where my Wii locked up. I don't know if it was from overheating or what, but I've never had that particular system lock up on me before.

As with the past games, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game isn't a hard one to get through. There are times when getting all of the various collectibles is a bit of a challenge, but as you unlock various extras in the hub, Port Royal, finding these tidbits is easier. There are the standards like score multipliers that will make earning True Pirate a cinch, as well as the Mini-kit detector that will point you in the right direction for those elusive Lego parts.

Despite the game's relative ease, it is still a lengthy experience. The amount of time it takes to thoroughly play through each of the missions in a movie is a bit awe-inspiring, and that's just in Story Mode. When you remember that you will have to play through each level two or sometimes three times (depending on the characters you've unlocked), the amount of game time packed into this title is amazing. Again, this should come as no surprise to those who have played other Lego games since this has pretty much always been the case.

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game's biggest hurdle, at least personally, was the controls. Like I said earlier, I much prefer having a standard controller in my hands for these games, and right up to the end, I found myself fumbling around with some of the Wii's controls.

The basic controls are fine, and like most Wii games, you move your character with the Nunchuck's stick and jumping is the (A) button, but other tasks, even something as simple as building, just didn't feel right. When I wanted to build, I should hit the (Z) button, but usually tapped the (B). What seemed more annoying though was the context-heavy nature of your actions. If you are standing by something that your character can't interact with like an object that needs to be dug up, and you hit the (Z), a little symbol appears over his/her head showing what needs to be done. That's typically fine, unless I am playing a character, like Jack, that has something I actually want to do. In the case of Jack, that would be pulling up his compass. If you stand too close to something he can't work with when you try and bring up his compass, he will instead tell you he can't do the other tasks.

While that is a bit annoying, it is only an annoyance and doesn't hurt the game too much. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is still a great game that should be enjoyed by any fan of Pirates, Legos or just good family entertainment. I would recommend one of the other consoles over the Wii version though for the visuals alone.