Actually, the very first Pirates of the Caribbean game was awesome. The only thing it had to do with the movie was the lore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QE7SS2Sf6w
It's funny, (and by funny I mean strange but depressing) I wonder how many people know that this game was known as Sea Dogs 2 until one day the Sea Dogs 2 website was suddenly and mysteriously replaced by the Pirates of the Caribbean website and the Sea Dogs 2 forum completely vanished overnight.
It seems like Bethesda/Disney really got away with this one scot free.
To OP, try hitting up
PiratesAhoy. The site focuses on wooden ships 'n pirates, and the forums can be a treasure trove for learning about upcoming swashbuckling titles.
And as to the quoted text above, yes. Many times yes. Disney be damned, the underlying game is great fun. The sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean has an extensive modding community, but to my mind it is not yet as advanced as the modding efforts that have gone into Pirates of the Caribbean. The forums for PiratesAhoy are home to the
PotC BuildMod. A massive, and I mean that in every sense of the word, modding project that overhauls the base game in ways that cannot be fully explained, but I'll try. They even gained access to the source code for the base game, even better things are on the way.
Some features off the top of my head:
-New and more realistic Caribbean map.
-Sail from island to island in deck view (not the hokum zoomed out map)
-More realistic sailing, and sailing points.
-Cycling weather
-Cycling time
-Much improved trading system
-Better boarding actions
-A bunch more ships (that perform with a nice dollop of realism)
-Better quests
-More land based locations
-Random encounters
-Romance! (No SM Pirates! dancing and heaving bosoms)
-Multiple main story lines/eras to choose from.
-Overhauled character development.
-Some realism changes, like a fudging of data as to wind speeds and enemy ship info.
-More weapons and other items.
-Ability to fly false flags
-Many new diplo changes, and the situation with the powers in the Caribbean can be quite dynamic as a result.
-Many options that can be customised to preference.
-Many smaller mods are available to bring the experience more in line with your expectations.
-Crew management (food + wages + ability to customize both)
And I just know that I'm forgetting a lot of the excellent features. The BuildMod is buggy, but I've yet to play a game that rivals it. I queue some sea shanties up and then proceed to sail by the deck view only from island to island. Outrunning and outmaneuvering the Hun is just as fun and rewarding as combat is in this game. And the storms, wow. I just wish there were more sail settings to play around with. Give it a look, it might just be what you're looking for.