The Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game is based on the four popular movies: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End and On Stranger Tides. This game combines these movies with the child-friendly Lego style of other Lego games, but for the most part, everything remains the same. The player takes control of characters like Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth, and Bootstrap, using their special abilities to solve puzzles. Most puzzles require building items with Lego-bricks or opening locked doors, aside from characters available to play, the player can also control animals such as a dog or a bird.
The story allows the player to choose one of the four movies and a chapter to play, each movie having four chapters. The game starts out with Jack Sparrow and Will Turner meeting in a duel, after which Jack fails to beat Will and is put in prison. The ship, The Black Pearl, arrives at the port and raids the city, freeing Will and his love, Elizabeth, who was captured by pirates.
The gameplay involves using special abilities to solve puzzles and progress through the story. Players can take control of various characters, each with their unique abilities, to overcome obstacles. The game features a mix of platforming, combat, and exploration elements, as players navigate through levels set in different locations from the movies.
One of the additional modes available is Free Play, which allows players to revisit previous chapters and play with any character they want. By playing this mode, players can find previously locked items that were inaccessible earlier in the game. These items can be traded for special features or used to buy new characters, allowing players to spend their money in the HUB world, a pirate bay with several shops.