[Aeoen]

I just finished Lego Pirates; though getting through Story Mode and part of Free Play was a nightmare--the game kept freezing. Some stages I had to restart my PS3 four or five times before I could get past certain events, but I scoured the Internet and had success* with these methods:

1. Disconnect from PSN. This had the biggest impact through my anecdotal evidence. When you first play Pirates, be connected to get trophies and whatever else the game does upon first loading, but after that, disconnect. Why this has any effect, I have no idea. After disconnecting from PSN, my issues dropped by close to 100%.

2. Disable/turn off all extras. TTGames has indicated this can cause issues, especially when fighting the Movie 4, Chapter 5 boss.

3. Pay attention to whether or not the game is actually frozen or just thinking/loading. A lot of times during Story, my screen would go black for 4 or 5 minutes. I found out that it was trying to play a cutscene that it couldn't find on the disk. If you can access the XMB, don't give up hope so quickly. Walk away, and come back in 4-5 minutes. If it hasn't moved on, quit the game via XMB. Now if you can't access XMB, then it's toast.

4. Don't jump around unnecessarily, especially during Free Play. I had so many freezes when jumping and landing in places not meant to be landed on.

5. Disable surround sound in your XMB-->Sound Settings. Wii owners reported this as having an effect. I didn't really notice a difference. This is definitely the last thing to try.

*Non-scientific anecdotal evidence. Your Mileage May Vary.