Many casual gamers might see Swashbucklers as little more than a cheap imitation of "Sid Meier's Pirates." After comple
One of the things that Swashbucklers does really well is give the player a sense of accomplishment by allowing them to pursue progressively more difficult challenges. For example, I love that you can take on larger ships with more guns and still have a chance to capture her if you play the battle to your strengths. The larger battleship might have more sailors, greater armor, and a lot more guns, but if your ship is faster and more maneuverable you still have a chance if you force the enemy ship into a game of "cat and mouse."
I also really like the introduction of boss fights into the game. After completing a series of quests, the main quest that you're working on usually comes down to a boss fight that again challenges the player to take advantage of the boss characters weakness.
If only the game did everything right. The graphics are so unappealing that it's hard to give the game a chance. Also, comparisons to "Sid Meier's Pirates!" are unavoidable where the characters only grunt and make unintelligible sounds. Seriously, what were they thinking! It's hard to draw me into a game if I can't even understand what the characters are saying much less relate to them.
The game is overall above average. However, I expected much more from developer "Akella" who also made such open-ended, inspired games like "Sea Dogs" and "Pirates of the Caribbean." I hope they can once again create a game that not only gives you tasks and assignments, but gives you that sense of adventure that makes you feel that the world is your oyster!