Developer: Venture Moon Industries
Publisher: Alliance Digital Media
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler – Review
Beware, pirates are coming ashore once again! In this title, it’s Duke Grabowski and his mates who arrive in the harbor. While his mates will repair the ship after battle at sea, Duke has a quest to fulfill in town. Pay close attention, ask the right questions and solve the riddles well, as Duke’s fate is in your hands.
Story
Duke Grabowski is a member of captain Amerigo’s crew, but when the captain dies at sea, they have to vote for a new captain. Duke is a candidate, but the men just laugh at him, as with his big and strong appearance but weak heart, and his inability to communicate properly other than with his fists, they just don’t believe he will be a good captain. They do however offer him a chance, but only if he can woo three ladies, to prove that he is a true swashbuckler. Duke heads into town right away to try and find three ladies, but as his wooing skills are not that great, he will need to find another way to convince three women to vouch for him. How he will do that, you’ll have to find out for yourself throughout your playthrough.
The idea behind the story is simple and straightforward, yet the side routes you’ll have to explore if you truly want to convince the ladies keeps it all interesting enough. The pace of the story depends very much on the choices you make, but overall we found that the story runs rather smoothly.
Graphics
Colorful 3D characters and detailed backdrops give the game a vibrant look. The characters look quite appealing because of their colorful outfits, even though they look a bit rough around the edges. They move quite smoothly, but every now and then, they move through each other or through objects, being only a minor flaw though. What bothered us more was the fact that the lines of the characters (which are always displayed) are often displayed double, making it harder to read and not quite appealing. Other than that, the game looks quite nice.
Sound
It seems like the developers paid a lot of attention to the music of this game. The background music immediately gets you into a relaxed, tropical mood. Each place has its specific tune, which makes the places recognizable, yet the music never gets boring.
Since the game revolves a great deal around talking to different people, it didn’t come as a surprise that the voice acting of this title sounds very convincing. It adds a great deal to the personality of each character, and thus to the overall experience.
Gameplay
In this point-and-click adventure game, your goal will be to woo three ladies, and prove it to the crew. By asking questions to the right people, picking up the right items and going to the right places, you will eventually be able to pull some strings, but it’s basically a matter of trial and error, certainly at the beginning.
Clicking each character or object, you’ll have three options to choose from. You will be able to talk to the item/character, examine it, or touch it. Talking to a person might result in a bunch of different questions you can ask, and thus you can gain more information on certain topics. Examining things can be helpful as it might give away a clue, while touching or taking things can either cause a new line of conversation, or help you out during different tasks or riddles to fulfil.
Combining the info and items you get out of all three actions you can choose, will eventually give you enough hints to plan your following move or solve the issue at hand. As said before, at the beginning it is harder to figure out what to do, as there are so many options still open, but as the story progresses, it becomes more clear what your next move should be, without it being too obvious, not spoiling the fun. Truth be told, you can’t really do anything wrong, other than just wasting time on talking to the wrong people first. You do have to have some insight on how to combine certain things during the riddles, but we’re sure that you’ll be able to figure it out.
The only real downside to this game is that it will only entertain you for a short period of time, since the story is not that elaborate. It felt a bit as if the story ended, right at the time we started to get the hang of it. Nonetheless, despite being quite short, it does provide an enjoyable experience.
Conclusion
Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler provides a fun storyline and setting, where all you have to do is just click and play. Through trial and error you’ll have to find out how to reach your goal, but the game is well built up, giving you an enjoyable gaming experience. Graphically, the game looks very vibrant, despite some minor flaws. If you like story driven games, this one is definitely worth checking out, even though it will only give you about four hours of gameplay.
No Comments