Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey
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Description
Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey is a Naval Action/RPG set in time of the American Civil War – the time of last pirate renaissance on the Caribbean. The Union fleet blockaded the Southern ports, rupturing all the trading connections of the Confederacy. In return, Confederate government started giving out the privateer patents, thus building a powerful fleet of commercial raiders, the best example of which was the legendary captain Raphael Semmes. Also, smuggling the goods through the blockade became very profitable, though risky, business and attracted numerous traders to attempts of running the blockade.
Abraham Gray, the main character, starts the game as a captain of a privately-owned vessel, but soon becomes involved into the story of blockade-running, military espionage and the ultimately powerful ironclad, built in Liverpool for the Confederacy. This ironclad alone could have change the course of war and bring the victory to the Rebel states. Then Abraham can join either Confederacy as a raider, or a Union as a spy.
The player is free to sail across the game’s world – from southern coasts of the USA and Florida to Jamaica and North Caribbean. He can trade and smuggle goods between nineteen ports – both free and blockaded, raid the cargo ships, battle the warships and ironclads and complete quests for either Union or Confederacy. Aside from naval combat, Swashbucklers features strong on-foot gameplay, in which Abraham slashes his way through in various locations, confronting dozens of various enemies and bosses.
The game’s role-playing system, based of three main characteristics and numerous perks, allows the player to develop the main character in various ways. He can improve his naval skills, learn new combos and shooting modes, or become the best trader in the Caribbean. Also, there are numerous options to upgrade the ship with Gatling guns, heavy weaponry, steam engines, or better sails.
Customer reviews
70
Not a bad game.
psymantis | April 4, 2011 | See all psymantis's reviews »The idea behind this game is that during the American Civil War there was a resurgence of privateers. Galleons and Ironclads fought each other and blockaded ports. I wouldn't look too much into it instead it's an excuse to have pirate ships with more modern weaponry blasting the heck out each other.
Metacritic gives this game an average of 44 with some very low reviews from critics. While it's true this game doesn't do anything new I personally found it fun. The sword fights when boarding go on too long and the UI can be a little clunky but a good experience can be found if you play it with an open mind. It's quite a shallow game but when I played it I enjoyed it.
Graphically it looks rather nice with a hand drawn quality that is appealing. The ship battles pre-boarding play like a more arcadey version of Sid Meier's Pirates. Poetic license has been taken with history so having a missile fired at your ship is to be expected along with the different types of cannon balls.
The negatives are the game can feel repetitive with a long boarding sequence and the voice overs in the game are done in strange grunts similar to Sid Meier's Pirates which is annoying in both games. I believe this game is worth purchasing at a budget price with low expectations. It is heavily inspired by Sid Meier's Pirates but is faster paced so in my opinion is worth trying. The gameplay isn't original and the history is nonsense but as a fun shallow game it's worth giving it a go when it's on sale.