Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey Preview

E3 Preview 2005

What’s this I be seein’? Another pirates game from Akella? Matey, and this one’s an RPG!

Swashbucklers: Blue & Grey looks to be the action/RPG version of Age of Pirates. Set during the Civil War, Swashbucklers is an open-ended adventure with multiple paths to take and multiple endings to achieve.

A huge emphasis is being placed on the story, primarily the aspect of its cinematographic movie sequences. At least some of the scenes are pre-rendered (CGI). How the cinematographic style will be applied to them – your guess is as good as mine. Bet on movie-based camera angles and scene-change techniques that Hollywood has been using for over 50 years.

Next to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Swashbucklers had the best water at the show. From realistic ripples and splashes to a texture job that’s out of this world, Swashbucklers has buckets of H2O. In fact there’s a whole sea of that stuff for you to see. Watching how the ships interact with it is the best part. 

Speaking of interactivity, players can man the cannons while sailing the high seas. Enemy ships and, if you’re foolish enough to get too close to shore, enemy castles and/or fortresses will attack with fireballs. It’s all fun and games until someone puts an eye out. Though I’m thinking that’s not much of a concern considering the kind of game this is. 

The ship that you acquire is expected to last quite a while. Its size and strength may not be able to get any better, but its arsenal most certainly can. Upgrade the ship with cannonballs to give your enemies a taste of their own medicine. Equip Gatling guns to blast open their barriers and to kill anyone who’s attempting to board the ship. Or add a few powder rockets just for fun.