Jolly Rover



Ever since Monkey Island, pirates and Adventure Games go together like vampires and teenage-girl fiction. Just months after Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, we have yet another Point and Click games with a pirate theme -- but this time, the scurvy dogs really have bite.

Meet Gaius James Rover, a dachshund who aspires to follow his late father's footsteps as a circus clown. He accidentally creates a popular blend of rum that he names, in honor of his father, "Jolly Rover". When sailing with a shipment of Jolly Rover to Governor DeSilver of Groggy Island, James is captured by bulldog pirate Captain Howell. James reports the incident to Governor DeSilver, but is shocked to see Howell entering the Governor's office, delivering the very shipment of Jolly Rover that he stole from James! DeSilver rewards Howell, but takes James to task for failing to honor his contract -- not only has DeSilver refused to take his case, he now owes DeSilver money!

Something is mangy here, and James's subsequent investigations will dig up old bones that refuse to be laid to rest.

Two things are notable about this modest but competent Point and Click adventure, designed by Andrew Goulding as the first release of Brawsome Games: first, it brings back the "score" meter of old Sierra titles (but without the sadism associated with Sierra). Second, the game has a few tricks to make you play through it more than once.

"Ron: Pirates be a superstitious and none-too-bright lot, makin' things possible out there that ain't bein' possible in a more civilised location."
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: Count up all the dog-related puns you can find in this game. Go ahead, count 'em. Don't make a drinking game out of it, though, or you'll make yourself very sick.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "Captain Silvereye: Wanted for acts of piracy including murder, kidnapping, arson .... disturbing the peace, and docking without a permit."
 * Blood Magic:
 * Bridge Logic
 * Cain and Abel: Governor Guy DeSilver and his brother Alexander, in that order.
 * Can't Hold His Liquor: When he's given alcohol from Captain Howell, he collapses  when James wakes up, he lampshades it by saying "This is why I prefer tea."
 * Cannibal Clan:
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: crazy recluse Ron Copper explains the prevalence of voodoo in pirate games:


 * Collection Sidequest -- three: crackers (for unlocking concept art); pieces of eight (for unlocking music), and flags (for unlocking pirate biographies). These items can be Lost Forever, lots of Back Tracking is sometimes required, and in at least one case can only be discovered in a rather counter-intuitive manner.
 * Companion Cube: Beatrice, the portrait in the ship's hold (who looks uncannily like Clara in a dress). After three weeks down there, James has taken to discussing escape plans with her.
 * Concept Art Gallery: unlocked by collecting crackers.
 * Crazy Prepared: Ron Copper, fearing that someone will take his life, has mounted several cannons in front of his shack.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Dog Stereotype: James Rover is a fun-loving Dachshund. Howell and his cronies are Bulldogs. Governor DeSilver and his overachieving brother are Great Danes. An enthusiastic Pug is the barkeep. Cooks, being French, are poodles of lard. The lady pirates are either elegant sheepdogs or spaniels, but have a Rottweiler bitch as dumb door guard.
 * Expy: Rover is too close in character to Guybrush Threepwood for comfort: he is apt to pestering people with pleas, for example.
 * Fake Longevity: let us count the ways:
 * Collection Sidequest.
 * An achievement-like system of "medals". These are actual Achievements in the Steam version.
 * The game cannot be saved manually, but saves itself automatically every time you leave a scene, overwriting the previous save. This ensures that stuff lost are really Lost Forever -- a bane to 100% completists.
 * New Game+: having beaten the game once allows you to unlock the "designer commentary" during subsequent plays. The author is apologetic, knowing people will see it as a cheap way of extending the play, but says he got this idea from Portal.
 * Funny Animal
 * Ghost Pirate:
 * Hint System: giving crackers to your parrot unlocks hints.
 * Hollywood Voodoo: so simple that even pirates can use it.
 * I Can't Use These Things Together: James's monologues are often lampshaded, both by himself and by other characters.
 * Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: At the beginning, James is locked in a storeroom with all the supplies anyone could use to escape..
 * Lost Forever: Any collectibles left behind when you move onto a new area, but even more annoyingly, a Piece of Eight can only be acquired by following one specific, non-obvious strand of non-repeating dialogue.
 * MacGuffin Delivery Service:
 * Moon Logic Puzzle:
 * Oh Crap: James used the heat iron spell along with some gun powder and an iron sword to open a chasm...but he realizes too late that he's a little TOO CLOSE to the focus of the blast!
 * Fortunately, he's alive...but the explosion was a bit too loud.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: a hat is enough to fool Captain Howell's crew to mistake you as Davy, one of their own.
 * Pirate Booty
 * Pirate Parrot: Juan Leon, your portable hint dispenser.
 * Pungeon Master: James Rover.
 * Sibling Triangle:
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Captain Howell and Captain Butcher.
 * Spirit Advisor:
 * Talk Like a Pirate: with occasional Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe.
 * Three Plus Five Make Four: A variant appears, where you need exactly one unit of water to proceed.
 * The Uriah Gambit: In the backstory, Governor DeSilver tries to get rid of his brother Alexander (Captain Silvereye) by ordering him to fight a Spaniel Galleon, and he threw in some Unfriendly Fire just in case.
 * Videogame Objectives: The status bar at the top of the screen is constantly updated, not only with James' current objective, but with whatever's going on, period - usually a bizarre nonsense objective during a cutscene, or James' current (and frequently hilarious) thoughts.