Review Jolly Rover Developer: Brawsome Publisher: Brawsome Steam, D2D & various other online outlets (digital download) Genre: Comedy Adventure with Casual Elements / Independent Developer Release Date: June 7, 2010 (Digital download)   Platform: (version reviewed) Review by Greg Collins June 11, 2010		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

If you have for some odd reason ever harbored the dream of having the characters in the famous "Dogs Playing Poker" painting abandon their poker table and embark on a costume-epic adventure game, then, me hearties, your pirate ship has just come in. The new casual adventure from Aussie developer Brawsome, Jolly Rover, is a charming, at times challenging and even (for a casual game) fairly long adventurous cartoon romp o'er the 19th century's bounding main in the great tradition of The Secret of Monkey Island.

Not that matters start out so well. Jolly Rover begins as most casual games these days do with enough pop-up windows and chattering marginalia to drive an honest dog to drink. These distractions soon quiet down, however, to the occasional announcement, in the ever-present top-bar that you've just earned this or that reward or unlocked this or that bonus material. There is also, à la Sierra On-Line, a running game score in the upper right of the screen.

Gaius James Rover is a dashing dachshund captaining a cargo ship full of Jolly Rover rum on behalf of the governor when his ship is waylaid by pirates. Jolly must escape his buccaneer captors and their ship, and make good on his lost shipment of rum. Ah, but even after escaping, many a complication ensues and before long the newly christened "Jolly Rover" finds himself on an island of cannibals, then hot on the heels of a fabulous buried treasure, then embroiled in a cat-and-mouse romance with an alluring Cavalier King Charles spaniel (I may have that breed wrong) who is the daughter of an infamous dog of a pirate captain, the spirit of which Gaius must raise from the dead . . .

As I say, the plot admirably mimics the derring-do and shenanigans of a long-lost Monkey Island title, which is no mean feat for any game developer. In addition to the usual conversation and inventory puzzles, there's a book of voodoo recipes you'll have to master as well as the occasional stand-alone logic conundrum. You're almost sure to find your own favorite canine breed among the largish cast, though I can't promise whether they'll be on the side of the good guys or not. All of these dashing dogs are well-voiced by a not-that-large cast of voice actors (it is a casual game, after all). The writing is also either going to tickle you pink or turn you red with rage. Jolly Rover has a penchant for puns and other wordplay that you're going to love or hate. All of it, however, is acted with fun and gusto.

If you're a veteran fan of the recent avalanche of casual games, you will probably also love all the game's extras, such as unlockable songs and concept art and what have you. During the game, Jolly can pick up crackers and pieces of eight, both of which can help him in-game and out. In-game, crackers will buy you time with the parrot Juan, who resides not on Jolly's shoulder but in his inventory. Trot Juan out whenever you're stuck and you'll be charged – I think the rate is one cracker per minute. Mercifully, Juan is a completely passive helpmate. No one likes either a pushy parrot or a pushy help system. During the game play itself, you will have a few opportunities to buy your way past guards if you've accumulated enough pieces of eight by that time. Be forewarned, however, that spending your hard-earned loot will knock points off your total game score.

Speaking of the game score, the music and sound effects in Jolly Rover are not quite up to Monkey Island snuff (how many game soundtracks are?) but they are more than jolly enough to keep you tapping your boot toe. Not surprisingly, Jolly Rover is a download game of about 150 megs, available, if the official website is to be believed, at an astonishing number of places, and for Mac as well as PC. Jolly Rover was made with some game engine I've never heard of before, but, suffice to say, it all ran like a corvette under full sail over calm Caribbean seas for me.

About the only thing I'd knock crackers off Jolly's overall score for is its not quite top-drawer cartoon style. One other caveat is that though this looks like a kid-friendly game, some of the content is decidedly PG-13. It took me about half a dozen hours to play Jolly Rover and I enjoyed his company more than I thought I would when we first set sail. Good dog.

System Requirements:

PC

• Windows 7, Vista, XP SP1 & 2
• Pentium IV 1.2 Ghz processor or faster
• 1 GB RAM
• 256 MB RAM
• 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution
• 160 MB available hard drive space

Mac

• Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4
• G4 800 MHz or faster processor
• 256 MB RAM
• 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution
• 160 MB available hard drive space