Jolly Rover is a 2D graphic adventure game developed by Australian studio Brawsome. The game was released in early 2010 for the PC, distributed digitally.
The game takes place in an 18th-century pirate setting in which all of the characters are dogs. The game's story revolves around a sausage dog named Gaius James Rover, who is kidnapped by a crew of pirates, before becoming a pirate himself. The game play, characters, and story are comparable to the Monkey Island series, which the game makes multiple references to.
Gameplay
Jolly Rover is a traditional point-and-click adventure game in which players control the character of Gaius James Rover. The player must explore a range of environments, and solve a series of puzzles in order to progress through the game. The majority of the game's controls are performed with the use of the cursor, as the player uses Gaius to travel through different environments, pick up items, combine items, examine objects and converse with various non-playable characters.
At the beginning of the game, Gaius meets and befriends a parrot by the name of Juan Leon. The character of Juan Leon doubles as a hint system throughout the game, as Gaius may ask Juan questions in order to receive subtle hints. The player may also use Gaius to feed Juan crackers in order to receive increasingly stronger hints from the parrot.
The game is focused on a young and naive British Dachshund named Gaius James Rover who is sailing across the seas to deliver a cargo of Jolly Rover, a brew made of rum spoiled by tobacco to governor Guy DeSilver residing on Groggy Island, a small backwater and haven for pirates. However, James is quickly captured by pirates led by Captain Howell who is the first one to give him the nickname and titular name Jolly Rover.
After three weeks in capture, James Rover manages to escape and disguises himself and meets Juan Leon the Parrot, a wisecracking animal sidekick that would serve as the hint system for the game progress. But Jame finds that they have already arrived at Groggy Island and captain Howell simply orders him to roar him into shore.
James tries to confront Governor DeSilver and accuses captain Howell for trying his cargo but Howell denies it and settles the arrangements with delivering the same cargo of rum that he stole from James. DeSilver then proceeds to threaten a rather desperate and reluctant James to settle the debt of 50 pieces-of-eights by paying him 5 pieces per month or be put in jail and most likely hanged. James agrees the terms reluctantly and is recruited by captain Howell to be their ship cook for making up for the incident and that James disposed of their previous cook earlier.
During his quest to make "Salamagundi", a favored salad dish for the pirates, James is given by a Dalmatian retired pirate a guide book on Voodoo which will be very useful for the game such as Raise the Dead, Voices of the Dead, Scare Beast and Heat Iron. He also learns that DeSilver was a notorious pirate hunter who betrayed his own brother privateer later known as the legendary pirate Captain Silvereye, the nickname being that he used an eye patch with a silver coin attached to it. After Captain Silvereye mysteriously disappeared, DeSilver semi retired and became governor of Groggy Island, controlling the blackmarket trade with an iron fist. To make matters worse, James sneaks into his office and it is accidentally revealed that the corrupt governor is in league with a sinister voodoo priest by supplying him with human sacrifices (or rather dog sacrifices in this case) in exchange for immortality.
James completes his task by making the salad dish to the pirates and they have a round of rum. Though reluctant, James toasts his share of rum with the pirates but being extremely light headed, James promptly faints after only one drink.
During a dream flashback, it is revealed that when he was a young pup, Jame's father was a famous clown working for a circus and that the young pup promised to have his very own circus one day. James' father proudly encourages his sick son to sleep and walks off to work where it is highly suggested that it was the very same night where James' father was tragically comedic killed from a blow to the groin from an improperly loaded joke cannon.
James Rover wakes up on Cannibal Island dumped by captain Howell as a distraction to the supposedly cannibals who lives there. However the cannibals is revealed to be an all-female pirate crew led by captain Marianne posing as cannibals to either kill or scare off any intruders, males specially. James disguises and infiltrates the camp where he meets a female cocker spaniel and love interest Clara DeSilver, the daughter of Captain Silvereye.
The two team up to escape the island since Clara no longer desires to be with her previous crew and arrives to a labyrinth cave where her father's ship The Red Herring is hidden but none of them can really find it. But James uses his voodoo book to hear the ghostly voices and uses it to guide themselves to the ship, but none of them can really sail a ship since the ship needs a crew and James is the son of a clown. James uses the Raise the Dead spell and summons the spirit of Captain Silvereye who takes the ship to Shipwreck Island, Clara's family home.
Guided by the pirate ghost, Clara and James arrive to her home where they find that Clara's ghostly father has finally put into rest near her mother's grave. Clara decides to rest in her room up in the tree house while James Rover decides to search for the treasure that captain Silvereye left behind. After a series of puzzles, James finally reaches his goal but the evil governor DeSilver has followed him behind, intent to kidnap Clara for his own evil purposes. James finally embraces his destiny as Jolly Rover the Pirate and challenges DeSilver... Only to get a sword handle delivered to his head which knocks him out.
Oddly enough while he is passed out, James receives a spiritual guidance by his father who states how proud he is with his son even though James regretted to never fulfill his promise to have his own circus while they pass juggling balls to each other. When James asks his father what to do next, he simply says "think fast!" and knocks James out and softly says to him to wake up.
James wakes up and finds himself on a very small island with a simple palm tree and an empty barrel and a hangman's knot. But James manages to lure a sea turtle and ties it to the barrel with the rope and he runs off back to Groggy Island to save Clara from DeSilver and the voodoo priest.
James infiltrates the secret cave via the governors office where DeSilver is trying to perform a voodoo ritual over to Clara with the voodoo priest but James simply walks in confident, juggling with some red balls. Distracting DeSilver by shouting "Think fast!", James throws one of his red balls on a very confused DeSilver who stumbles over the voodoo priest and they both fall over the cliff into a pit of hot boiling water. James rescues Clara, but the volcano starts to increase the hot water. James quickly manages to build up a balloon (though he calls it a Jolly Floater) by using the hot steam and they both fly off just before the steam erupts. They are followed by a shape that looks like DeSilver before he disappeared into the steam.
James and Clara looks across the sea and witnesses a glorious sunset. The balloon flies from the screen and the credits rolls right after Jolly Rover exclaims "Oh my!" at Clara's subtle proposal to further develop their romantic relationship.
Though the game was met with little response, the feedback that it did gain was generally positive. One reviewer citing it as "strong and original" and stating that it "brings some interesting new ideas to the point-and-click adventure genre."[5]
It was given a Metascore of 71, based on 15 reviews[6] , and a GameRankings score of 76.35% based on 13 reviews.[7]
Video game talk show Good Game's two presenters gave the game an 8 and 7 out of 10 calling it "a nice short and sweet experience" as well featuring amusing gameplay.[8]
Related Research Articles
Captain James Hook is the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its various adaptations, in which he is Peter Pan's archenemy. The character is a pirate captain of the brig Jolly Roger. His two principal fears are the sight of his own blood and the crocodile who pursues him after eating the hand cut off by Pan. An iron hook replaced his severed hand, which gave the pirate his name.
The era of piracy in the Caribbean began in the 1500s and phased out in the 1830s after the navies of the nations of Western Europe and North America with colonies in the Caribbean began combating pirates. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1660s to 1730s. Piracy flourished in the Caribbean because of the existence of pirate seaports such as Port Royal in Jamaica, Tortuga in Haiti, and Nassau in the Bahamas. Piracy in the Caribbean was part of a larger historical phenomenon of piracy, as it existed close to major trade and exploration routes in almost all the five oceans.
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, telling a story of "buccaneers and buried gold". It is considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.
Bartholomew Roberts, born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who was, measured by vessels captured, the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. During his piratical career, he took over 470 prize ships. Roberts raided ships off the Americas and the West African coast between 1719 and 1722; he is also noted for creating his own Pirate Code, and adopting an early variant of the Skull and Crossbones flag.
Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and franchise. An early iteration of Sparrow was created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, but the final version of the character was created by actor Johnny Depp, who also portrayed him.
John Rackham, commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".
LeChuck is a fictional character in LucasArts' Monkey Island series of graphic adventure games. Created by Ron Gilbert, LeChuck was introduced in The Secret of Monkey Island and is the main antagonist of the series. Gilbert drew on aspects of the characters in the 1988 novel On Stranger Tides for his concept for LeChuck.
Elizabeth Turner is a fictional character in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. She appears in The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and three of its sequels, Dead Man's Chest (2006), At World's End (2007) and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). She is portrayed by Keira Knightley. She is known to use the alias "Elizabeth Turner", but this later becomes her married name when she weds Will Turner.
Anne Bonny, sometimes Ann Fulford, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history. What little that is known of her life comes largely from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates.
Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, slave trader and, from 1718, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
Captain J. Flint is a fictional golden age pirate captain who features in a number of novels, television series, and films. The original character was created by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). Flint first appears in the classic adventure yarn Treasure Island, which was first serialised in a children's magazine in 1881, and later published as a novel in 1883.
Lego Pirates was a Lego theme launched in 1989 featuring pirates, soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars, Pacific Islanders, sailing ships, and buried treasure, being influenced by the late Golden Age of Piracy. The theme has been seen in Lego System, Duplo and the 4+ theme.
John Taylor was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean, best known for participating in two of the richest pirate captures of all time.
Edward England was an Irish pirate. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720. His flag was the classic Jolly Roger — almost exactly as the one "Black Sam" Bellamy used — with a human skull above two crossed bones on a black background. Like Bellamy, England was known for his kindness and compassion as a leader, unlike many other pirates of the time.
Howell Davis, also known as Hywel and/or Davies, was a Welsh pirate. His piratical career lasted just 11 months, from 11 July 1718 to 19 June 1719, when he was ambushed and killed. His ships were the Cadogan, Buck, Saint James, and Rover. Davis captured 15 known English and French ships.
Treasure Island is a 1950 adventure film produced by RKO-Walt Disney British Productions, adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel of the same name. Directed by Byron Haskin, it stars Bobby Driscoll as Jim Hawkins and Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Treasure Island was Disney's first completely live-action film and the first screen version of Treasure Island made in color. It was filmed in the United Kingdom on location and at Denham Film Studios, Buckinghamshire.
See also 1718 in piracy, 1720 in piracy, 1719 and Timeline of piracy.
Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño,, known simply as Luis Fajardo, was a Spanish admiral and nobleman who had an outstanding naval career in the Spanish Navy. He is considered one of the most reputable Spanish militaries of the last years of the reign of Philip II and the reign of Philip III. He held important positions in the navy and carried out several military operations in which he had to fight against English, Dutch, French and Barbary forces in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. He is known for the conquest of La Mamora in 1614.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
