Game Review: Seabeard
In early 2014, Backflip Studios released a game called Seabeard. It is an amazing adventure game which is hard to find and would definitely do well as a video game on a larger console. The story, graphics and UI are clean and clearly thought out.
Right off the bat, the style reminded me of Legend of Zelda or Animal Crossing which is what drew me into this game so much. The story line goes like this: A legendary pirate vanished along with his village after a monster attack, you, a descendant of his is tasked to restore the village and reunite the pirates in the region. You get to pick between the girl or the guy as your character, and choices like these always attract players. another customisation the player can make is the naming of your island which was previously owned by Seabeard, you can either keep it as the original or come up with your own name. The story is clean and interesting. The world is large - each island has enough to explore and there are multiple islands in the game world which you can travel to and fro via your up-gradable boat.
There are many aspects in this game but let's start off with the characters. There are many npc's in the game which will give you quests to complete for them and in return, they will gift rare items or money that will help you rebuild items. There are only a hand full of characters who have a fleshed out story, that being you - the player, pirates who knew Seabeard your ancestor, and Rudolf Taleweaver - who helps you out and mans the island while you go on your quest to restore the island. There are also multiple characters who you can take on your boat depending on what you need at the time. For example, a fisherman, a fighter, a lumberjack etc etc. you can also purchase pets to take with you on your journey, they have no real purpose but they are cute and provide good company.
The UI in this game is smooth and free from glitches. To move around on land, you tap where you want to go and your character will make their way there. The only downside is that they don't always take the shortest route and will not walk somewhere if there is a shrub or plant in the way. Another being, the moving pace is too slow especially if you want to travel to the other side of the island. Other than that, the interactions are sensitive therefore the character is easy to control and maneuver. To talk with other characters, you just had to tap on them and they will be highlighted to tell players you're going to interact with them. This sort of movement/interactions is what we wanted to have in our game except our movement is achievable with keyboard and picking up items/interactions can either be done with keyboard or mouse.
Money making is always a problem in games which is why the allow external money (real world money). Due to the lack of money, the game progressed quite slow for me. I was excited to start fighting and exploring caves, but I cannot do that if I don't upgrade my skills or island to a certain degree. And without certain furniture which needs to be bought, I cannot do so.So it's a tedious process to level up and move on with the plot. The quests you complete for money don't pay you enough for what you've done - underpaid for the job you've done pretty much, e.g the amount of time it took to find all the logs, then the cost it took to create a certain piece of furniture plus the waiting time should cost over 100 but they only pay you around 50-60 game money. If you're patient, this will be no real problem for you, but due to my impatience, I did not get to experience the full game.
Like most games there is an inventory. Items such as fruit, dairy products, wood and similar survival items can be gathered along the way. You need certain items to create certain objects to sell or complete quests. The downside to collection is the space in your bag is not big enough when you start off. However as the game progresses, your bag can be upgraded to a larger backpack.
The art style is absolutely lovely, it really reminded me of Legend of Zelda Phantom of the hourglass. Aesthetics are what draw players into a game and the style of this game surely drew me in. The characters were cute and clean and the background was detailed. All in all, a work of art.
On a side note, this game requires internet and a large phone space for it to run.
The downfalls of this game are only personal opinions, therefore you may not find these aspects bothering. But overall this is an amazing game which doesn't pop up often, I am glad I found this as it was a great play and I certainly recommend this to players above 12 years or age!