Here's an informal review I did for some friends based on my first impressions (there were no reviews out at the time):
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Initial first impressions:
Well, as suspected, Akella's "Swashbucklers" is a budget title for a reason. It's a weird mix of 3D action game, 2D fighting game and a really castrated. lobotomised and disembowelled version of Pirates! It's a game for people who love loading screens. I mean alot. It should be called "Loading Screen: With Civil War Like Images." And it's got an awesome inventory system that makes Hellgate look good. Not only do you have your own, microscopic, starting inventory to juggle but a ship's hold as well! And, a blast from the past, Seadog's all but pointless towns to wander around in make a glorious return.
As craptastic as all that is, there might be something in here for the morbidly curious or fellow PS3 owners that desperate for a new, exclusive (PS2), title. Nobody is that desperate. But...
You do have fighting and you do have ships. There's some level of a trading game going on in different ports (though I suspect, of course, fixed prices not dynamically adjusting ones). You can also haul cargo for a third party, engage in boxing matches and take on assorted missions for wealth and experience. And there's the impossible to resist tempation of piracy floating about those Caribbean waters in the form of ships under assorted flags (mostly the usual "Pirates!" suspects but also including the Union and the Confederacy) with the added touch of unique names - which often don't fit. We'll see Confederate ships named after Union cities and visa versa, for example. But it's the thought that counts.
Naval combat feels superficially like traditional pirating games, you maneuver for a shot while trying to avoid exposing yourself to fire. However, as there's really no sailing (no wind) in the game it's just pushing a stick around, adjusting your speed (and you have "boosters" in the form of a steam engine) and shooting. There's a default cannon with unlimited ammo and you can acquire superweapons to fit on your ship that give you a little extra kick.
Once you beat the opposing ship down there's the option to board. The feel of the 3D boarding actions isn't all that bad. Mostly you dodge around and switch between your sword and a pistol to take out the overwhelming number of defenders. It's got a kinda nice fluidity to it. Of course your own crew (such as it is) never gets involved. They're busy being the backdrop fighting backdrop counterparts.
After three (or more as you advance?) waves on different stages there's a 2D fighting game sequence as you duel the captain. This is mostly a matter of matching blocks to attacks and learning a given opponent's timing so you can get in your shots. Like mini-boss fights. It doesn't seem very challenging but I'm still on the early levels.
And once you win you can loot then burn, auction or set the ship free. You get loot for your own personal inventory and for your ship. Which means extra loading screens and inventory management! Woot! But it's not too terrible.
What you wonder is whether there's a point to letting ships go. Whether there's any consequence at all for your actions. And..so on. While time, day and night, pass and are tracked as you sail around the weatherless seas there doesn't seem to be any effect on anything. No crew morale that I can see. No rations being consumed. No cargo spoiling.
The one formal mission I undertook from a governor seemed pretty straightforward: piracy runs that involve looting specific items but you don't get to loot the ship only personal items including the quest objects.
One twist on delivering cargo for third parties (as opposed to running cargo yourself) is that they may ask you to smuggle something past a blockaded port. Seems all the southern ports are patrolled by Union ships. Haven't tried that yet. I suspect it might be more profitable to sell those items yourself if you've got the cargo capacity and wealth to make use of it.
The easist way I've found to make money is just boxing in bars. You can make $500 in a relatively short time beating the snot out of terribly simple opponents. Maybe $1000 wager matches are tougher. These boxing matches are 2D affairs much like the captain duelling in boarding actions but captains seem to know what they're doing and can give you a tiny bit of challenge. Compare this to running a blockade for the same amount of money or getting slightly more to run a mission for a governor.
Anyhow, I think I'll be getting back to other things for a while. If someone else picks this up, and upon delving deeper, is more interested I'd be happy to hear about it.
Oh, one nice touch is the RPG aspect. Each level you can add a point to one of three stats (swordplay, gunplay and defense) and you get to chose one of four Perks offered at that time. Perks. These are really more like skills that help actively in 3d action combat or passively for assorted things but most notably ship combats. What's cute are the illustrations. Very Fallout. Very, very, Fallout. You could call it a tribute even.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, it is a functional game. It didn't have any obvious bugs but there are, on first glance, a host of questionable design decisions. Though you do have to give them points for picking an unconventional setting. The idea of being a smuggler and privateer during the Civil War is pretty neat. Now if the game actually ran a bit more with that rather than the odd amalgamation of things it did instead.
Two other noteworthy "whas?!' NPCs do odd grunty things rather than actually speak while you read the text. There's no way to turn this off and it gets old very fast. Also all the lettering inside buildings, most obviously saloons, seems to be in Cyrillic.
But there are those odd little touches like uniquely named ships and the fact that many cities seem to have unique layouts and art assets.
You kinda wonder what happened here. Kids might like the game more than adults as it's a less difficult version of the usual piracy game with more familiar elements like personal combat. But the game is somehow rated M for Mature. I didn't see the least Mature element in it unless drinking hard liquor to boost your energy (used to power special attacks) counts? Or robbing innocent ships at sea does.
Edit: Just checked Metacritic and there's a mini-review up at Games Radar. They seemed to like it somewhat more than I did giving it a 6.0. And evidently there's limb severing, massive gore and strong language which I never ran across myself.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->