Choice of Broadsides

A really short game, but to be expected from a story with only 60,000 words. However, this causes fast pacing and being thrown into the middle of the story with no real good explanation of things and makes it hard to get invested in. There are also way too many stats to keep track of for such a short game and it sometimes seems like stats get affected for no reason and that half of them don't even matter. I didn't even remember any of the characters names and eventually found myself bored and clicking ahead without bothering to read through half the options. There are a few different time skips and its hard to keep track of things. I finished my first playthrough in maybe 25 minutes. Romance is almost nonexistent as you have one significant option [spoiler] (who you can't get a happy ending with because you're both loyal to your respective countries) [/spoiler] and 3 half-assed romances that don't even mean anything emotionally or game wise. Definitely not worth the 4 dollars when there are plenty of other longer and more engaging Choice of and Hosted games available.

One of Choice of Games' original browser/mobile releases ported to Steam after several years, I remember going through this many times on browser years ago. Of the early games, it's one of the better ones, with a strong theme and some interesting scenarios, though it doesn't meet the quality of more recent titles. Regarding choices and consequences, your choices do matter to an extent, but it is mostly treated as a series of vignettes through the early career of a naval officer. The choices you make can heavily change the outcome of the specific vignette, but there is a bit of a rubber-band effect as you're brought back to the same events each time, so the status quo is never truly shaken. Those that might want more choice will find this lacking, but for those who are more along for the story, it's decently told. There are a couple of choices that can influence larger things and make them stick, most notably regarding your relationship with the rival officer Villeneuve, inarguably the most fleshed-out recurring character in the story. While multiple play-throughs can feel a bit repetitive as you go through the same events, different actions and choices do make sure subsequent play-throughs feel worth it for a while. Each run will only take you about 1-2 hours, so you can breeze through it fairly easily. Overall, if you like the genre and you're fine with a bit of light reading and linearity, then the game is absolutely worth it. If you want something a bit more intensive and like CoG's style then many of their later games are more involved and you might want to look at them instead.

This is an interesting CYOA game, set in the Age of Sail. You start as a midshipman (or woman) of the Albion navy (think England), and are at war with the Gauls (think France). Through your choices you can advance in your career... or crash and burn.

It's really simply too short. It feels like the book was suddenly abbonded in the middle of the story. There is a huge jump in time and it ends in a rather insatisfactory way. It's sad, as I was enjoying the writing and the adventure. P.S. I obviously played more than just 7 minutes. Steam just isn't able to record the playing time offline.

[b]some negatives[/b] -I agree with some of the other reviews that this game is very short (only 60k words)... so it's a quick play with limited engagement with the material -It has limited gender options (play as a male with all male crew, or female with an all female crew) -Bit old-fashioned in it's approach to gender roles -Leans towards heterosexual sexuality, though does have an option for gay (feels like a brief afterthought) -Lack of romance options... but then the focus is on your naval career [b]some positives[/b] -The naval terms used within the game seem consistent and realistic -Not bad if you want to read more a magazine than a novel -Has a tiny weeny smattering of humour (though mostly the piece is written in a serious tone) -Some choices have quite serious consequences eg. death for sailors under your command, or of your acquaintance, and because I chose to have a same-sex relationship with an enemy... I ended up having to kill her (okay, that's more a negative lol) [b]overall[/b] Not bad, but a quick read/play, and pretty superficial. Decently written with no glaring errors, despite having 3 authors. Has a decent 'authentic' navy sailing ship (think 1800's british naval fleet) vibe and terminology.

Not happy with this one. Usually I enjoy these games but the pacing and choices are all over the damn place. Minor characters do not get fleshed out enough, killed off comically fast over one bad choice or NOT EVEN MATTER with some choices. There isn't even a chapter dedicated to learning how to command a ship and manage your crew or get used to the many minor characters that you need to rely on later. The Honourable Rival chapter is especially poor with choices without any suggestion that one choice which logically you would assume would continue a character thread ending your career is a neck snapping rapid game over.

Compared to the other Choice of games that are currently out. this story is short. it skips over a lot of potential detail, theres no real character build up. its decently written but its not really worth it to me. theres essentially one 'major' story point which has no real 'resolution' to the events it should trigger.

Much of the real Hornblower books have been used. Some exciting decisions are included. Unfortunately the story lacks depth. Recommend this entertaining pleasure to buy at the Sale.

This is absolutely cool! And I love its sequel as well - hopefully there will be more Royal Navy games :))) Well done team for all the plotlines and the quality of writing.

Extremely short, but extremely fun. Catch it on sale and it's worth it.