Tuesday, 18 June 2019 16:20

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! HD Review

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Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! HD is a charming HD revival of the classic point-and-click adventure game of the same name, which also spawned the stand-alone title Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet. You play as the aforementioned pirate, Nelly Cootalot, and are tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of spoonbeaks from the Barony of Meeth.

A HUMOROUS JOURNEY

As you arrive in the Barony of Meeth and start your investigation, you’ll encounter a host of interesting characters. From the baron who unapologetically reads from his own biography, to the doubtful pirate at the bar, each of the characters you meet are uniquely charming in their own right. Some of this charm arises from the plentiful number of puns, but their personalities also help to distinguish them. To progress through the story, you’ll mainly have to gather information from them or fetch things for them in exchange for something.

Though the charming (albeit odd) townspeople are a great feature, the best aspect of this title is easily the humor. Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! HD manages to pull off a host of amusing puns and jokes without ever straying from its light-hearted nature. Though there are a few jokes on the more adult side, it never becomes vulgar or loses itself. Depending on your taste in humor, you might not find it quite laugh-out-loud funny, but there’s no denying that the various puns, ironies, jokes, and wordplay all help to add to the pleasantness of the title.

As charming as the journey is, it is a rather short one. It only took me around two hours to beat the game initially. However, with the current low price, two hours seems like a fair amount of content for what you’re paying. It’s also worth mentioning that, after taxes and fees, any profits made will go to the RSPB, a British-based charity that saves and protects wildlife (so technically you can say you helped to save the birds both in-game and in real life).

HERE THERE BE PUZZLES

In addition to chatting with people, there are also a few puzzles you’ll have to solve in order to uncover the mystery of the disappearing spoonbeaks. Though there is one tricky puzzle regarding a certain pirate coding system that might stump you, the rest of the puzzles manage to balance the line between being solvable, but never so easy that they become boring or feel pointless. Many of the puzzles also involve a fair bit of humor, such as figuring out how to use a cat as an actual cat burglar.

SMOOTH SAILING

The title also runs surprisingly smooth. Traveling around the map is easy and the loading screens are quick, rarely lasting more than a few seconds. I also didn’t experience any stuttering or lag throughout. The only small problem that I did notice is if I hit the Windows key to minimize the program, whatever audio was playing would get stuck in a rapid loop running in the background despite the window being minimized. That said, the problem did immediately go away when opening the game back up in full screen. 

8

The Verdict: Excellent

All in all, there’s not much to complain about Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! HD. It’s a humorously pleasant point-and-click experience through and through, complete with a host of charming characters and fun puzzles. Though it is a little on the short side, it’s well worth the price and definitely worth checking out if you want to take a break from the serious side of gaming and spend a few hours with a light-hearted pirate adventure instead.

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Jade Swann

Jade Swann is an avid video game player and fiction writer. She loves getting lost in open-world RPG’s, making tough choices in story-driven games, and is a big fan of the horror genre. Some of her favorite games include Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Skyrim, Planet Coaster, and The Sims 4. When not immersed in the world of video games, she can be found reading, writing, or spending time with her very lazy Boston Terrier.

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