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What do you get when you take a pirate-like game - yo ho and all that stuff - some basic strategy fighting and toss in a bit of the Civil War to enhance the fun? Well, that would be Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey. This was the heyday piracy along the eastern seaboard of the US and the Caribbean. Union ships were blockading southern ports and the Confederacy was looking to blockade runners to bring in needed supplies to fuel the war effort.

The story line is fairly straight forward. Your character is Captain Abraham Gray who is a true cutthroat and will take any job offered. He's got an "inner voice" or should we say "conscience" that seems to seems to be smarter than he is when it comes to practical matters.

The story unfolds in a non-linear fashion as you complete lots of quests over a period of time. Evidently Captain Gray will have to pick whether to be part of the Union blockading fleet or a Confederate agent. Speaking of quests, we have two storylines and some side quests of which you'll have to do at least one between each of the two storylines. You can do only one quest at a time. Somewhere in all of this is the mysterious ironclad that finally reveals itself.

The features of this game are somewhat novel and enhance Captain Gray's abilities. We have the normal stats and experience levels. The first two being health and energy; fencing and shooting contribute to boarding actions; defense determines how effective you protect yourself in combat. Everything can be upgraded per level increase, so choose wisely.

Perks is an attribute that can either turn him into a whirling dervish of destruction in hand-to-hand combat or affect his ship handling experiences. Boarding actions and duels are part of the scheme of things. Naval combat is of course, ship vs. ship. Fencing and shooting are the two main ingredients once you board the enemy ship. I'll explain this in a bit. And last, but not least, there is boxing.

Back to the perks. There are four types, on-foot active and passive, global naval, and naval battle. The on-foot perks are special moves you assign to keys that help with blocking and dodging, or super attacks that increase damage and can actually dismember your opponent. Believe me when I say we gore galore when it comes to the land and dueling fights. To create all that gore requires fencing, or hack and slash I call it. You can choose to shoot your way to glory if you so desire. I prefer the hack and slash myself. Shooting requires you to stand still, and when up against multiple targets all wanting a piece of you, you must be fleet of foot.

There are three types of weapons, cold steel, revolvers, and rifles. You can pick these up as loot or purchase at the "local" store. Ship weapons are your standard battery, howitzer, mortar, Gatling gun, and missile launcher. I'll leave the special weapons to your imagination, except I will say the Gatling gun is way cool in a ship vs. ship fight just for its special effect. All the special weapons require ammo so remember to stock enough for those ship duels.

I generally liked the combat action as it made it interesting when boarding ships, though sinking the occasional ship was just as satisfying. You start out with a sloop but can switch to other ships you capture. Buying then upgrading the ship is another interesting feature - if you can manage the money to purchase one. Increasing your inventory space is important as the standard size is small, but it too, will cost a pretty doubloon. As you purchase needed items you will come across rings, boots, etc. I'm not sure what value they have in the scheme of things as you can only carry two items and that is a gun and sword.

Dueling could be quite exciting. To get to the captain of the opposing ship you first had to get through the ship's crew. That's where the decks run red with blood, lots of blood and body parts as well. Questing was a thrill since trying to run a blockaded port required an immediate naval duel. When it comes to trade that is where the profit lays and quite profitable it is. Remember when visiting ports, buy low, sell high and you'll be in business.

The user interface for Blue & Grey was the bane of my existence. In the case of all movement commands, we use the "W, A, S, D" keys. That's for everything folks. I hate using those keys, especially when general movement could use the left mouse button so easily. I can understand when fighting that this becomes necessary in this type of game, but for other actions it's not needed.

And much of the content seemed repetitive. I'd even call it redundant. Redundancy is in everything, quests, buying and selling, navel action, dueling, sailing. The only thing that seems to break it up are the story quests and getting those nifty perks so you can go through the same fight routines but with something new to try out.

Another thing that got me wondering was why, if Captain Adams flies a pirate flag while other ships fly nationality flags weren't they be chasing him all over the map? What gives with Confederate and Union ships sailing side by side? Something just doesn't jive there. Ship board fighting is the same three waves of fighters till you get to the opposing captain, and then it's the same repetition of moves and blocks before winning the duel. Can we say boring after awhile? The loot is mundane with an occasional tidbit tossed your way. Even naval battles get boring to the point where you just want to sink them.

In summary I would like to say if it wasn't for the mature label tagged to the game, "must be because of the gore part," his would provide long term amusement for the younger crowd rather than an older adult. This game is of the same genre as other similar pirate games that are gathering dust in my closet. Fun for the amusement factor but does it hold the long term interest? Not for the experienced strategy player.