Good-hearted pirate Nelly Cootalot sets out on a quest to stop her nemesis, Baron Widebeard, from stealing a legendary treasure in a hilarious point-and-click adventure game.
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet
Developer: Alasdair Beckett-King and Applications Systems Heidelberg
Price: 19.99 USD
Platform: PC (reviewed), Mac, Linux
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.
In 2007, comedian Alasdair Beckett-King released a free adventure game called Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! It was well received, leading to the development of its full-length sequel, Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet. Knowledge of the original is not required.
This 2D point-and-click adventure game stars Nelly Cootalot, a pirate and ardent defender of birds. When her ghostly guide, Captain Bloodbeard, warns her that Baron Widebeard is up to no good, Nelly sets out on a quest to stop the bird-hating Baron.
As the premise suggests, the story is fairly lighthearted. It has twists and intriguing moments, but never becomes dark. The whole thing lasts about 6 hours, although it will take longer if you hunt down every secret. The characters are memorable and charming, and the voice acting is excellent. It sounds natural, and there are some prominent actors involved—most notably, Tom Baker as Nelly’s bird friend Sebastian.
The game takes place across several locations, all with beautiful and charming graphics. While adventure games often force “pixel-hunting,” Nelly Cootalot has a button that lets you see everything you can interact with. It avoids another common adventure game pitfall by having puzzles that make sense. Several will make you stop and think, providing a nice challenge, but a logical answer is always within reach.
The controls are simple: left-click to move Nelly, left-click to interact with objects or talk to people, and right-click for Nelly’s commentary on the object or person in question. Items she can take are placed into your inventory, which you access at the bottom of the screen. The inventory is sometimes slow to respond, a minor flaw that doesn’t damage the overall experience.
When you talk to characters, you’ll have several dialogue options. It’s worth returning to talk to characters again—if you’re stuck on a puzzle, it might be because someone has a new comment to make.
You’ll also want to interact with everything, not only because you need items to solve the game’s many puzzles, but also to hear what Nelly has to say. Between ridiculous situations, larger-than-life characters, and the protagonist’s own bizarre assumptions, the writing is hilarious. Early in the game, I inspected parcel tape and Nelly theorized it was “tape that can speak to snakes.” She also suggested padded envelopes were for criminally insane letters.
This sort of humor runs throughout the game—pop culture references, puns, and general comedic situations. It kept me entertained the entire time and several moments made me laugh out loud.
Overall, Nelly Cootalot is a joy to play, easily recommendable to anyone who enjoys comedy and point-and-click adventure games.
The Final Word
Nelly Cootalot: The Fowl Fleet is a charming and entertaining point-and-click adventure game, with logical puzzles, a lighthearted story, and truly hilarious dialogue.
– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
