Put up your Iron Dukes

After playing the demo of Iron Dukes, it is easy to see why One Ton Ghost' fabulous flash game won the Best Web Browser Game award at this year's IGF Awards. What at first glance seems like an action role-playing game is actually a cleverly disguised shooting game that focuses on item collection using a highly disposable crew.

The crew, comprised of three underwear clad men, is high generic and easily replaced. The idea behind the game is to collect treasure and items to aid your crew. But your crew members don't really matter; it's all about the items and treasure you collect that serve as the growth of your characters and not the characters themselves. If you kill off one or all of them, don't worry: you can buy more.

Besides the slight cosplay with these items that you'll find, the game focuses on twitch-based combat that you'll encounter on the high seas. Combat consist of first-person gunplay where the player tries to hit weak spots as they flash red on the screen, while avoiding having your hit points peeled away by the enemies. The action is goods, quick and occasionally bloody and the animation is simple, crisp and very funny.

When you're not fighting, you'll be diving into the deep blue sea for treasures. The dive mechanic is also twitch based. As you descend into the depths you'll click your button in arcade fashion to avoid enemies and collect treasure. Making it all the way to the bottom will net you some phat loot or a special treasure. There's also a silly little mini-game where you navigate your boat through the sea while avoiding icebergs for small bits of treasure or an item to slap on your highly disposable crew.

Iron Dukes really is something special and I hope the IGF award will motivate One Ton Ghost to finish would they started.