I guess I’ve been thinking a lot about casual games lately, first because they’re turning my favorite book-turned-movie into one (I’m worried), and second because when you need to grade papers, write a thesis, and find a job, it is usually a good idea to pretend to be a constantly evolving orb. I don’t think I have any grand delusions that I have something particularly unusual to SAY about this style of gaming; nor do I assume that today’s offering is going to blow the genre out of the water (pirate joke).

But I do know that Iron Dukes is fun, funny, beautifully drawn, and well-designed … and they haven’t even finished the rest of the levels yet! In Iron Dukes, you are the captain of a pirate ship, and your job is to manage three scalawags, who you conscript in their skivvies and outfit from scratch. The way you outfit them determines their stats, each of which relates to their ability to Fight, Dive, or Sail (the stat for Sailing is called Saltiness!), which are of course the game’s three minigames. Navigate the sea of minigames, beat the boss, and move on to the next level… you know the drill. If PopCap’s Typer Shark told Monkey Island-style jokes, let you level up, and involved quick clicking rather than a shut-in’s typing temerity, you’d have Iron Dukes. Or you DO have Iron Dukes. Here it is! Look how it starts out with some angry Ahab staring at you! Look how charmingly concerned your little sailors are about your orders! Look how you can totally equip an adorable fish in your Hand to increase your diving skill! Look how things blow up when you defeat them!

This game tickles all of my casual gaming pleasure centers - it is adorable, challenging without being prohibitively difficult, and as easy to walk away from when the need arises as it is to play for hours. Go give these guys a lot of clicks so that they finish the damn thing. My thesis is due in a couple months and I’m going to need to weather some more fake storms before I sail into my real ones.