[Flipside]

Despite being an obvious 360 conversion, this isn't a bad game, there's a good bit of strategy to what you are doing, though it's still very firmly an arcade game.

Basically, it's set in the 1942-1945 Pacific War, you can play the campaign as the Americans or you can take on individual challenges as Japanese, you can control any part of your fleet, be it from Battleship, Sub, Bomber to MTB, though, I hasten to add, you cannot build units, you more or less get what you are given.

Quite fun to play, but very diifficult, especially the challenges, since, for authenticity, your crewmen shout at you in Japanese, and it's kinda hard to identify your own ships from the enemy in the heat of battle. One interesting lead on from this is that, whilst playing a Navel Battle Challenege, I learned that something that sounds like 'Korishi Waragh!' is roughly Japanese for 'I'm on your side you bastard!'

Anyway, if you're looking for something with months of storyline and attention to military detail, then this isn't for you, if you want a quick arcade shooter that is fun, and has a fair degree of replayability, give it a go

[diceman111]

Yeah good game but the Lack of a skirmish mode or mission creator kinda lessens the score a bit I must say.....

[Inquisitor]

The 360 version has gotten very mixed reviews. I keep looking at it in the stores, but no used copies seem to be around yet.

[Flipside]

It's oddly addictive, but I wouldn't give it much in the longevity stakes. If you like 'Silent Service' or the like, you'll not like this, it isn't a simulator, it's a Jack of All trades, master of none. But still good if you want to float around in a moderately atmospheric South Pacific throwing 18" shells at the Yamato.

[Inquisitor]

There is a great deal to be said for WW2 naval engagements.

[Flipside]

I love old WWII sims like Silent Service, I must admit, I used to play it on an old Amstrad Greenscreen, many late nights of seeing how high a tonnage I could get, and playing hide and seek with the destroyers.

[DragonClaw]

I got my greedy little hands on this and it is a lot of fun. Sure, I can't play it for multiple hours at a time. I've always loved navy sims, and while this is more arcade like, it still keeps the "best" parts of naval battle. I do have to say though, PT boats are crap. Seem to get blown out of the water by machine gun fire before I can get in range for a sure-to-hit torpedo salvo. I really wish you could create custom battles and duke it out.

This game would seem extremely promising with RPG and maybe even MMO elements in it to give it lasting power. Kind of like navyfield, except real 3D and far more interactive.

[Inquisitor]

I just p[icked it up for the Xbox, I'll let you know what I think (if anyone cares, and I will probably still post, even if you don;t)

[Inquisitor]

So, yeah.

I like it.

[Inquisitor]

There are a crapload of controls for a console game.

It reminds me some of Full Spectrum Warrior, where I am spending more time giving orders than actually controlling guys who are shooting, the fights seem to take a good long while, especially if you are stiull trying to remmeber how things work, carrier operations and managing your air group in the air, while managing damage to ships, and over all strategy leave (or rather left me) little time to take direct control of planes for dog fights or bombing runs. I gind myself going back to the book and asking "how do I...?" , to make sure I keep combat aircraft in the air, and big boats afloat, while taking out objectives.

I think it will get easier as I get used to it though. There seems a decent variety of ships and planes to control, flight is arcadey, ships seem to control reasonably well, though you are fighting battles over miles of ocean, so, crossing those distances takes time. It definitely seems to capture the sense of scale of these historic battles. It does make me want to go get a guide so I have the ship list and what not on the couch next to me, and it certainly makes me want to break out my "History of US Naval Operations in World War II" and compare notes

I know this started out as a PC thread, but Fury, if you're a history buff, this might be worth a whirl if you get a 360 (at the very least the demo will be).

[Inquisitor]

So, I have one big complaint about this: The single player campign is stupid short. There are various ship, plane and sub challenges, some of which feel like they could have been strung together as another campaign (some of them have you in control of Japanese Navy ships) but so far those have been more "kill waves of ships" rather than true objective based affairs like the single player was.

But yeah, short. The final battle at midway can last a while, and you have of toys (2 fully stocked carriers (each carrier can have 12 fighters in the air at any one time) a couple destroyers and a cruiser. You never (in the single player) really get to pilot Battleships, and you only get subs for one mission.

I'm playing through the "extra" challenge missions now, and there is more variety in ships to control, but I can really see this being hurt by not having scenario building capabilities. I can always hope for stuff to be downloaded from Live, but meh.

Too short. I very much enjoyed it otherwise.