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SoulBlazer -> (2/8/2003 12:36:57 PM)
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Oh yeah, that's right.....I promsied people I'd post my thoughts. :)
Well, I did'nt get to play at all last night, but I sank a few hours into it today.....
It's hard to write about the game without comparing it to PTO 1 and 2. If you know those games, you'll follow me easier.
The game actually covers the whole world now, and you can play one of four nations -- US, England, Japan, and Germany. Two campaigns are available -- Sep 1939 and Dec 1941, and you also have about 20 battles you can do and then go into campaign mode from it.
The game is less strategy then previous games. Each turn lasts a week and you have two parts -- strategic play and tactical play. In the strategic mode, you can move and assign fleets and commanders, build and design new ships and planes, conduct spying operations, trade money, resources and tech with your allies, do research on new models and weapons, deploy planes to bases and ships, and view a nice 3D model gallery of all the ships and planes in the game. In the tactical mode, you fight real time naval battles. You don't control each ship, though -- just give orders to the fleets and watch them slug it out, or let the AI handle the battle and just watch, picking from a free form, cinematic, or fixed camera.
There's also a monthly confrence where you pick your next major war goal, commanders get awards for 'levels' they earned (they get XP in battles), and that's about it, sad to say, as opposed to the previous games.
The game continues until one side is totally defeated. There's no land operations -- you invade a area, win the battle aganist ships and airbases, and its yours. There are transports that bring supplies to the front, and these can be attacked by subs.
The game also tends to flow at a very fast pace and is not the most realsitic in the world, but you can have a lot of fun with the naval battles and do some really interesting 'what if' situations -- like put the US with the Axis and slug it out with British ships. The naval battles are also a real treat -- graphics are very nice and sharp, the controler shakes as guns boom and shells hit, you can see the torpedo tracks and planes dogfighting above you, ships rock in the ocean, smoke from shots and take damage and burn, and thunderstorms can boom and erupt around you.
Good points:
Great Graphics
Nice tutorial to get you started.
Good pick of battles
Quick and fast game to play at a good pace.
WONDERFULL design ability -- for ships you can design the size of the guns, the mounts, how many, the range of airplanes, how fast they go, armor ratings, if they have scout planes, and all kinds of other stuff. Best options I've ever seen!
Watching 80 battleships slug it out with each other is a REAL treat! :D
Bad points:
Strategy aspects are weaker then other games in the series.
Lack of campaigns.....you just have as the war starts and before Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
Naval battles can take a while sometimes, when searching for that last airbase.
Not the most realistic in some aspects
No troops in the game.
Well, if you HAVE a PS2, I would say at least rent this and see what you think. I really do enjoy this, but not as much as PTO 2. Pure wargamers probaly won't care for it. Casual players will be able to get into it really quickly and easily. That's not to say you may like it or hate it -- check the game's forum at [url]www.gamefaqs.com[/url] for some extra comments.
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