Customer Reviews

Carriers At War

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I found out they were coming out with this game, I was very excited, since I have a strong interest in the subject. I had played similar games way back when graphics were crude and it was mostly manipulating data tables. I figured this would be a prettier version where you managed your air units on carriers. Well, what can I say except the game is a huge disappointment.

It's cumbersome. The interface is not as intuitive as it could be. Lots of command menus that don't always come up easily and nothing is easy to do directly. Definitely need to read the manual first.

But the worst was the actual game play. Despite tons of detail in some areas, damage to ships is crude (points on a scale) and you don't really get much control over your air units. You don't decide what they are armed with, when they launch, you don't do much of the deck managment, the computer does it for you. So crucial things like timing strikes so you don't get caught with fueled and armed planes on deck are just mostly out of your control.

The single most crucial aspect of carrier warfare, scouting, is mostly automated. You can control only the general arc of search patterns, not how many planes are sent out to each direction, which means you may only have one search plane over a 30 degree arc, not nearly enough at longer ranges. If it gets shot down, too bad. You can't send followup search planes either. You can't decide if search planes are armed or not. You can't time when search planes are sent out to find enemy carriers at dawn Dual stage searches are also not done.

So you are basically steaming in the general direction of the enemy and trying to launch a strike. Yawn. The nuts and bolts that make it interesting are out of your control in most ways.

I also noted a tendency for massive numbers of planes to attack cruisers when a carrier is nearby. That happened some historically, but not this much. They knew to not waste a bomb on a surface ship unless the alternative was dumping it in the sea.

Just a huge big mess. Worse, it costs about $70 with fees for a hard copy. They should fix these items and it could be a playable game, but I will be selling my copy.

This game is absolutely superb. Great AI and a unique treatment of the WWII Pacific Theater.

It is currently available from Matrix Games.

Google some reviews - they are very good.