Turn based strategy game Battle Fleet achieves an impressive level of success when it was released. So naturally there’s been quite a lot of hype regarding its sequel, Capital J Media’s Battle Fleet 2. Fans who have been eagerly awaiting Battle Fleet 2’s release will be pleased to hear that it ticks every box you could hope for, creating one of the most immersive naval TBC simulators on the market. Whenever you’re dealing with a TBC game, the combat itself is the most important thing, and here Battle Fleet 2 hits a homerun. During a battle each ship gets its own turn, with the order of the turns being determined by the Captain’s experience level, which itself is determined by the number of battles they’ve previously won. On your turn you’ll choose whether to manoeuvre your ship, to attack with a choice of weapons, or to do both. The weapon you choose to use affects your ships manoeuvrability. When using a torpedo launcher, for instance, you’ll have less range of movement than when using a turret. You’ll also get to decide the amount of power that you want to dedicate to an action, with more power sending the shot or your vehicle further.  Because realism is a key to the game,  you’ll also be able to turn the ship further when you use less power—it’s a little touch, but it’s often the little touches that make the difference. Your mission, of course, is to defeat your enemies but sending their ship to the bottom of the deep. One of the nicest touches in the game is the fact that the ships are divided into sections (bridge, engines etc.) and that you can destroy those individual sections, leading to various results. Again, it’s a little touch that adds realism.

You have sunk my battle ship!

As with any game, variety is the spice of life, and here the variety comes in the form of different ships, weapons and power ups. There are only a few weapons to choose from, but those weapons offer a great variety in themselves, with turrets allowing for long range attacks and torpedos doing a ton of damage but having only a limited distance. You can also call airstrikes for extra damage. Planes add an extra dimension as your ship will be covered in fog at times, making you reliant on the skies. As for the ships, there are battleships, carriers, destroyers, frigates and cruisers. Different ships cost different amount of money and have different weapons and abilities. There are several different game modes in single player, ranging from Quick Battle to Campaign. As you would expect, with the Quick Battle mode you jump right into combat, and you can choose the amount of ships and power ups in the battler as well as the map that you’ll be waging war in. The levels have been designed intelligently, with environmental elements affecting your vision. Campaign mode has you playing as either the Japanese or U.S. Navy in World War II. You’ll need to expand your territory while developing your fleet. The campaign adds an element of management to the game for yet more depth. And then, on top of all that, there’s the multiplayer, in which battles are fast and intense and you’ll need to make sharp strategic decisions in order to be victorious.   The depth of gameplay combined with the fast pace leads to both an exciting and engrossing multiplayer experience. Matching the quality of the gameplay is the graphics, which are a significant advancement over the original. The details on the ships and the realism of the environment is quite astounding. Because the graphics are so detailed and precise you truly feel as though you are involved in a naval conflict.  And then there’s the soundtrack, an excellent military theme that matches the rest of the game admirably. With so much detail and such depth to the gameplay, Battle Fleet 2 could well be the best naval combat game on the market. It’s a remarkable achievement from Capital J Media, one we highly recommend you to experience.

 

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Categories: gaming

Paul Harrison

Paul M Harrison is an entertainment journalist, novelist, and blogger, and a specialist in the theory of storytelling. Paul Harrison can be contacted via his personal website or on Twitter or Facebook.

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