Naval Ops: Commander
Sure you’ll command…a fleet of morons.
Tags: Naval Ops: Commander Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by David Hinkle on Apr 30th, 2004
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Naval Ops: Commander (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Strategy | No | ||
KOEI, the publisher behind such franchises as Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, decides to continue it’s love for franchises with the sequel to Naval Ops: Warship Gunner. Naval Ops: Commander a solid blend of action and strategy as you will not only build your own fleet, but also use them throughout the game’s missions.
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In Naval Ops: Commander, you are the commander of a fleet of ships that sail under the sail of the country Navishia. Involved in war with the country Virshia, you find one day your command center to not respond to any radio calls, and assume the worst. Later, a release is sent from your capitol stating all vessels must fend for themselves, and so the bland story is established. No worry though, because the lackluster story is replaced with action and equal amounts of ship-building.
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If you are up to par on your WW2 knowledge, than most likely you’ll be able to identify almost every type of vessel in Naval Ops: Commander. From smoke stacks to spotlights, you have total control over every aspect of your ship…that is if you want to. While this game has an immensely intricate ship-building aspect that will likely give any sim-enthusiast a gigantic grin, there are also plenty of pre-built ships at your disposal. You will not be able to use these ships or incorporate a lot of the higher-end parts at the outset of the game, first you will need to research the several different part fields. These aren’t free, and must be paid for with money received from completed mission objectives.
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The mission’s are pretty standard fare. Destroy 20% of the enemies port installations, sink X amount of cruisers, and the like. There will always be one main mission objective, and if you like you can achieve that goal and exit the level and move on. However, if done, you will receive substantially less money than if you were to hang around and achieve a lot of the secondary objectives. Another way to create more revenue for your fleet are to destroy as many enemy ships as you can. However many of your pals live through the mission and how much life you have at the end are also going to dictate appropriated funds.
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The graphics in this game aren’t too great, but aren’t exactly eye-gouging. The entire game you will play from a bird’s eye view perspective, and this allows the game to have several ships on-screen shooting to and fro without skipping a beat in the framerate department. However, when there are the small cutscenes before each mission, you’ll notice a lot of the ‘jaggies’ that haunt the PS2, as well as some horrible voice-acting. While in game, you’ll also notice some collision detection issues. Those issues being if you drive your boat into an enemy’s bow or stern, you’ll just shoot right through them like nothing happened. Also, if you attempt to ram one of your escorts, and manage to hit them in their mid-section, you both will not receive any damage. Speaking of escorts, you’ll find your comrades aren’t exactly playing with a full deck. When navigating mine fields, you’ll find they often just plow through unless you clear every last mine out of the area. Even with these bad qualities, you’ll find a surprisingly fun game.
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The control is very spot on. Using the R1 and L1 buttons to steer, you press the up or down on the d-pad to give her more juice or to slow it down and go in reverse, while using the left analog to aim where you will fire. While this was a bit weird for me at first, 15 minutes later I was pulling 180’s like a champ, unleashing machine gun fire and torpedoes, dashing the enemy captain’s dreams of promotions and accommodations to the curb. All euphemisms aside, it is an excellently responsive system that allows for high maneuverability.
The audio in this game isn’t anything that really stounds out(except for the aforementioned horrible voice-acting.). It gets the job done; machine-gun fire sounds like it should, as well as all the countless explosions you’ll hear in your travels.
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While this is likely to fall under the radar of your average gamer, it definately has a few conventions that will turn some heads. Any simulation lover or action gamer is likely to pick this up and have a ball; it’s the combination of both those genres that will warrant that second look. While nowhere near perfection, this title is the beginning of what could one day be a blockbuster franchise.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Fast-paced combat + Surprising ship-building depth |
6.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- AI leaves much to be desired - No collision damage - Plot leaves much to be desired - Sub-par graphics |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| While a fun little title, this isn't anything you're going to run to your local store to pick up. If you're looking for something to kind of cleanse your pallette, then definately nab this from your local Blockbuster(or wherever you rent your games). | |
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Tags: Naval Ops: Commander
Posted by David Hinkle on Apr 30th, 2004 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
