On this fine Memorial Day morning I am in front of the widescreen watching Sink the Bismark during AMC's weekend of war movies (interesting to note that this year most of the lineup is focused around WWII when the villains were well defined and victory was well pronounced).
I openly admit to you the guilty pleasure of war movies, especially those that take place during the Second Great War. I studied this war during college to fulfill a young male's curiosity and to complete a second major (I took history classes because I enjoy the subject, enough to qualify for a double major — which is a course of post-secondary education that I strongly recommend). As I grew up land-locked in the middle of Alaska I don't know why but I especially fancy stories that happen at sea. I am not a big fan of the aquatic but there is something about the operations of a ship and the naval tradition that is both entertaining and very, very curious.
Which brings me to a thought I had while watching this teleplay of Britain's historic military victory: What happened to games pertaining to warfare on the high seas?
Earlier in life — during the 16-bit years — we had games like 688 Attack Sub and Sub Battle Simulator and while those focused on commanding a tube filled with torpedoes it was still a game of tactics in the high seas. Today this genre is almost forgotten while gaming across age and genders is at an all time high. Especially with current technology a naval battle simulation could be so much more immersive than the Amiga could ever provide. Sure it's not FPS or MMORPG but commanding a fleet to sink another carries the challenge that those types of games can not provide.
With today's technology I would think it very possible to make an interesting multiplayer scenario with a group of players taking command of vessels as part of an armada or even to go one-on-one sub against sub or battleship against battleship. Harpoon is the only game of late that comes to mind but it hasn't been updated in years (the GUI wreaks of EGA days) and for some reason big gaming companies don't seem to think these types of games can make money. Lame.
Enough with the elves and orcs, give me a naval fleet and an opponent worth sinking.
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I would buy a good WWII Naval game in a second. Can someone get on this?
It's more of a platform adventure, but Sly 3 has a whole level devoted to sailing a pirate galleon around treacherous reefs and islands, and exchanging cannon broadsides with other ships. It's quite fun.
What about Navy Training Exercise Strike and Retrieve? It's like America's Army for the Navy. It "provides those age 17 to 24 a chance to participate in a “highly sensitive, top secret” mission, and test their skills in different areas that Sailors in the Navy experience in their everyday life."
ever read Enders Game by Orson Scott Card?
he describes advanced "games" where they play in space.
severeal people controll a fleet of spaceships. sounds like very much fun. and i agree. it would be great at sea as well.
Check out these Korean MMORPGs:
Tanks: Blitz 1941
Ships: Navyfield
enders game would be an amaaazzinngg PS3/X360 game. That book is easily one of the best I've read in my life. It just had that grab and that oomph that made you really care. Games need that so bad.
I'd enjoy a pirates game. I want to strategically attack ships and sword fight with other captains, and steal progressively cooler and cooler stuff. I want to explore islands and discover new lands, selling artifacts and transporting illegal goods. You're right, there's not enough sea-going gaming fare.
Silent Service II. Nothing better than Silent Service II. Though I did really dig on 688 Attack Sub too.
Harpoon is actually a good example of why modern warfare doesn't really satisfy, and I say that as someone who owned and played it. It's a lot of blips and vectors, sort of like playing an air-traffic control simulator, only with live weaponry. For fun naval wargaming, I think you have to go back to WW2 or earlier. Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong.
And, I have to admit, an actual decent air-traffic control simulator (for OS X) is something I'd love to play, but that's kind of off-topic.
Sounds like an opportunity for the (w)wii.
ba-da-dum.
Silent Service! I knew I had forgotten a title but could not remember the name. Speaking of Microprose titles, Eric did you ever play Kennedy Approach?
The submarine gaming genre is still kicking... I loved Silent Service II as well. The Silent Hunter trilogy has been hit and miss, the first one was excellent, the second fairly so-so, and the third I'm yet to play. However, at some point, the submarine WW2 genre decided to switch from US subs in the pacific to Nazi U-Boats in the Atlantic. I think there's something a bit unwholesome there; as you said Greg, WW2 is portrayed as a battle with obvious goodies and baddies. Playing the baddies can be fun, but the idea of pretending to control a Nazi sub sinking unarmed British and American cargo ships doesn't really do much for me. The best fun with the likes of Silent Hunter was going after Japanese battleships and carriers... the initial shock of putting the periscope up and seeing a steel behemoth with a million escorts, pumping out the torpedoes, diving hundreds of feet, and basically spending the rest of the night dodging depth-charges. Now that was fun!
As for other games... the Battlefield 1942 series had a bit of a naval element, but nothing that strategic (although it was a great game in its own right). But apart from that and Silent Hunter, there really hasn't been anything in this genre recently. I think it's because first person shooters and Grand Theft Auto-style games just sell so well.
Steve: check out Sid Meier's Pirates!, there's not a huge amount of strategy, but there's plenty of gold and sword-fighting and g'aaaring.
Silent Service II? Bah, nothing on Aces of the Deep Sierra's wonderful U-Boat simulator. Fabulous simulator - genuinely nerve-wracking as you blew all tanks whilst trying to patch the holes in them and keep yourself from sinking rapidly. Beautifully packaged, too, and lovely, lovely textured waves. I hear that Silent Hunter 3, which came out last year, is pretty much the pinnacle of WWII sub-sims, but I had a great deal of fun back in the day with AOD.
Pacific Storm is pretty good. We recently featured it in PC World here in Greece. Mostly a strategy game, but it allows you to jump into the cockpit of one of the planes or get behind the turret of an anti-aircraft gun.
I can't speak to it personally since I haven't had a chance to play yet but several of my co-workers swear that Silent Hunter III is the best thing going right now.
There's always the new Pirates of the Caribbean MMORPG game that scheduled to come out 3rd quarter of this year...
I think they should make a MMORPG version. You could start in a rubber raft with a sling shot at level 0...you get mini missions, build your vessel, kind of like armor in WoW, at the same time increasing your wepons. By the time you hit 60, you could be a full on Destroyer, or Los Angeles class nuclear submarine.
You play online with a bunch of others. They could have a lagoon battle grounds type thing with capture the flag...And for the hunter class, they could have dolphins that swim next to the boat....
As I posted above, Navyfield is a WWII MMORPG that allows you to grow your own armada. No submarines though.
"Eric did you ever play Kennedy Approach?"
Oh hell YES. I even bought it with money. Not only that, but I actually played it seriously, working my way up through the ranks. That was after I played it to cause havoc and destruction by steering planes into each other, of course. Though I have to say that way of playing doesn't seem nearly so funny now.
Or they could have focused on WWII because it has the most movies made about it... Just a theory. There aren't too many movies about Desert Storm or the Balkans conflict.