The seas surrounding the Arctic Circle are cold, choppy and not particularly welcoming towards us humans. At least not in 2030, where they have become warzones. Naval War: Arctic Circle is a speculative fiction naval strategy game and I’m terrible at it.
Maurice took a look at the game at gamescom last year; now I’ve had the chance to give the challenging campaign a spin. I won’t be starting a career in the navy any time soon, but I did get to beat up Russians and save some fishermen.
Naval War: Arctic Circle (PC)
Developer: Turbo Tape Games
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Release date: Q2 2012
The premise behind Naval War‘s two campaigns is interesting and thoroughly believable, albeit incredibly dry. Resources have become limited and tensions between Norway and her allies in NATO and the Russians have reached boiling point. NATO is trying stay out of it, while an alliance of northern European nations squabble over fishing rights with an angry, stubborn Russia. It quickly explodes into all-out naval war and you must organize your forces to protect fishing fleets, oil platforms, military installations, and your own fleets.
The two campaigns put you in the shoes of a commander in the western alliance, or his Russian counterpart. In this preview build, only the NATO campaign was available. It’s the recommended starting place, as it includes tutorials. The Russian missions represent a greater challenge in that you’re expected to already have a handle on the game.
Although I was glad to see tutorials making up the early missions, they were not particularly helpful. You learn how to select and move things, shoot other things, and drop sonars. That’s pretty much it. The simple, common-sense stuff is explained, while everything else is left up to you to learn. It makes the tutorials seem a bit pointless, as anyone who will be tempted to get a game such as this is probably more than capable of figuring out how to select a jet and send it somewhere. Other than teaching you the most basic elements of the game, the tutorials also set the scene for the greater conflict.
Giving context to the missions are newspaper articles and briefings. The press excerpts are short and a bit dull, but do a good job of giving you the feeling that your actions will have global ramifications. The briefings, on the other hand, are just a bit strange. Politicians, superiors, and colleagues talk like they are ripped right out of a terrible ’80s action movie and they all appear to be idiots.
During actual missions, the narrative is thrown out the window and it’s just you, your hideous map, and some wire-frame icons representing your forces and those of your foe. While the battle map is an eyesore and completely utilitarian, it makes commanding your fleet a doddle. There’s no heavily layered menus and all the information you need is at your disposal instantly. You can see the effect of your attacks through battle reports and alter your tactics accordingly; there’s also no screen clutter.
Individual battles go by quickly and you’ve usually won or lost before you even engage the enemy. It’s not about explosive action — it’s more like hide and seek. Spotting your foe before they spot you is the only way to ensure that you come out of each hostile situation intact. Thankfully, there’s a vast array of tactics you can employ so you can get the upper hand. Certain types of aircraft can deploy sonobuoys to detect submarines, for instance. Once detected, you can designate it as friend or foe, or use an aircraft to investigate it. When it’s been designated as a foe, you can send your forces in to deal with it, perhaps a submarine or an incredibly slow helicopter.
Turbo Tape Games have added a vast array of toys to play with, from simple mines to battleships and bombers. I’m not exactly what you would call knowledgeable about modern navies, but those who are will likely know exactly what to use for specific situations. I was just winging it early on.
Despite the simple interface and automation, realism does appear to be the name of the game in Naval War; the drama comes from decision making rather than flashy combat. Every time I sent my forces to scout for the enemy, there was always the fear that a missile could come out of nowhere and send my chaps into the freezing waters. But if I managed to evade the attack, I could turn the tables and become the hunter. It’s all about risk vs. reward.
Naval War doesn’t require you to be a micromanaging prodigy, as there’s a lot of automation, like aircraft automatically returning to base when they start to run out of fuel. But for those who love fiddling with options and sliders, that’s still possible. Once you get the hang of things, I recommend delving into micromanagement. You can choose formations, the altitude of aircraft, engagement responses, and a whole lot more.
It’s is still an unforgiving, hardcore game. The presentation and learning curve will likely put a lot of people off. But there is a clear intent to make it more accessible. I really am hoping for improved tutorials, because that will go a long way to encouraging those on the fence to take on the challenge. Even though the game handed me my arse on several occasions, I’m keen to play it again if it gets a bit more polish.
