As a lifelong lover of pirates, and anyone who has ever seen an Errol Flynn film should be, and a keen naval historian and admirer of the feats of the "senior service" AKA the Royal Navy, I have always longed for a proper game to reflect these passions.
Some games addressed them directly, such as Sid Miers "Pirates" and some just had hints of action in them, like the Naval side of Age of Empires, but in recent times, other genres have taken over, and the seas looked a barren source of inspiration. Really "space" had taken over, with EVE and the recent return of Elite (amazing!) both offering the gaming equivalent of a life on the very very huge Ocean wave, but in space ships. I was looking forward to World of Warships when it launched recently, as a way to satisfy the oceanic naval itch, but while it looked great, and allowed some nice IJN action, and was actually quite fun it was FAR too arcadey for my taste.
Then an advert for Naval Action popped up on my Facebook feed.... So you see, sometimes these targeted ads DO work! And We DO want them! Intrigued I saw that advanced access was on offer, and after watching roughly 15 seconds of a video on youtube I was convinced! Steam key purchased I logged in, and got stuck in.
Naval Action (Website here) is an open world based multi player game, based in the Caribbean theatre in the Age of Sail. Starting in wee single mast ships you can trade, fight, mission or craft your way up up, playing as one of the many nations at play in the era, or as a heartless and stateless pirate. The ships available go all the way up to massive 1st rate Ships of the Line [SOL]; currently the RN's legendary Victory, flagship of Lord Nelson and his doorway to Davy Jones' locker, and the might Santissima Trinidad of Spain. Seeing these behemoths in action will surely be something to see. I can say this safe in the knowledge that I haven't, but I HAVE been involved in some smaller PVP battles, with 3rd Rate SOLs and wow. Actually, make that WOW!
Naval Action's development team have absolutely got it right when it comes to the look and feel of this game. The sea is beautiful, and the ships are elegant, and the pacing is right. Open World sailing is greatly accelerated but in battle encounters everything slows right down ...and if you get your manoeuvring wrong in a 3 master, it wont just be slow...it will start to go backwards!
Once you have sailed / crawled /tacked your way into action, the jaws really drop as the boom of cannon fire and the incredible amount of smoke these weapons generated is faithfully recreated. If you are moving slowly, once you have fired a couple of sighting rounds, you will no longer be able to actually see the enemy, so you can fire a broadside only to find the enemy had turned away. In small fleet actions seeing smoke billowing everywhere, and flashes of guns within the smoke is magical and if you are unlucky you will also see a hail of cannon balls coming towards your ship and turning it into matchwood with flying splinters and the odd falling mast. Sails turn into tatters; the bosun's whistle sounds and the crew cheers when I took down an enemy mast was really rousing!
The battles are great fun whether solo versus the AI or teamed up with one or two allies doing AI missions, or in small or larger PVP fleet balltes (or indeed fleet battles vs AI) and the game also allows you to trade from port to port, explore if you fancy and craft ships and upgrades. It promises a power political meta game, economy and of course PIRATES! What more could you want?
All in all it was an incredibly immersive experience, and finally the Age of Sail seems to have been done right. Anyone who is a fan of the period should get involved. The game is officially about to launch at the end of this week I believe and I would like to wish the development team all the best with the launch and the games further development.
Some games addressed them directly, such as Sid Miers "Pirates" and some just had hints of action in them, like the Naval side of Age of Empires, but in recent times, other genres have taken over, and the seas looked a barren source of inspiration. Really "space" had taken over, with EVE and the recent return of Elite (amazing!) both offering the gaming equivalent of a life on the very very huge Ocean wave, but in space ships. I was looking forward to World of Warships when it launched recently, as a way to satisfy the oceanic naval itch, but while it looked great, and allowed some nice IJN action, and was actually quite fun it was FAR too arcadey for my taste.
Then an advert for Naval Action popped up on my Facebook feed.... So you see, sometimes these targeted ads DO work! And We DO want them! Intrigued I saw that advanced access was on offer, and after watching roughly 15 seconds of a video on youtube I was convinced! Steam key purchased I logged in, and got stuck in.
Naval Action (Website here) is an open world based multi player game, based in the Caribbean theatre in the Age of Sail. Starting in wee single mast ships you can trade, fight, mission or craft your way up up, playing as one of the many nations at play in the era, or as a heartless and stateless pirate. The ships available go all the way up to massive 1st rate Ships of the Line [SOL]; currently the RN's legendary Victory, flagship of Lord Nelson and his doorway to Davy Jones' locker, and the might Santissima Trinidad of Spain. Seeing these behemoths in action will surely be something to see. I can say this safe in the knowledge that I haven't, but I HAVE been involved in some smaller PVP battles, with 3rd Rate SOLs and wow. Actually, make that WOW!
Naval Action's development team have absolutely got it right when it comes to the look and feel of this game. The sea is beautiful, and the ships are elegant, and the pacing is right. Open World sailing is greatly accelerated but in battle encounters everything slows right down ...and if you get your manoeuvring wrong in a 3 master, it wont just be slow...it will start to go backwards!
Once you have sailed / crawled /tacked your way into action, the jaws really drop as the boom of cannon fire and the incredible amount of smoke these weapons generated is faithfully recreated. If you are moving slowly, once you have fired a couple of sighting rounds, you will no longer be able to actually see the enemy, so you can fire a broadside only to find the enemy had turned away. In small fleet actions seeing smoke billowing everywhere, and flashes of guns within the smoke is magical and if you are unlucky you will also see a hail of cannon balls coming towards your ship and turning it into matchwood with flying splinters and the odd falling mast. Sails turn into tatters; the bosun's whistle sounds and the crew cheers when I took down an enemy mast was really rousing!
The battles are great fun whether solo versus the AI or teamed up with one or two allies doing AI missions, or in small or larger PVP fleet balltes (or indeed fleet battles vs AI) and the game also allows you to trade from port to port, explore if you fancy and craft ships and upgrades. It promises a power political meta game, economy and of course PIRATES! What more could you want?
All in all it was an incredibly immersive experience, and finally the Age of Sail seems to have been done right. Anyone who is a fan of the period should get involved. The game is officially about to launch at the end of this week I believe and I would like to wish the development team all the best with the launch and the games further development.
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