Naval Action – PC (P)Review – by DamianKnight
Genre: Action, Adventure, Indie, Massively Multiplayer, Simulation, Strategy, Early Access
Developer: Game-Labs Publisher: Game-Labs
Release Date: Jan 21, 2016
Naval Action is a game that fills a niche that has not been filled in a long time. You know, that desire to sail the beautiful waters of the Caribbean and blow stuff up! There really has not been a good game to give us this in many years and I, for one, hope Game Labs keep adding more and more to this game that is still in early access. While there is still much to add, the devs have, and continue to do so, focused on the game’s namesake naval actions, or in other words; realistic feeling pure heart-pumping unadulterated ship to ship combat.
As you can clearly see the ship battles are eye-poppingly beautiful, and are just as heart-stoppingly intense! The ship combat is very much a task though, and the learning curve is not friendly. There are missions and PVE, of course, to help you ease into things. Also, this is early access and they are still changing a lot of controls, balancing, and how things work, so there will not be a tutorial or guide in game just yet. So do not expect to go out and be sinking real players in PVP on your first day. This indie company Game Labs put a lot of hard work into this game, which can be seen by the frequent updates they put out. However, I believe that for this to ever be a full experience, they will need to change, and add, some very important features to this game.
The towns are very lacking with nothing there but a not very well thought out UI being all that you see when you are in port. Same goes for when ships collide in a ship boarding, you expect to see men cutting other men to pieces but instead you receive a weird UI mini game that leaves you with a feeling of wanting more. I believe both of these are due to that the fact that, for whatever reason, the developers have not yet decided whether or not to add player avatars into the game, and as such, do not know how to proceed in these areas. In fact, there don’t seem to be really any people anywhere, from ships, beaches, to towns, almost everywhere seem devoid of human life. I, for one, pray you will have an avatar or at, least 1st person view, that will allow for more interactive ship boardings and town visits.
Overall: This game could have great potential but it still needs a lot of work, I truly hope to see a lot more from the designers because I see great promise. Would I buy it at CURRENT price? If the game was left as it was now and my above issues I found in its current state are left then, no I could not see myself paying for it. But if they can make a complete experience I would gladly pay even more than its current going price.
Pros:
A lot of fun
Many unique features
Great immersion
Very realistic
Ship battles look and feel amazing
Cons:
Needs work
Missing many interactive features to make the experience feel whole
Controls are hard to get used to
Need a great deal of patience to play, especially in the early game
DamianKnightLiveInHD gives Naval Action a Drastik Measure 7.8 out of 10 (78)
