At GamesCom, our Tim found World of Warships to be quietly brilliant. The noise of the trade show must have skewed his perception of volume, however, for there’s nothing quiet about this first-ever footage of Wargaming’s tactical sea-tank sim. Hoo, no.
This trailer looks a little like those released for Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, but with the Man O’ War’s replaced with aircraft carriers and the cute little auks with torpedoes.
It’s all in-game, and could probably benefit from a bit of unpacking. Those big Japanese ships? You’ll control just one, in 32 player engagements across the ocean. Like World of Tanks, you can do plenty with the WASD keys – but you also have the option of zooming out to a tactical map to plan routes, check what’s over the next wave, and better communicate with teammates.
The planes you see buzzing about won’t be directly controlled – they’re protective AI tied to aircraft carriers and other boats with aerial escort.
Submarine players miss out on those, but they might be having the most fun: taking cover behind islands and finding the perfect position to flick all the switches to ‘boom’.
“It works,” said Tim of his time with Warships. “The controls are simple and welcoming, but allow for interesting tactics. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing with boats in a videogame – certainly more fun than Total War’s pondering naval engagements, definitely more approachable than sims like Silent Hunter, far-far deeper than the Pirates games.”
Have you enjoyed this morning’s bout of naval-gazing?