Download Links:
http://www.enpcgames.com/steel-ocean-free-download-pc-version/
Steam -
http://store.steampowered.com/app/390670/
This is a chinese MMO game about World War Two Battleships. There are five classes: battleships, cruisers, destroyers, Aircarriers and submariens (yes). It’s possible that there will be historical battles too.
Instead of playing like a WoWS clone, it plays out more like a battlestations clone.
+The ability to gain control of your secondary and AA armament is highly appreciated, instead of waiting for RNG to do it's work and shoot down incoming bombers, manual AA armament control puts the power back in the hands of the player.
+Carrier gameplay is much much more interesting. I have both T9 CVs in WoWS and over the time from the CBT till now, WG's balance changes to CVs have shown their lack of vision for how they want CVs to play out. Instead of fixed loadouts, Steel Ocean goes close to the NavyField style of allowing you to customize your squadrons in combat to fit the dynamics of the situation. Additionally, the existence of dedicated scouting aircraft really pushes the versatility of carriers even further - beyond mere torpedo dispensers. Additionally, a division allows up to 2 carriers, which means that if you a friend both love carriers and want to play them, none of you will have to compromise and play a less desirable class of ship unlike in the case of WoWS.
+Aiming while moving is a lot more inaccurate in Steel Ocean, somewhat a approximation of real life. While encouraging people to stop to aim in a fast-paced arcady game is indeed a dubious design decision, it can't be dismissed that aiming requires more skill than WoWS and at the back of the minds of ship captains remains the cost vs risk analysis of stopping for better aim but becoming a better target.
+No torpedo lead indicator. Once again, another aspect from battlestations - the lack of torpedo lead indicator means that torpedoes are more for area denial and close range torpedo attacks are needed to ensure a successful torpedo attack. Additionally, the torpedo arming distance is feels much further than WoWS, which prevents DD suicide charges.
+Submarines. Submarine gameplay is sufficiently balanced and fun in steel ocean. There is a huge step away from historical realism, but considering how WoWS threw historical realism out of the window since 0.3.7 in the CBT, the argument that submarines in WoWS will "not be historically realistic" does not hold water. Instead, in Steel Ocean, submarines have 3 depth heights, surface, periscope and deep - the deeper the dive, the faster the oxygen supplies used, but the harder for the submarine to be attacked. Oxygen supplies run out comically fast - as expected of an arcade game, but nothing feels out of place or imbalanced.
+Better ship customizbility. Multiple camo options as well as national flags, using a buy/rent system allows a greater degree of personalization in this game.
+Comprehensive tutorial system. Not only does a dedicated tutorial for the basics exists, tutorials for carrier and submarines are available when these ships are unlocked as well. Additionally, a one time of assistance is accorded to the player in the game. I personally made the mistake of jumping straight into a match my Bogue when I first got the ship, but the pointers and tooltips within the game allowed me to pick up the basics on the fly. Afterwhich, I played the dedicated carrier tutorial to get a more comprehensive overview.
+Extra bonus for carrier fans: Yorktown, Wasp and Shinano are in the game. These ships are in the skill tree, unlike how they are often postulated to be premium ships in the case of WoWS
So what's the catch?
-The graphics are bad and poorly optimized - even Battlestations Pacific looks better in some regards. Additionally, the RAM usage can get ridiculously high. People I know have managed to get a solid 50 fps in WoWS but struggle to get 20 fps in Steel Ocean despite the difference in graphics.
- The global chat is cancerous. I often see Chinese and Japanese players argue in the chat
(sometimes, hilariously, in their own respective languages). Constructive comments and requests for help are often ignored and buried under a pile of memes and arguments.
- Your Mileage May Vary, but this game is highly arcady and might be a turn off to certain players. That being said, I do not think that this alone warrants it a bad review. It is a merely a design decision. Battlestations and NavyField were sufficiently unrealistic as well, yet they were highly enjoyable games. To take an analogy from the gameplay aspect of air combat series of games, WoWS would be Ace Combat, Battlestations and Steel Ocean would be Crimson Skies and Silent Hunter would be IL-2 Sturmovik. Undeniably, all of these analogous games are enjoyable in their own way but they definitely lie on different parts of the realism scale.
This game shows strong potential and has the systems and structure in place to create a highly diverse and interesting experience, however, poor graphics and optimization hampers the game and the arcady experience isn't for everyone. It might be wise to not approach this game as a "WoWS clone" but approach it as "another naval battle game" and evaluate it as such. In the latter case, it certainly has it's own flavor as a BS/NF hybrid with WoWS-esque gameplay.
