Ironclads: High Seas

About

Ironclads: High Seas is a single player tactical real-time strategy game with warfare and historical themes. It was developed by Totem Games and was released on April 28, 2010. It received negative reviews from players.

For over a year the forces of the United States of America (Northern States) and the Confederates States of America (Southern States) have fought a bitter war. In 1862 the governments of Great Britain, France and Spain recognize the Southern States to secure raw materials. The Souths economy becomes dependent on trade with Europe. The Northern Government imposes a complete blockade of shipping to …

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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40%

Audience ScoreBased on 30 reviews

gameplay3 negative mentions

Realistic naval combat with attention to historical detail, appealing to fans of the ironclad era.
Simple and easy to understand interface with minimal complex controls.
Good graphics and ship modeling for the subject matter, runs well on moderate hardware.

Gameplay is slow, dull, and repetitive with limited player control and lack of engaging mechanics.
Poor collision physics and lack of damage effects for ramming and close combat reduce realism.
Lacks features such as campaign mode, multiplayer, weather effects, varied sound effects, and proper game options.

graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The graphics receive mixed reviews, with some praising the ship modeling and clean interface, while others find them outdated, basic, or lacking realism, especially in water effects. Overall, the visuals are considered adequate but not impressive by modern standards.
- “The wargamer is pleased to present Totem Games with an award for excellence due to exquisite modeling of ship graphics, clean and simple interface, and study of a neglected topic.”
- “Passed inspection: great graphics, challenging AI, realistic physics, nice interface, neglected topic, useful editor.”
- “I will recommend the game because it is easy to play with and I think the graphics are nice enough, but with the above caveats about its shoddy collision physics and limited player controls.”
- “Graphics are barely adequate, music and sound effects are okay.”
- “Could be better - no multiplayer / no custom missions / water graphics too placid.”
- “Bad graphics; I know not to expect much, but the ships look bad, and so does the sea.”
gameplay
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The gameplay is criticized for being dull and limited, with minimal mechanics beyond steering ships and issuing firing commands. Additionally, players have encountered frustrating bugs such as guns dealing no damage or failing to fire. Overall, the gameplay experience is described as boring and lacking depth.
- “The gameplay is minimal, primarily involving steering your columns of ships and instructing them when to start firing.”
- “I have encountered several gameplay issues where guns do 0 damage or won't fire at all.”
- “It's a very boring and dull game with few game mechanics; I suggest steering to port at 125 degrees before you hit this iceberg of a game.”
- “The gameplay is barely there; all you can do is steer your columns of ships and tell them when to start firing.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game is generally considered passable but not outstanding, with some players frustrated by the inability to disable or adjust it.
- “No tutorial, no options, can't even turn the dire music off.”
- “My only complaint is that I can't turn the music off!”
- “Graphics are barely adequate, music and sound effects are okay.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from poor optimization in its collision physics, with frequent ship collisions resulting in unrealistic, stuttering bounces rather than proper damage or destruction, which undermines the immersion in close-quarters naval combat.
- “Perhaps the biggest gripe I have is the non-existent collision physics. In a historical game like this, where close-quarters ship firefights happen a lot and the AI comes right in to fight, there are frequent collisions. However, the ships just bounce off each other stutteringly until one bounces enough to move away. This is ridiculous when the pointy end of an ironclad Civil War gunship rams into the side of a wooden sailing vessel. There is no destruction occurring at all, except for slight percentage damage added to the ship's damage stat, which sometimes doesn't occur at all. Ramming a ship like this would certainly sink at least one of them outright.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers good replayability, supported by decent AI and smooth performance on moderate hardware, providing solid value for the price.
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story is considered lacking, with criticisms focusing on the absence of multiplayer and custom missions, and a generally unengaging narrative experience.