Victory At Sea Pacific
- September 14, 2018
- Evil Twin Artworks
- 44h median play time
Get on SteamVictory At Sea Pacific is a strategic naval war game set in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Command a fleet of ships and aircraft, engage in large-scale naval battles, and manage resources to complete objectives. The game offers a dynamic campaign and a variety of customizable ship classes, making for a unique and immersive experience.
Reviews
- The game offers a vast and immersive campaign experience, allowing players to control the entire Pacific theater during WWII.
- The strategic depth is impressive, with players able to manage fleets, resources, and logistics effectively.
- The developers are actively working on patches and updates, showing commitment to improving the game based on community feedback.
- The user interface is clunky and not user-friendly, making navigation and management cumbersome.
- The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including issues with AI behavior and saving progress, which can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- The graphics and overall presentation feel dated and lack polish, detracting from the overall immersion of the game.
- gameplay63 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the depth and strategic elements, particularly in naval combat and fleet management. However, issues such as bugs, clunky mechanics, and overly complex micro-management have detracted from the overall experience, making it difficult for some players to fully enjoy the game. While the core gameplay is engaging and offers potential for fun, it is hampered by a lack of effective tutorials and performance issues that need addressing.
“Having played the first Victory at Sea game, I feel like this does improve upon it in many ways: the combat is better, there are additional mechanics and options for issuing commands to your fleets, and the new supply chain forced me to choose each target with more thoughtfulness than I ever did in the previous title.”
“Excellent mix of fleet/strategic map control/gameplay and individual control over units.”
“The gameplay is fine and can be fun, specifically when you're right up in the action having the ship maneuver to avoid torpedoes and air attacks, and launching submarine attacks on convoys and task forces.”
“Gameplay is way too simplified and arcade-like.”
“Lots of bugs, glitches, and aspects of 'clunky' gameplay that make this not fun; I spend more time fighting my own units to get them to do what I want than fighting the enemy.”
“This game falls a little flat; it has a great grand-tactics and strategy built on a very aged system and overly complex gameplay in some areas, while other areas lack complexity.”
- graphics57 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the improvements over the original and the variety of ship models, while others criticize the low detail and outdated visuals reminiscent of early 2000s games. Many players note performance issues, such as frame drops, especially on high-spec computers, and express a desire for better optimization and graphical enhancements. Overall, while the game offers decent visuals for a grand strategy title, it falls short of modern standards and expectations.
“The graphics are phenomenal and the variety of ships is insane, especially in regards to the Japanese and US forces.”
“Graphics for this game are a vast improvement over the original; the water looks good, the guns firing, and the map looks solid.”
“There are a lot more ship models in Pacific than in the original, and graphics have improved across the board including port and island defenses.”
“Visuals are terrible, everything has zero detail, minimal effort put into any of the assets.”
“The graphics are so appalling for a current age game it's hard to even look at your units and care.”
“Graphics do feel low-poly, and the textures aren't exactly of the best quality.”
- stability49 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been a significant concern among users, with many reporting persistent bugs, glitches, and crashes, particularly during large-scale engagements. While some players note improvements since launch due to developer patches, the overall consensus is that the game remains unpolished and buggy, making it difficult to fully enjoy the experience. A few users have had positive experiences with fewer issues, but the majority emphasize that the game's stability is still a major drawback.
“The whole point of the game is air superiority, but sadly it just freezes and crashes as soon as you engage a large attack... right when it starts getting good.”
“I bought it around launch date and game-breaking bugs and glitches are still rampant in the game.”
“In a very literal way, this is the single most unplayable, buggy excuse for a game I have ever seen released on Steam.”
- optimization7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The game features extensive customization options and an impressive scale, but it suffers from significant performance issues, particularly during late-game scenarios, leading to stuttering and lag. Many users report needing to lower graphics settings to improve performance, indicating a pressing need for optimization and patches to enhance the overall experience.
“You can switch up most game variables, ship and airplane stats, campaign starting ports, resource production, shell performance, etc. You get the gist.”
“The scale of the game is amazing and is a true RTS; it should be its own genre like a 'grand RTS.' In real time, you can be fighting in Midway and Pearl Harbor while also sending aircraft from a carrier 100 miles south. It needs optimization and a facelift.”
“Quite a bit of stuttering in late game as well, especially when you have a large carrier battle.”
“This game has an excellent concept, great gameplay, decent enough graphics, however suffers from extremely poor performance, especially in the late game.”
“I can easily see why this is getting all the negative reviews; it really needs a patch and some serious optimization.”
- music7 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game has been widely criticized for being bland, repetitive, and intrusive, with players unable to turn it off effectively due to a glitch that resets the volume settings. Additionally, the absence of music in key areas like the campaign screen and battles further detracts from the overall experience, leading some to recommend playing with external music for a more immersive atmosphere.
“A last tip: play the 'Tora Tora Tora' movie theme (you can find it on YouTube), start the game and switch off the in-game music (via options) to get a more immersive experience.”
“The music is bland and the variety sucks; it also cuts in and out randomly.”
“But the killer for me is that you can't turn the music off, and the music is dreadful.”
“Sure, there is a setting in the menu, but you set it to 0, and it just resets itself in-game about a minute later, and the dreadful music is blaring again. The only way to kill it is to run the game on silent.”
- story5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The story centers around the challenges faced by pilots during missions, emphasizing realism in their successes and failures. While there are suggested narrative paths, players have the freedom to explore the storyline at their own pace. The narrative is deeply rooted in the experiences of specific vessels and their crews during the Pacific War, though some players feel the game's early access status was not transparently communicated.
“It wouldn't be realistic for every plane to do every mission perfectly.”
“If the developers had been honest with the community and called it early access, it would be a different story.”
“The war at sea in the Pacific is a story that almost completely revolves around certain vessels and their crews.”
“There are suggested ports to take along the storyline, but you have free rein in general and don't need to follow.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game offers significant replayability with three extensive campaigns that can each take dozens of hours to complete. While the addition of modding enhances the experience, players may find the unmodded base game lacking, suggesting that mods or community content are recommended for optimal enjoyment.
“Immensely replayable!”
“Three campaigns, each of which has lots of replayability and will take dozens of hours to complete.”
“Now that modding has been added, the game is more playable, but the base game unmodded is still a dire mess, so be prepared to mod or use other people's mods.”
“There is a huge potential for replayability as well.”
“Immensely replayable!!”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find humor in the game's bugs, which often lead to amusing moments during gameplay. The contrast between the initial challenge posed by Japanese forces and the subsequent ease of defeating American opponents is also noted as a source of comedy. Overall, while some criticize the game's completeness, many enjoy the lighthearted aspects it brings.
“Definitely some funny bugs in this game, but I digress.”
“It's funny that most of the negative reviews of this game are by folks that have very little time in the game.”
“Minus the bugs, which I don't really mind because they make for funny moments, the game is decent. I enjoy playing it, although it could've been an early access due to it not being complete.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be initially tedious and frustrating, particularly during the learning phase. However, many report that as they become more familiar with the mechanics, the experience improves and becomes more manageable.
“The first two days were tedious learning, and it drove me mad!”
“It gets tedious at times, but once you start to learn the mechanics, it gets easier.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users express frustration with technical issues, such as a malfunctioning camera, which detracts from their emotional engagement with the game. This annoyance can lead to a negative experience, overshadowing any potential emotional connection to the gameplay.
