War on the Sea

About

In "War on the Sea," experience real-time naval combat in the Pacific theater of WWII. Command over 50 classes of ships as either Allied Forces or Imperial Japan, and participate in historical missions based on actual naval engagements. Control aircraft, fight fires, repair ships, and utilize dynamic campaign gameplay in this strategic warfare simulation.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,096 reviews

gameplay77 positive mentions

stability68 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of strategic and tactical gameplay, allowing players to command naval forces in the Pacific theater of WWII.
The graphics and ship models are impressive, providing an immersive experience for naval warfare enthusiasts.
The modding community is active, with mods like Tokyo Express significantly enhancing gameplay and adding new content.

The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to manage fleets and issue commands efficiently.
The AI often feels unbalanced, with enemy forces having unlimited resources and the ability to spawn ships at will, leading to repetitive gameplay.
The game lacks sufficient content, with only one campaign available, which can become tedious after multiple playthroughs.

gameplay
305 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
64%
11%
The gameplay of the game is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its depth and potential but criticizing its clunky mechanics, tedious elements, and unbalanced AI. While the naval and air combat mechanics can be engaging and rewarding, the overall experience is often marred by a frustrating user interface and a lack of polish, leading to a recommendation for players to explore mods for an enhanced experience. Despite its flaws, the game offers a unique take on naval warfare that can be enjoyable for those willing to invest time in mastering its systems.
- “Very detailed and addictive gameplay with an active mod community that adds new campaigns that are literally like whole new games in themselves.”
- “The gameplay is both challenging and rewarding, catering to both newcomers and strategy enthusiasts.”
- “The core gameplay is fun and engaging for those who like naval warfare.”
- “The gameplay is also just not very fun.”
- “Honestly do not buy this game, the concept is cool but the AI and gameplay is absolutely terrible.”
- “It's incredibly tedious gameplay and I'm now finding that I'm getting more frustrated with it than I am having fun, and I know it's time to put a game down when I'm not having fun.”
graphics
236 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
41%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the detailed ship models and atmospheric effects, while others criticize them as outdated and lacking in animation quality. Many players note that while the visuals can be immersive during battles, they fall short of modern standards, often comparing them unfavorably to games from the past decade. Overall, the graphics are described as decent but in need of improvement, particularly in areas like damage representation and environmental detail.
- “The graphics are beautiful and the gameplay is very fun.”
- “The game's visuals are impressive, featuring detailed ship models and atmospheric effects that enhance the naval warfare experience.”
- “Amazing graphics and incredible gameplay.”
- “The game's graphics are poor, especially for a game released within the past 5 years, and the $40 price tag is laughable.”
- “The water physics are laughably unrealistic, the graphics are outdated and unappealing, and the sound design is borderline unbearable.”
- “Graphics are simple and even bare-bones for 2021, but solid.”
story
128 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
82%
5%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and variety, with many users noting that the campaign consists of only a few scripted missions, primarily focused on the Guadalcanal campaign. While there are historical single missions and a custom mission editor that offer some replayability, players express a desire for more diverse content and dynamic storytelling elements to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the narrative feels underdeveloped, leaving players wanting more engaging and varied scenarios.
- “The campaign is pretty fun; a lot of my time in this game has been in the campaign where you command either the Japanese or American forces during the Guadalcanal campaign, although they do have quick missions which let you reenact historical battles (like Savo Island or Santa Cruz).”
- “All of this comes together at the end of an engagement for an experience that feels very much like what my friend said about my message to him, like a living war story.”
- “I love the historical battles in single player missions.”
- “The campaign is little more than an afterthought; there is one mission - capture and defend Guadalcanal.”
- “I'm disappointed with this game because the campaign only contains 2 missions.”
- “I have no idea how the devs and beta testers thought, 'yup, this is ready for prime time.' Play the campaign for a few hours, increasingly wonder why the UI is so clumsy, why handling aircraft missions is micromanagement hell, why there is no automation or implementation of things that should have been no-brainers, and finally realize, War on the Sea is far more frustrating than it is fun.”
stability
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
99%
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with many players reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and inconsistent AI behavior that disrupt gameplay. While some users note improvements over time and express enjoyment despite these issues, the overall consensus is that the game feels unfinished and requires significant polishing to enhance the user experience. Frequent crashes, unresponsive controls, and a clunky interface contribute to a frustrating experience for many players.
- “It's a solid, pretty bug-free game already, which is more than I expected. With some months of post-launch support, it should be one of the best in its genre.”
- “The game was buggy, but overall, the game felt unfinished.”
- “A full-priced game with a broken AI, bugs, and glitches.”
- “The controls and interface are a bit buggy at this time, but I'm sure that will be worked out soon enough.”
grinding
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
5%
92%
The reviews highlight that the grinding aspect of the game is predominantly characterized by tedious and repetitive gameplay, particularly in managing units and issuing orders. Players express frustration with the clunky user interface and the need for excessive micromanagement, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some find the naval warfare simulation engaging, many agree that the game suffers from a lack of quality-of-life features that could alleviate the tedium.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “There is no grinding, leveling up, or unlocking, which is fine by me.”
- “Having to switch between every unit one at a time and give them one specific order instead of being able to select multiple to do so, it's really annoying and tedious to have to do that over and over again constantly.”
- “The campaign is, at its very best, tedious and repetitive.”
- “It's incredibly tedious gameplay and I'm now finding that I'm getting more frustrated with it than I am having fun, and I know it's time to put a game down when I'm not having fun.”
music
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
55%
10%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its immersive quality and ability to enhance the atmosphere during gameplay, particularly the strategic map theme and battle sequences. However, some players criticize the lack of variety and the need for better transitions between different musical themes. Overall, while the soundtrack is often described as enjoyable and well-composed, there are notable concerns regarding sound design and the user interface.
- “The music for this game, particularly the strategic map theme, is so damn good; it makes you feel like you are in command, making all the decisions and prepared to accept the rewards, risks, and consequences that come with it.”
- “The soundtrack is movie quality and really sets the mood during engagements.”
- “I opened the game and was greeted with such lovely music; I would pay millions to have that first-time experience of opening the game and being blasted with this heavenly music at full volume.”
- “The sound design is awful and the music abysmal, and the game is really easy to beat overall.”
- “Absolutely atrocious UI, soundtrack, tedious and unexciting naval action gameplay combined with terrible graphics and warship models that rarely match their real-life prototypes is what this game basically is.”
- “Sound changes don't appear to be saving, so if you like turning down the music and using your own, you'll have to reset this every time you open the game, which you will be re-opening quite a bit because the game likes to freeze before battles.”
replayability
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
48%
14%
The game's replayability is heavily influenced by its modding community, with many players noting that while the base game offers limited replay value, mods significantly enhance the experience. Some reviews highlight a well-designed campaign that feels replayable, while others express concerns about the core game's limitations without mods. Overall, the consensus is that the game has strong potential for replayability, especially with community-created content.
- “Great game, and highly replayable with all the mods out there for it.”
- “The campaign is very replayable.”
- “Vanilla was fun, but mods add a ton to the replay value and overall fun of the game.”
- “While I have spent a good number of hours into this game, it lacks any kind of replayability altogether as what you can do is very limited.”
- “Serious short note: the base game has a lot of potential, but it's the mods that add replayability; without them, you probably wouldn't enjoy it past the 30-35 hour threshold, in my opinion.”
- “Zero replay value as well.”
optimization
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
60%
20%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed feedback. While some players note significant improvements in performance and game flow, others highlight persistent issues with AI behavior, user interface design, and the need for better resource management. Additionally, there are concerns about the game's ability to handle larger battles without performance degradation, suggesting that further updates are necessary to enhance the overall experience.
- “First and foremost, performance.”
- “Good game flow and solid performance.”
- “Awesome performance and each plane/ship/shell are modeled and does its own thing!”
- “I find it awfully strange and it has led me to believe that there are some performance issues on behalf of the game that should be fixed up in the near future.”
- “It is not very optimized for few clicks for frequent tasks, and defies conventions (even to itself, for instance, the maps in the strategic and tactical modes use different input methods).”
- “You have points you spend at the outset and you can barely afford to create one carrier task force, if you want it realistically configured (i.e. around a dozen escorts, because you need to provide for submarines and the transports you need to launch invasions of enemy territory. in theory you could build a large battle in the editor but you are warned off going beyond 20 ships because of potential performance issues.”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is largely derived from its unintentional comedic elements, such as poorly executed AI maneuvers, outdated visual effects, and absurd gameplay scenarios like ships colliding or ignoring land. Players find amusement in the simplistic dogfighting mechanics and the often ridiculous outcomes of battles, though some aspects can become frustrating with repeated occurrences. Overall, the humor is characterized by a blend of charm and clumsiness, making for a lighthearted experience despite its flaws.
- “Funny enough, I found this game by accident while perusing through YouTube.”
- “It's funny to sometimes miss with one of your torpedoes right over the bow of a ship, and the ship doesn't even notice.”
- “Although I'm not sure they should because the AI-controlled ships like to collide with each other, and will even ignore land (with funny but arcade-like results).”
atmosphere
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
22%
11%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its impressive visuals and sound design, which effectively immerse players in a detailed World War II naval warfare setting. While many appreciate the dense and engaging atmosphere, some users express frustration with the interface and gameplay mechanics, suggesting that these elements detract from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, the atmosphere remains a standout feature, enhancing the enjoyment of combat scenarios.
- “The game's visuals are impressive, featuring detailed ship models and atmospheric effects that enhance the naval warfare experience.”
- “The sound design complements the visuals, creating an immersive atmosphere.”
- “I have been playing about 15 hours thus far and was rewarded with a great in-game atmosphere, be it coordinated dive-bombing attacks on convoys or the tense atmosphere of submarine warfare.”
- “The graphics aren't the best by far, but the atmosphere is so dense and pretty to look at, and the soundtrack is a delight.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a cinematic gameplay experience that immerses players in intense battles, evoking a sense of involvement and excitement. While opinions vary, many players find the game to be heartfelt and recommend it for its comprehensive and wholesome approach, particularly for those who appreciate naval combat and the depth of individual choice it offers.
- “Not the best, but certainly not the worst. You get some truly cinematic gameplay that made me feel like I was in the thick of the battle!”
- “Comprehensive and wholesome.”
- “For those who like naval combat, and who don't mind learning complex (but not baffling) procedures that permit a lot of individual choice, I feel obligated to give this game a heartfelt recommendation based upon what I have seen so far.”