Carrier Battles 4+

This is a wonderful “simulation” of world war 2 pacific naval combat as you put yourself in the shoes of the admirals of the pacific war like Halsey and Nagumo. The cat and mouse game of trying to find the enemy before they find you is gripping. The developer has put a great deal of research and thought into recreating the decisions that these admirals had to make. “Do I launch an attack now with limited information or do I wait until I am sure they are carriers?” The decision is the difference between victory and defeat. The tutorials are good so it is very easy to get into the game quickly. The developer has been very active and the gradual addition of seaplanes (a good search plan is critical), fog of war, and now submarines has only made the game more historically accurate and engrossing. If you are interested in World War 2 in the pacific particularly carrier warfare, this game is both historically accurate and entertaining!

I freely admit I did not like the original game. I played it extensively, tried to like it, but it had too many unrealistic features.

This permutation of the game is for the players who want to understand the deadly, unpredictable nature of WWII carrier warfare in the Pacific. You will not know the results of your attacks. I was told Japanese carriers had sunk in my Eastern Solomons game---several times. Each new raid by my aircraft showed they were still afloat (after the game was over I discovered two did sink). Were my "pilots" seeing things or had the Japanese carriers not sunk yet?

Now you have to deal with time allocation. Every aviation preparation task on the ship costs time, such as loading weapons onto aircraft, launching aircraft and recovering aircraft. Large raids take longer to prepare and longer to launch. You must learn to think like a carrier admiral. Try your best, and fate might have Dauntlesses waiting in the sun, and your carriers are doomed. Chance plays a very important part in carrier warfare in 1942.

This is is not move and shoot. If you don't want extra detail, you do not have to use it. The features are optional.

This is a great learning tool. It is also a great play experience, albeit nerve-wracking. You may have a beautiful plan, but it will not survive contact with the enemy.

Carrier Battles is a full featured recreation of the early Pacific War Naval Air combat. Those familiar with hex and counter military games will feel right at home. There is an excellent progressive set of tutorials to make mastering the game’s learning curve fairly painless. Veterans of Carrier Battles 4 Guadalcanal will find the updated interface worth the cost of the upgrade. The love given to improving the multiplayer experience is especially noteworthy and initial hiccups have been quickly addressed. Highly recommended for the naval warfare enthusiast.