When you consider the many ways in which age-of-sail naval combat has been dramatized, glorified, and romanticized through literature, film, and television, it boggles the mind to think that PC games on the subject are few, far between, and generally poor. Strategy First's Man of War II is just good enough to break from this mold, but it still suffers from many of the problems that plagued its predecessor. Because of this, it is doubtful that the game will appeal to mainstream gamers not already enamored with the age of fighting sail.
As in the original Man of War, the sequel puts you right smack on the quarterdeck of your own ship, varying from a flush-decked sloop to a towering 100-gun first-rate ship of the line. Wandering around the deck using first-person shooter-style keyboard and mouse controls, you command your ship, squadron, or fleet in battles ranging from ship-to-ship duels on up to massive fleet actions like Camperdown, The Glorious First of June, and Trafalgar.
Though graphics do not necessarily make or break a game, it must be pointed out up front that the graphics engine in Man of War II is poor, blocky, and outdated. If you absolutely must have the latest and greatest 3D-accelerated graphics at resolutions beyond 640 by 480, this game is not for you - period. Ships in Man of War II are brought to life via 2D sprites - and 256-color sprites at that. In fact, the graphics don't appear to have changed much at all since the original Man of War's release. And while the rippling explosions of a three-decker's broadside is something to behold even with this graphics engine, it really is hard to understand why Strategy First didn't make the move toward a more advanced graphics engine.
At least Man of War II plays better than it looks, although it could have played a lot better. The single-player game options include two campaigns and 30 individual historical scenarios. The first campaign is very brief and lets you follow the footsteps (or wake) of John Paul Jones, from his days as captain of the sloop Providence to his climactic battle at Flamborough Head (the designers even worked in the maniacal and treacherous French frigate alliance).
The second campaign revolves around a fictional conflict between England and France in the years following the Seven Years War. In this campaign, if you do well enough on your first pass through as a captain, you can attempt the campaign a second time as a division commander and then as an admiral. So instead of being promoted during the campaign - a la TalonSoft's Age of Sail - you have to replay the thing all over again. Granted, there are various missions that can only be played at each of the three different ranks, but this is still not the most elegant of campaign structures.
Commanding your ship is no exercise in intuitiveness, either. Your best bet is to move around the deck with the arrow keys while issuing orders with the mouse, but even this can be rather confusing at times. It wouldn't be so bad if the manual did a better job of explaining all the various icons and buttons, but as it stands you may have to fiddle with them for a while before you figure out how everything works. Even then, you may still run into hesitant crewmen who refuse to fire your cannon even when the targeted enemy ship is directly alongside yours - clearly within range and clearly lined up with your guns. Cries of "She's not in range, captain" pop up at the most bizarre and baffling moments. Perhaps a visible range indicator might help here, since the blocky 2D sprites make it difficult to estimate distance anyway. Damage to other ships is also tough to judge, apart from missing masts or an occasional fire. How about a way to see how many guns are still firing at me from the enormous Santissima Trinidad? You can't tell me gunport damage and slackening fire wouldn't be visible on a triple-decked ship of the line with 100-plus guns.
Even when you do manage to claim victory in a mission, the abrupt mission ending and the resulting summary screen become the crowning glory of confusion in this game. First off, the mission often ends even when you are under the raking fire of two or more enemy vessels - all that matters are the hard-coded mission goals, apparently. Then, nine times out of ten, you'll see some comment like "The Admiralty's patience wears thin" even when you've captured three or four enemy vessels yourself. The manual states that your evaluation is based on the amount of damage you dish out versus the damage sustained by your own ship. Well, if I'm going to be chastised for poor performance in a victory, it would sure be nice to know how the damage stacks up. Currently, all you see is how many ships were involved and how many of them escaped, sank, or were captured. A mission summary more like the one from Wooden Ships & Iron Men would be a dramatic improvement. Finally, sometimes the game won't let you move on when you fail a mission, but sometimes it will - weird.
Still, it's hard not to like this game on some levels. After all, it may very well be the best age-of-sail game ever produced - poor graphics, clunky interface, and all. The scenarios are well designed, and the campaigns supply a great range of mission types. Nelson's fleet doesn't behave as it really did on the Trafalgar scenario, but otherwise not too many details were missed. Once you get used to the interface, you may find yourself really becoming addicted to the large-scale fleet actions.
In the final analysis, Man of War II is yet another age-of-sail game that will probably appeal only to fans of the era, and even then the game will leave many gamers feeling less than satisfied. The good news is that Strategy First has been very active with adding new features and fixing flaws, so perhaps they can bring it all together for the definitive age-of-sail experience in Man of War III (or Man of War 3D?).
