Naval Ops: Commander

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Naval Ops: Commander
Developer(s)	Micro Cabin
Publisher(s)	Koei
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date	JP January 22, 2004 NA March 10, 2004
Genre(s)	Vehicle simulation game
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Media	DVD

Naval Ops: Commander is a computer game and is the sequel to Naval Ops: Warship Gunner.

[edit] Overview

The game is a one-player simulation of naval combat, in which the player commands an individual ship. In the opening cutscene, a World War II-era destroyer similar to its predecessor, Naval Ops: Warship Gunner. The game uses the same type of warships and most technologies alloted in Warship Gunner.

The game differs from both Warship Gunner games, by having look-down view of playing instead of third-person view. You are also alloted escort/support vessels to assist you in missions. You can also re-arrange these escorts to different formations to allow better use of their abilities. The games still allows the customization of your "flagship" or "command ship" as in Warship Gunner(s) games.

Weapon systems are the same, but you'll note that power and effectiveness of these weapons will differ from other Warship Gunner games. You may find them not as powerful, or as effective in some cases. As this is 3rd person tactical game verses hack and slash shooter Warship Gunners are.

Story wise, in first Warship Gunner, the player's ship is one drawn from another world. Namely World War II of Earth. In Commander, the roles are reversed, the player is now natives of the alternated world and witnessing people and technology coming from a another world. Not necessary, our Earth however.

There are many hulls available to the player including drillships and double hull ships. However some hulls can only be used by getting a certain score on a certain level such as getting a drillship for beating the "arahabaki2".

[edit] Escort Ships

The escort ships bring a new dimension to the game. Having a small task force of 3 ships, the player/commander can choose which type for they need to assist in missions that are assigned to them. As technology of is researched, more escort vessels and new capacities becomes avaiable.

The escort ships have wide range of abilities. From basic destroyers to speciality vessels.

Examples are: Electro Magnetic Shield ships, Fuel Tanker ships, Ammunition ships and more. These are available through tech upgrades/achievements and winning "A" or "S" grades per mission. However, the escorts have limited AI. Which can be problematic when they are following the player command ship.

They can be useful for providing fire support when mission requires you to use vessel that may not have defensive or offensive weapons necessary to combat all missions threats. Example: If using a Aircraft Carrier or Battleship as command ship, your escorts from light destroyer to cruiser can provide anti-submarine support.

The escorts can be arrange in various formations to protect your command ship from being damaged or provide wide range of scanning or even increasing your task forces defensive ranges.

If however, any escort ships are destroyed during the mission, this will be scored againt the player when mission tallied and ranked.

Also it should be noted, that once completing survival mode (such as for "A Stage"), the prizes are rewarded with their successful completion. These rewards not available though normal use of the game itself, but the survival mode. An Example prize: "A Stage" reward is a unique escort submarine becomes available to the player in regular game. It is called the Shark, this is a silly version of escort submarine. This will appears to the player only as a Shark's fin and its only weapons are 61cm Torpedoes.

[edit] Trivia

• Mission A-6 and A-a are reminiscent of the real life Battles of Narvik in WWII.
• Mission B-1 has transports going through the "Giboor Sector" which sounds and looks like Gibraltar where many transports passed through during WWII