War in the Pacific (Admiral's Edition)

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Te Kaha

Is there anyone playing this game, or pondering to buy it?

Am asking because I am thinking about buying it, but reading the reviews, this title seems to have such a depth that you can more or less forget about real life... I'm married with kids...

Opinions?

It's not for the faint of heart. I've played the Coral Sea scenario and the Guadalcanal one, but have yet to take the campaign game plunge. It certainly helps if you have a deep abiding interest in the subject matter of the Pacific War, as it was hardly an even contest as time goes on and Japan slowly gets buried by Allied material advantages. The toughest part is tackling the situation in China where the Allies are blessed with many, many almost worthless Chinese units on a long meandering front. Happily there is a campaign scenario now where this sector remains mostly quiet, so you don't have to micro-manage it. If you play as Japan you really have to struggle to manage Japan's industry well as most resources are overseas and you never seem to have enough merchant ships.

I do like the little touches they have added. Your ships in combat can take damage from each other as well as the enemy in the form of collisions. The Pearl Harbor attack can be a one day affair or go through several days of repeat attacks. The "improved" fog of war means it may be months before you confirm through intelligence that an enemy ship you think you sank in battle did sink...or was even that particular ship. All in all well done.