REVIEW: Battleship

REVIEW: Battleship

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Battleship is a classic board game that is finally available on Xbox One. The title is exactly what you would expect if you played the original with a friend growing up. However, as with any video game nowadays, it has to be flashy and visually appealing. This console version of Battleship features animations like ships firing weapons and additional modes which change the game up significantly. Not only that, but there’s also a rich tutorial and a campaign.

I’ll be honest, I mostly enjoyed playing the game on my own because the campaign is fantastic. It switches gameplay up by having you use various marking and firing techniques that can make certain matches against the computer-controlled opponent quite tense and grueling. While playing against a friend is obviously better, I couldn’t help but keep on playing the campaign. It’s addictive and I didn’t even know there could be so much complexity to a game like Battleship. Also, Xian, my friend and colleague, has recently been obsessed with Hitman so finding time with him proved to be quite challenging. I’m glad there’s an option here to play on your own because it adds to the value of a game. A multiplayer game—while enjoyable—is useless if you’re like me and all your friends are either across the country or the world.

The graphics are beautiful and everything is clear. As expected, the screen is split into two sections. The top portion shows the ship and all the fancy, albeit unnecessary, animations. The bottom portion shows your board along with your opponent’s. The boards fill up with white, red and green pegs depending on if you detect a ship or fire into the water. The graphics aren’t ground-breaking but are designed to facilitate gameplay.

If you don’t know the basics of Battleship, the purpose is to take turns “firing” at an empty board which hides invisible ships. Some of the ships are large, some are small, so adopting an effective strategy is necessary. However, there’s obviously an element of luck involved when it comes to the first few turns. Whoever’s able to sink all the ships first wins. I would recommend reading about Battleship strategies when it comes to discovering ships because it’s quite a complex action. I was surprised when I came across countless pages of tips and tricks on the internet.

While the game is great, there are some issues which I have to address. The first is that the load times are a little too lengthy and the animations can get jerky. How this happens in a game that doesn’t require significant graphical horsepower is beyond me. This is an issue with optimization on Xbox One and it needs to be fixed.

Secondly, using the thumbstick to select a square to fire at is a little imprecise at times. This might be due to the intermittent jerky nature of the game or an issue with how the controls work. The can easily be solved by using the D-pad on the Xbox One controller but, let’s be honest, the D-pad on the Xbox One controller is quite terrible and stiff so it’s not a pleasant experience. If you have an Elite Xbox Controller then you’re in luck but if not, then it can become a little annoying. The developers need to go back and address the sensitive nature of the thumbstick controls so that incorrect presses don’t occur. That’s it really.

Summary

Overall, Battleship is a great game which stays true to the original while also innovating by offering a campaign and new ways to destroy ships. Some of the “weapons” are your disposal are quite powerful and significantly change the game. I’m glad Battleship is finally available on Xbox One because it’s one of my most favorite games of all time. I can’t stop playing it and anyone who’s a fan of the board game should buy the digital version. It’s just addictive and amazing!

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