Do not be fooled by the dull and unimpressive looks of the game when you start playing. The largest selling point of BM is that it not only allows you to manage your fleet and plan your strategy in a 2D overview map, it also lets you jump right into the action by assuming control of any units at will, from a third-person perspective. For example, you can use a carrier and airfield to construct planes and deploy fighter planes to intercept incoming aerial enemies, while directing a group of dive bombers to attack enemy battleships. Meanwhile, you silently drive the submarine towards the enemy waters, and launch a couple of torpedoes at the enemy carrier. With the foe carrier slowly sinking into the water, you call the submarine back to base and switch to assume control of a fighter plane. After shooting down a few planes, you switch to flying bombers and dropping bombs at the enemy destroyers while pulling the plane’s nose up. You are victorious and the enemy forces are eliminated! With BM, the term “multitasking gaming” is redefined. Very busy, yes; and extremely fun, too

Find that a little too overwhelming? The BM developers cleverly make the degree of involvement adjustable – you can control your fleet’s movement, set way points, and order attacks within the overhead tactical view – much like when you are playing a normal RTS game, and let your men do their work. You can still join in for some dogfights from time to time when you are not too occupied, but that is entirely optional in that sense. You can still win a battle by proper tactical movements and attacks without ever leaving the tactical view, although it is far less satisfying.

BM features a rather accurate flight model for its genre. This is no flight simulator, but you still need to watch your throttle, heading, altitude and enemy fire nonetheless. For firing, there is the gravity and projectile physics, so you will have to fire at the place where the enemy is going to be, not where it is. This general firing rule is applicable to all units, be it air or sea. We wish there is an option for auto-targeting, however, that will let beginners enjoy the game soon as he starts playing.

The first single-player campaign mission, otherwise known as the tutorial, is a nice place to start learning the complex mechanics and controls of the game, as it is an excerpt from a scenario somewhere in the single-player campaign. It will take about an hour to complete. For first timers, it is a little heavy and boring, but it does give you the basic idea on how to control the war machines which will help you advance in complex situations at a later stage. It may just take a couple of hours to master the controls of BM, but it will be a long time before you can even begin to complete the single-player challenges (Ship, Sub and Plane), much less against other online veteran players.

The single player campaign is rather short, with only 11 missions, excluding the first tutorial mission. You can still have a pretty good run for your money if you crank up the difficulty level to High. However, the real meat of BM is in the multiplayer game. Matches are team-based, you can choose between American (Allied) and Japanese (Axis). Eight players are supported, with controls of over 60 units. You can start with a ship, submarine, aircraft, shipyard, airfield or a combination of any of these. You can switch between your allocated combat units or built units in order to eliminate your enemies or complete the objectives. Each unit has its own unique features and controls, and cooperation is the key to win in a multiplayer battle. Compared to multiplayer shooters, BM offers a lot more depth, dynamics and replayability in our opinion. Although we would really love to see a single-player skirmish mode in BM for some offline simulated multiplayer sessions.

In terms of in-game graphics, we are unable to fault BM – 3D models of the war machines and their level of details are frighteningly realistic, and the war scenes are visually appealing, even the cut scenes between missions are rendered in realtime to match your screen resolution, so no lossy or blocky video encoding problems here. If you have a controller for Xbox, 360 (wired or wireless) or Logitech you can simply hook it up as BM already has profiles for these common game controllers. We find that the gaming experience in BM is greatly enhanced when playing with a gaming controller instead of keyboard and mouse, particularly with the easier steering, firing, and the addition of rumble effects.

Despite its rather steep learning curve, BM manages to strike the right blend of action and strategy to create an addictive war gaming experience that is as unprecedented as it is thrillingly enjoyable. In short, BM excels as a fighter plan game, a submarine game, a warship game, and a strategy game.

 

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