Battleship: Surface Thunder (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.0 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Giancarlo Varanini
• Reviewed on: 10/25/2000
• Released on: 10/15/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: Battleship: Surface Thunder (PC) Review

Hasbro Interactive's Battleship: Surface Thunder is a radical departure from its previous attempt at bringing the classic board game Battleship to the PC. Whereas Hasbro's previous game tried to improve upon the board game, Surface Thunder has a very different approach: It's a simplistic 3D arcade shooter. Surface Thunder does have some redeeming qualities: The classic game of Battleship is included, and the simple gameplay is easy to get into. But otherwise, Surface Thunder isn't very interesting or enjoyable.

Battleship: Surface Thunder starts out with a rather impressive intro cinematic that illustrates the excitement of naval battles, but the thrill lasts only until you see the actual in-game graphics - they're horrible. Not only do they look washed out and pixelated, but they've also got some technical problems. Many of the ships, including your own battleship, have some distracting aliasing problems, and texture warping happens frequently, especially when you're traveling underneath a land bridge. While your own battleship is fairly well detailed - you'll notice the rotating radar - most of the ships you fight against look very plain, and you can actually count the number of polygons used to build the surrounding land masses.

It's true that there are a few nice visual details in Surface Thunder. Whenever a ship is destroyed, it sinks to the bottom of the river (technically, you're never quite out in the ocean) instead of simply disappearing. The smoke effects on damaged ships are also fairly good. Still, you can tell that the game wasn't designed to take advantage of the latest PC graphics hardware.

One of Battleship: Surface Thunder's initialy appealing features is its very simple gameplay. You start each mission with a brief overview of what your objectives are and what you need to do in order to exit the level. Most of the time, objectives consist of blowing up ship ports, an oil derrick, or a few aircraft carriers - nothing too complex. The only problem with these objectives is that so many structures look the same or perform the same function that you'll think you've completed most of your mission objectives, only to find that you've destroyed a different kind of ship port and you're only halfway through the level. It's just as annoying when you've seemingly destroyed everything in a level and then find that the gates to the next section haven't opened. You'll have to go back through the level to try to find what you missed.

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