Checkpoints
While Battleship is quite easy, at times throughout the game, it is very easily to find yourself vulnerable and unable to do anything about it due to the game’s clunky controls and gameplay. Checkpoints are provided in games for the purpose of allowing you to not lose too much progress if and when you happen to die, or at least in most games. While playing Battleship, checkpoints tend to be few and far apart in just about all cases available, and you will often find yourself redoing parts, as well as hearing repeated dialogue to compliment the restrategizing for your battleships. This can certainly take away from the little enjoyment that you may have while playing the game, on what I would hope is nothing more than a rental.
Incredibly short and lacking
Battleship has a total of seven missions. Each of these missions might take you an hour or so max, on the hardest difficulty which is actually incredibly easy. Sure, you’re probably thinking, oh well I’m not a big campaign person, I’ll just just hop on some good ol’ multiplayer with some buds and I’ll be all fine. Think again as Battleship has no multiplayer to be found. Heck, Battleship has no other things to do once you have completed single player, which shouldn’t take very long; maybe an afternoon of casual play. While playing through the game on Admiral, I was quite surprised to not see the Admiral himself (Grant Gaines) make a special guess appearance to give the game a truly magnificent climax.
Even on top of the actual length of the story, I regularly found myself stopping playing because the game didn’t feel very interesting. There isn’t a whole lot that holds you to the game, since its really just head here, disarm/re-arm this, head to next area. There isn’t any sense of “I wonder what will happen next” in this game, especially when your ships demolish everything in their sight. Battleshop lacks any real difficulty as far as I can see, especially with myself getting through the game on the hardest difficulty without dying much, not to mention ever losing a ship while in ship control mode. Furthermore, the game often has you revisiting old, previous areas, which is even worse. On top of all the the above, the AI certainly doesn’t help win your over seeing as it is all pretty emotionless and lifeless.
Quite unoriginal in most ways
As previously mentioned, the game doesn’t have many things that make it unique among other games in the first person shorter genre. The guns honestly look just like any other game’s guns, like carbines, basic pistols, chain gun alien mutation like guns, etc. At least the enemies have some cool looks…well, not really. They’re just blue suited alien like things, that look similar to humans. Really, the game feels like it tries to be a Halo clone that mixes in some elements from other games by the looks of the enemies, as well as some of the weapons. Heck, your teammates even refer to you as “Master Chief” time and time again; coincidence? I think not so much.
Extremely overpriced
While more often than not, both the Xbox Live Marketplace as well as the Playstation Store see practically full game releases for average prices. Battleship provides a less than desirable experience for the full retail price of $60 at release. To be paying such a price, the consumer would expect to have a full game, with multiplayer and other worthwhile features to justify the price. It may be arguable that the game is completely overpriced, seeing as it has a $10 movie coupon (for limited time, of course), but that isn’t saying much for a $60 retail game.
Verdict
Overall, if you’re considering buying Battleship, I cannot recommend it. At most, the game is worth a rental in which you can simply have an afternoon to mess around while you wait for other games to release. It certainly isn’t the worst game you may play all year, but it likely won’t be the best. The average gamer might enjoy the game some, or might hate it with a passion, as demonstrated by Duke Nukem Forever. Battleship excels mainly when it comes to the game’s battle mode, where as its downfall is rather on the heavy end with items such as awful checkpoints and a lacking story. The lack of value on the game is probably its biggest downfall, being that it costs $60, and feels like it should be $15 max. The game is rather easy for the FPS veteran or even someone who has never played a FPS game, so don’t let lack of experience put you off if you’re truly interested in the game.
[Editor’s Note: Battleship was reviewed on the Playstation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]