Naval War: Arctic Circle

 PC
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 23
  3. Negative: 10 out of 23

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  1. Rigel86
    May 18, 2012
    4
    The game is interesting and I really enjoyed first few missions. Graphics is not something to be proud of for today's HW stage of development, but the concept and the atmosphere was nice.
    But now, with missions progressing there are more and more bugs. I am sick of looking at "NWAC.exe stopped responding" message after only way to go out after freeze is Ctrl-Alt-Del.
    Today I was    The game is interesting and I really enjoyed first few missions. Graphics is not something to be proud of for today's HW stage of development, but the concept and the atmosphere was nice.
    But now, with missions progressing there are more and more bugs. I am sick of looking at "NWAC.exe stopped responding" message after only way to go out after freeze is Ctrl-Alt-Del.
    Today I was persistent and got 3 resets in a row - what a frustrating experience.
    I would loved that game - only if I could play it ...    … Expand
  2. ilok
    Apr 12, 2012
    7
    As an avid player of contemporary naval wargames, I was looking forward to this one. It doesn't have the depth of Harpoon but it has better graphics than fleet command. That said I think that Graphically adding a dipping sonar function for asw helicopters and a wake for ships on the move would make a great improvement visually. I like the tension inducing sound track. Overall not a bad game
  3. Lennon
    Apr 11, 2012
    10
    Flawed brilliance, a real diamond in the rough, Naval War Arctic Circle is quick to pick up, and difficult to master, with plenty of re-playability. I've just completed the NATO missions and I'm looking forward to starting the Russian, I enjoyed every aspect of the game, from the battles themselves to the simple, but effective soundtrack and stylised story telling. If you like your nearFlawed brilliance, a real diamond in the rough, Naval War Arctic Circle is quick to pick up, and difficult to master, with plenty of re-playability. I've just completed the NATO missions and I'm looking forward to starting the Russian, I enjoyed every aspect of the game, from the battles themselves to the simple, but effective soundtrack and stylised story telling. If you like your near "modern day" military strategy I cannot recommend it enough.

    Be warned however this isn't C&C, its a lot deeper and a lot less forgiving.    … Expand
  4. jesse9640
    Apr 10, 2012
    3
    While at first this game did seem quite interesting, enough for me to buy it after looking into it, it lacks the user friendliness of other naval combat games. Who can forget the Battlestations series? While the concept is good and the game does have its strong aspects it lacks playability which makes it quite simply unfun and not enjoyable at all.
  5. BaiCaiX
    Apr 24, 2012
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If you are a military enthusiast, do not miss this excellent RTS.The game is the impressive performance of the radar and sonar.The operation is relatively simple and suitable for multiplayer games.Expect more MOD published.… Expand
  6. MaskedTurk
    Apr 25, 2012
    10
    Naval War: Arctic Circle (NWAC) is a fairly unique niche-market game, it's predecessors countable on the fingers of one hand, but nonetheless one that should appeal to any fan of RTS, Naval or even Airforce strategic warfare gaming.

    The game is superbly equipped with detailedly stat'd ships, aircraft, submarines, missiles, guns and sensors (both land- and sea-based) from a whole bunch of    Naval War: Arctic Circle (NWAC) is a fairly unique niche-market game, it's predecessors countable on the fingers of one hand, but nonetheless one that should appeal to any fan of RTS, Naval or even Airforce strategic warfare gaming.

    The game is superbly equipped with detailedly stat'd ships, aircraft, submarines, missiles, guns and sensors (both land- and sea-based) from a whole bunch of navies and airforces in the North Atlantic region: the UK, US, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland and of course Russia.

    The idea of a NATO v Russia might sound worn out, but it works out very well in the given storyline context, based on a feasible resource-based conflict originating off the coast of Norway and expanding to the wider Arctic Circle.

    Launching all 40 of your F-35Cs from USS Nimitz might sound like an inspired air superiority tactic now but in a few hours when they've all returned home to refuel and rearm, you'll find that NWAC is much more a game of long-term strategy, patience and cunning, pitting you against a quite competent AI that will punish you for silly, or over-optimistic, mistakes. The tutorial does do a decent job of preparing you for your struggle against your opponent, however, and the manual offers a whole section on 'game concepts': that is, how not to finish your escapades in a life raft through the use of real-world naval strategy.

    Turbo Tape Games (TTG), the developers of NWAC, are a small and relatively inexperienced mainstream game development team, and they've held up surprisingly well in creating an intuitive user interface and fun overall game, with an ethos of 'playability over simulation'. But NWAC does have it's drawbacks, understandably. Harpoon admirals will miss the NTDS symbols of their previous tools of war. Additionally, the purely aesthetic 3D world view that compliments the main 2D strategic map is less than breath-taking, using relatively low-end graphics (you will find yourself using the map 95% of the time, it should be added). For limited time, the campaigns (there is one for each side of the conflict) are linear sets of scenarios, and there is additionally no random scenario generation feature.

    For all these drawbacks, however, TTG have thankfully made NWAC widely moddable, using editable XML files for unit statistics etc, and also apparently allowing users to mod the mechanics of the game with the help of some technical coding knowledge.

    On the whole, then, a solid first incursion into the desktop gaming market from a very friendly and communicative development team, and something that should excite military boffins and RTS gamers alike. With a not overly steep learning curve, a good majority of computer-owners should find this an enjoyable and immersive experience.    … Expand
  7. wotan343
    Jul 11, 2012
    0
    While the gameplay seeks to imitate modern navies, the interface need not. It's pretty unfriendly and irreflective of what the player is likely to use the most. Unoptimised is a kind way of putting. The game would benefit most from mid-level saves. Currently, you cannot save your progress during a level. I would be quite evangelical about this game if you could save it during a scenario.
  8. Panopticon
    Jun 7, 2012
    4
    I was a big fan of Harpoon Classic back in the days of Windows 3.1, so I was looking forwards to a modern iteration of that style of game. This title will probably deliver after a few months of patches and maybe an expansion pack (coincidentally, this is published by Paradox, and that's the modus operandi for all the games they develop, too!)
    As far as I can tell (I've only managed to get    I was a big fan of Harpoon Classic back in the days of Windows 3.1, so I was looking forwards to a modern iteration of that style of game. This title will probably deliver after a few months of patches and maybe an expansion pack (coincidentally, this is published by Paradox, and that's the modus operandi for all the games they develop, too!)
    As far as I can tell (I've only managed to get through the first three missions, see below) it's a good successor to the Harpoon style of game with very realistically modeled combat, although immersion is hampered by certain gameplay conventions (for example, all ships of the different classes in the campaign will keep the same names from mission to mission regardless of if that ship was sunk previously, and aircraft in the 3d model take off by gliding out of the side of their hangers and ships at 45 degrees to the earth). Graphics are better than are needed, which is nice: there's a (necessarily sparse) 3d rendering of the terrain, ships and aircraft. The music isn't very good, but music isn't a lynchpin of this kind of warsim.
    Right now, though, the game is far too buggy. My game will regularly encounted a game breaker which causes the simulation to stop updating (it basically looks like it's paused except the time keeps ticking and units carry on killing one another behind the scenes). According to the technical help forums I'm not alone in this problem, it has its own sticky and everything! Shame they haven't pinned it down after all that time in development plus two months of retail.    … Expand
  9. Vladaimmortal
    Jun 29, 2012
    4
    bought game in february...so far i managed to find one multiplayer game , nice simulation but somehow i cant hold u online for too long till u get bored
  10. eagle262
    Dec 30, 2012
    4
    Not at all a good game. Graphics are terrible and iffy simulation. Almost impossible to counter anything; the enemy has dozens of missile flying in from the other side of the map and you'll be lucky to destroy one. For the same price on Steam you can get the much better Fleet command with better graphics and simulation in a bundle with 688(I) hunter killer and sub command. Don't wasteNot at all a good game. Graphics are terrible and iffy simulation. Almost impossible to counter anything; the enemy has dozens of missile flying in from the other side of the map and you'll be lucky to destroy one. For the same price on Steam you can get the much better Fleet command with better graphics and simulation in a bundle with 688(I) hunter killer and sub command. Don't waste your money… Expand
  11. Furious28289
    Aug 24, 2013
    3
    WARNING! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

    This genre is right up my alley, I was just beginning to love it when it broke my heart. After the first 4-5 missions (which are really easy even on hard), the game starts to struggle with multiple missiles and planes moving round the map. It eventually freezes intermittently or crashes, either way making it unplayable. Dont take my word for it go    WARNING! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

    This genre is right up my alley, I was just beginning to love it when it broke my heart.

    After the first 4-5 missions (which are really easy even on hard), the game starts to struggle with multiple missiles and planes moving round the map. It eventually freezes intermittently or crashes, either way making it unplayable.

    Dont take my word for it go and check the forums and read the stickies to get an idea of the how the tradegy of this 'abandonware' unfolded. Strongly advise you do so before buying this game.

    I'd give it a zero, except for it would actually be a really good game if only they had fixed the stability issues instead of abandoning it.    … Expand
  12. EvilxFish
    Nov 4, 2013
    8
    A fantastic simulation game, can be frustratingly difficult definitely worth getting if you love a challenge and aren't too bothered about fancy graphics

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Jun 29, 2012
    80
    A strategic simulation of modern naval warfare whose following is smaller than it deserves.
    Read full review
  2. Impulsegamer
    Jun 4, 2012
    80
    Overall, Naval War: Arctic Circle offers a great simulation experience for military buffs and fans of the genre.
    Read full review
  3. PC Master (Greece)
    May 28, 2012
    52
    Sub-par presentation, naïve A.I., that can easily be tricked, many meaningless missions, almost dead multiplayer, many technical problems and crashes. But Naval War has one thing working, that always adds interest: the unpredictability factor. [June 2012]
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