Tall Ships Age of Sail is an app 3D game for iDevices that sailors with an interest in historical naval battles may enjoy. On the one hand, it's fairly simple: you sail your tall ship around chasing one or more other ships, firing your larboard (port side) and starboard cannon in an attempt to sink the other ships before they sink you. On the other hand, the graphics are fairly realistic and the ship's motion realistic on different points of sail, allowing some interesting control over the game. Whether you'll enjoy it for an hour or two, or maybe even repeatedly, depends mostly on what you expect from iPhone games. All in all, it's not a bad sailing app.
- Version reviewed: 2.0.3 for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad - $3.99
- Apparently unavailable for Android at this time
How It Works
- Each battle begins with a description of an 1805 battle scenario.
- Your 3D ship stays in the center of the screen in open water. You turn the ship to port or starboard by tilting the device left or right.
- As the boat changes direction relative to the wind, the streamer atop the mainmast indicates the wind direction, and the sails move automatically to stay in trim. Forward speed almost stops if you try to sail into the wind.
- Arrow(s) on the water point at the enemy ship(s), a helpful feature when they are out of visual range because you've zoomed in too close. "Pinch" the screen to control the zoom. Zoom out to see the area of ocean when ships are far away, and zoom in when you're close enough to engage in battle and need to calculate where your cannon are pointing.
- When you have the enemy within firing range, tap the left or right cannon icon to fire the larboard or starboard cannon. Cannonballs fly and strike the enemy or miss and hit the water. It takes a few seconds for your crew to reload the cannon, during which you may be vulnerable to the enemy's fire.
- Direct hits cause damage to the enemy ship or your own. The color of the masthead streamer indicates accumulative damage. With enough damage the ship sinks.
- Firing is affected by the roll of the ship, which realistically depends on its angle to the wind. This is one of the factors you have to keep in mind when engaged in battle. The "physics" of the ship's sailing and cannon firing feel realistic.
- Swiping the screen in any direction changes your visual perspective of your boat and the battle scene.
- The graphics are good for even a small screen, showing holes in the sails and pieces of wood blasted away by cannonballs.
- User-controlled sounds are fun: the blasting of cannon, the crew and captain shouting at each other about sail trim and cannon loading, the final "God save the king!" when your ship goes down.
The Downside
- Unless you swipe to change the appearance of your ship (and the direction it points), turning the ship by tilting the device left or right does not turn the actual ship as viewed - instead it rotates the world around the ship. This feels a bit confusing at first.
- Some screen touch controls lead to confusing results. Sometimes a zoom pinching motion, for example, can result in a "swiping" abrupt change of perspective that spins the ship around.
- After playing a while, the game can start to feel repetitive. Even at the difficult game setting, some players complain that they've mastered it after 30 minutes and always win.
- The battles vary mostly only in the number and speed of enemy ships - not in terms of any more complicated strategies beyond maneuvering to attack and fire the cannon.
Conclusions
Gamers have mixed reviews of Tall Ships Age of Sail: most seem to enjoy it and appreciate the historical and physical realism, while some find it too simple and want more levels of difficulty or other features to stay engaged. There's also a question of what you get for $3.99, with some finding it not worth so much and others considering that a mere pittance for even a short experience.
If you're a hardcore gamer without much interest in historical naval battles, you should probably stay away. If you appreciate the realism and can place yourself in a historical situation heightened by the sailing experience, you very well might enjoy it. Either way, don't expect to learn much about sailing itself from this app - try SailSim for that. Or simply to read about types of boats and the physics of sail, try History of Sailing.
For sailing race games, check out Little Sailor and Sailboat Championship PRO for Apple devices or 3D Sailing Simulator Regatta for Android.
