Embargo
by Eric March on June 19, 2009 at 10:47 am
Rate it:
(2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
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App Name: | Embargo |
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| Developer: | Zen Yes |
Version: | 1.0 | |
| Publisher: | Zen Yes |
Size: | 26.4 MB |
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| Category: | Simulations |
Price: | $1.99 |
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Ready for a trip back to the Age of Sail for a good old fashioned broadsides battle?
Zen Yes have taken a bit of a risk travelling off the beaten path to bring to the App Store the sort of game that we haven’t yet seen there. The idea has been done before, if infrequently; go back to 1983 and you’ll find SSI’s Broadsides, which was a primitive swashbuckling Age of Sail battle, so there’s precedent. But does it work on the iPhone?
Without a doubt it has the potential to. Zen Yes has tried to take a simulator approach to the game, requiring the player to both navigate and fire port and starboard cannons to take down enemy ships. Accurate simulations include the inability to sail into the wind, and the ability of multiple enemies to work together on naval warfare strategies to take you down, forcing you to use your own strategies to get out of the line of fire. The simulation aspect can be toned down with an easy difficulty level, which allows you to sail into the wind and leaves enemies to operate independently rather than try to surround you.
All of this is accomplished with simple controls: Tilt to control the rudder (steer, for you landlubbers), left cannon button to fire port cannons, right cannon button to fire starboard cannons. Cannons take time to reload, so there will be a brief wait after firing before you can take another crack. The usual guidelines for moving targets apply: Lead your targets (fire at where they’re going to be, not where they are) based on your distance and relative speeds, and try not to be where your enemy’s cannonballs are. Functionally realistic damage models apply, too. The more damage your ship takes, the fewer cannons remain functional, so the fewer shots you’re able to make per round. Likewise, the more damage your sales take, the harder it is to turn and the less speed you’ll be able to attain. The winner, as expected, is the last one still floating. At the end of each round you’ll score booty with which you can repair your ship with new wood, cannons and sails, and if there’s any left over, save up for better and more powerful ships.
The problem is that this is all easier said than done. In practise, few people are familiar with naval battle strategies, and the simulation model in this game makes it pretty tough to win even on the first level at the easiest skill setting. The more obvious issue however is that people are likely to buy into this game with the expectation of a more arcade-like action experience, and that is not what you get here. Like many old school sims, the entertainment is in the strategy, and then, only really to those who understand the strategies required of the genre. Those who are just looking to sink some pirates, loot the chests and plunder the wenches aren’t likely to have a whole lot of fun here, especially because first-level death is likely for the novice player who just decides that circling like sharks is a suitable battle strategy — and even if you manage to succeed with that strategy, you’ll likely have more damage to repair than the booty you score will cover, so you’re even less likely to make it through level 2.
But I’m not saying anything I haven’t already discussed with Zen Yes. They are aware of the fact that this is, all things considered, a pretty dry game with a pretty limited audience, and while it’s pretty well done for what it is, it isn’t likely to find success among such a small niche unless it adds something like an arcade mode with faster turning, speed control (effectively, adjusting your sails, but in practice working kind of like gas and brake pedals), more rapid firing, no wind effects, and bigger hauls at the end of a round, all of which would contribute to the instant gratification that arcade gamers need, thus making it appeal to a much wider audience. Keep the simulation modes of course for those that want it. Maybe add a boarding aspect where you can hop on the enemy’s ship and engage in swordfights for some extra credit and swashbuckling action.
Visually it’s adequate if plain. It uses the common Unity 3D engine a proprietary 3D engine called Yarra (thanks, Zenja) and the frame rate is good. The sound effects are decent, though the pirate quips can get a little grating after a while. Overall, given what it is, it’s decent but difficult, and as I said, it has a limited audience. Zen Yes are working on improving it though, so hopefully with time they can turn this into a good and entertaining game enjoyable by more people. They’ve got a unique premise on the App Store which is hard to come by, so they would do well to capitalize on that in any way they can. Given the right additions and improvements, Embargo could be a hit, but right now it is mainly of interest to those interested in an Age of Sail naval battle sim.
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Posted in Games: Simulations, Paid Apps
(developer of game posting).
Excellent, well thought out review. Eric, you’re a treasure to the iPhone gaming community. As developers, we’ve been play testing the game for months during development, and have fallen into the classic trap of adjusting the difficulty levels to our own experience, which is much greater than first time players. Our beta play testers also treated the game as a ’sim’ instead of an arcade shooter. But Eric is right, there are a lot of casual gamers who would prefer a more ‘instant’ arcade experience.
We have decided to add an ‘arcade’ mode to the game, which should take abuot a month to reach the hands of gamers.
PS. We did not use the Unity3D engine, we’ve used the Yarra (proprietary) engine.
Thank you, Zenja, your comments are most appreciated. The iPhone has been pegged as a casual gaming device, and while I think that’s a bit of an unfair characterization, there’s some truth to that. It is ideally suited to casual games simply due to the nature of the device. That doesn’t mean it isn’t equally adept at games with greater depth, though, and both of those reason are why I think that it’s great as a sim, but really needs that instant action arcade mode that would appeal to an audience that’s much larger than the sim-loving crowd.
Like I said, there’s a rare opportunity to capitalize on a unique concept — there simply are no other games of this type or genre on the App Store right now — and I really think that the right combination of arcade elements could really open this up to an appreciative audience that’s always on the lookout for something unique and different. I’ll be very interested in seeing what you folks come up with.