Ironclads 2: War of the Pacific

PRO strong artificial intelligence beautiful models of the ships interesting historical subject shorter battles in the manual mode variability and gameability reasonable price CON there is no multiplayer there is no custom battle mode there is no training mode (only a manual) I RECOMMEND THIS GAME to fans of historical war games

Attention! This game can look as a stupid and cheerful strategic game for mass audience. It absolutely not so! This game the representative of the died-out genre of difficult, long and serious naval simulators. If you never heard about such games as Jutland or Distant Guns, then leave at once... I haven’t spent much time playing strategy based games. It turns out that Totem Games Ironclads 2 Series was a good way to introduce me to the hardcore naval sim genre; it’s a gem of a strategy game. War of the Pacific has captured my interest and imagination because put simply, a lot of thought and effort went into the game. This is evident with the numerous battle options and the brilliantly constructed campaign aspect of the game. Player interaction and plausible outcomes are paramount in the development of the game. The options for play and surroundings are numerous and allow quite a bit of freedom for any player and computer to enjoy smooth enjoyable game. Ironclads is very imaginative but not intuitive strategic game that will satisfy not only the first time strategy game player like me, but the battle hardened strategy game players.

The most compelling aspect of gaming the War of the Pacific is a "what if" situation that would involve a battle of Chile's two ironclads Blanco Encalada and Admirante Cochrane vs Peru's two ironclads Huascar and Independencia assisted by one or both of Peru's Monitors Manco Capac and Atahualpa. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, the game designers started the time period of this game after the loss of the Huascar and Independencia (note that the painting used for the game's webpage shows the Huascar). Then, to make up for this omission, the game's designers inserted the ironclad Pachacutec for Peru, which didn't historically exist but appears to be modeled after the Independencia! Moreover, in an apparant effort to balance play, they added the naval corvette Callao and the armed transport ships Pachitea and Isluga on Peru's side while ignoring Peru's historical naval corvette Rimac (Chilean transport that was captured very early in the war and converted into a naval corvette) and the armed transport ships Oroya, Chalaco, and Limena. Bizarre indeed! The game would be more balanced and fun if the game's designers kept to the historical ships, especially the Huascar and Independencia. Without them it is a rather strange and historically disappointing game. Maybe the designers will fix this with a patch??? PLEASE???

At its most basic, Ironclads 2 War on the Pacific is a decent real-time strategy title based at sea, giving you a reasonably comprehensive degree of control over your ships (more than you would expect for an RTS anyhow). Its combat system isn't as complex as you would perhaps expect from a naval warfare title. When deciding whether to purchase War on the Pacific therefore, you should consider whether you want a game that does map-level strategy and battle-level sim more than adequately, but not spectacularly. Ironclads 2 War on the Pacific gameplay is nicely detailed, and much more so than that of rival games of the likes of Distance Guns.

Game can be tough! I lost my only ironclad playing for Peru on 10 turn. I was trying to repair by ship been under fire, when I was able to stop machines to balance water pomp it was too late. I'll try to play without it but I think I lost the game ... Game play on tactical map much faster and interesting, but luck of ship not gives you a taste of the naval battle system in full its power, I think. But still good enough!

Not all the elements of Ironclads 2 War of hte Pacific have gelled into a satisfying whole, but enough good gameplay is in place to make this a worthwhile game for any nautical buff. It's certainly the best sim of its type on the market now. Better still, Totem Games has established a solid tradition of refining and improving their products over time. As they bring this Ironclads series into different ages of warfare, it'll be interesting to see how it evolves. As it is now, it's a damn fine start.

Buy this game only if you really like wargames and sims. Otherwise you awake are disappointed. Do not wait much from this game and it will pleasantly surprise you. Personally I liked this scenario.

A really interesting conflict that only die-hard naval fans have ever heard of. Game plays really well if you like table-top naval wargames. It's not a fast paced RTS with ironclads, but is really fun for those people it was designed for. If you want to play arm chair admiral in an interesting setting then this game is for you. It's a short game, and I wish there was multiplayer, but for under $10 it was worth it for me. There is no in game tutorial, so unless you have previous experience with Ironclads 2, read the manual first.

If you are ready to look over and over again as a small group of the ships shoot each other two hours, then it is a game for you. All others - run from here quicker! Nevertheless this game is much more interesting than Ironclads 2 American Civil War.

Good game. Very strange turned based system. "We-Go" mode? Nope! "I-Go-You-Go"? Nope! It works well, but by the strange rules. Battles of the ships were pleasant to me. It would be desirable that seriously damaged ships were given in captivity. It is very boring to chase them.