To some extent, a lot of what I wrote about Clue last month also goes for Battleship — which makes sense, seeing as they come from the same developer. It?s a fairly faithful adaptation of a classic board game, and it does a good job of replicating the experience, just with the added bonus you can play it by yourself.
That said, Battleship on the Switch does something that Clue never dreamt of doing: giving you the option of playing a completely reimagined version of the game. While you can play the game you remember — 10×10 grid, 5 ships, nothing fancy — there?s also the option of playing in Commanders Mode. As a Commander, you get an asymmetrical board and ships that curve around corners. Different naval commanders also have different abilities — some can launch a torpedo, others can order airstrikes, and some can launch multiple missiles at one go. While there?s only so much strategy you can add to a game like Battleship — it?s still based largely around guesswork — all the different features definitely turn it into a more challenging game, in a good way.
On top of that, the game features achievements, which help you unlock more commanders and more boards.
Whether these changes improve the game is up for debate. Playing in Commanders mode can be frustrating — though at the same time, it?s kind of fun to launch an airstrike and take out an entire ship in one go. At the very least, though, you can definitely say that these additions to the base game formula make things more interesting.
And, of course, if all you want to do is play Battleship like you remember it, you can do that too. The AI is solid — not all-powerful, but not dumb as a doornail, either. Plus, you can play with the touchscreen, which works well here because it keeps all the intuitiveness of the original.
Taken altogether, it makes for an interesting — enjoyable even — take on Battleship. It won?t make you rethink everything you thought about the game, but it will give you all the fun of the original, and then some.
Marmalade Game Studio provided us with a Battleship Switch code for review purposes.
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