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If you ask me my favorite game, I will most likely answer Sid Meier’s Pirates! in which I mix genres and have a lot of fun. It was published by Microprose back in 1987. Microprose is a famous software company that was known for its strategy/wargames and sometimes genre-bending experiments. The brand was revived recently. While most of the games announced are geared toward wargames, the hybrid HighFleet is described as an action-strategy, far-future game that involves airships fighting civil wars during the fall of an empire. HighFleet’s story sounds amazing. For alliances, you negotiate with local warlords! Crack codes Design new ships! You can fly them in intense combat, dodging bullets, and firing missiles. HighFleet’s interface is cleverly designed. You can access different areas of the game through your window from your flagship. You want to intercept a message. To intercept a message, click the phone receiver located at the top of your screen. Next, use your mouse-wheel and turn the dials to find the signals. HighFleet is a product of one vision. It’s consistent in style and has systems that fit together to channel players. This is something that I would happily recommend under most circumstances as exciting and unique. The problem is that I hate this game.
(Image credit: Microprose)
It’s common for game reviewers to say that if they don’t like a particular game but think it might be a good game, it will “surely please fans of the genre.” This is not the case for me. One, this genre is not available. Another reason is that HighFleet would love to be able to fit into any genre other than Sid Meier’s Pirates!, which is my favorite game. In theory, I’m a fan of the genre. Pirates! is just as high-fleet is full of systems. The game was filled with mini-games, which, when combined, made a story about swashbuckling pirates who swing across galleon decks in order to battle evil Spaniards, and win the affections of governors’ daughters. These mini-games were great fun! One exception: The original 1987 version didn’t have an in-game map if you got lost in the Caribbean. That version of Pirates was not! There was an astrolabe game where you could use the historical device for your longitude, latitude and then view a map in the manual. It was horrible, so it was removed from Pirates! You’ve likely seen the core problem with HighFleet.
Every mini-game features astrolabe-like obstacles
. Although I receive a tutorial on how to intercept transmissions, once I begin intercepting them myself, I don’t know what they mean. Although there is a system to launch stealth attacks, I have no idea how it works. This is partly due to poor tutorials that teach you things you can do but don’t know why. The confusion does not disappear in the main campaign. Each new system I encounter adds confusion to my situation, not my fantasy of being an airship commander. The exception is the card-based diplomacy system. This system is simple and efficient.
(Image credit: Microprose)
Let’s get to the important combat. You can control a limited number of ships in your fleet, such as corvettes and frigates, during combat. Although you can have multiple of them, only one of them is actually controlled at a given time in twin-stick shooter style air combat. WASD to move, mouse click to aim and fire, and afterburners, missiles, flares, and so forth. Although there can be many enemies at once, it is always just one of your ships. After it retreats or gets destroyed, the next ship in your list replaces it. Combat looks great. You can get cool weather effects like raindrops hitting the screen, or wailing music to match the Russian/west Asian theme of the game. There are also booming gunshots. The constant tug-of war with gravity is what makes controlling the ships difficult and frustrating. Fighting fits in well with the game. Problem is all that’s associated with combat, the connective tissue. It’s difficult to understand what combat really means. Does it make sense to lose ships? HighFleet won’t be able to answer this question until you have some competence and experience. There are crews that can save ships from being destroyed. You’ll be able to see how many were saved, but not how they actually work or how they replenish themselves.
(Image credit: Microprose)
It is also difficult to understand the strategic level of combat. HighFleet offers a tutorial on how to launch ships from your fleet to fight alone. Unfortunately, I lost most of them or couldn’t figure how to call them back. I was able to land my flagship in the exact same spot as them. Although ships can take damage, they can also be customized and repaired in a shipyard. However, this is expensive and time-consuming. It’s not clear when the reward is worth the risk. Then there is the problem of landing individual ships in docking areas to gain slight repair benefits. HighFleet is also an ironman game that has a single continuously updating auto-save. However, you can fight the entire battle again immediately after combat. This means that I must decide after each combat, and without any strategic context, if I want to do it again. HighFleet can feel like a series of alarms ringing, telling you that you are in serious trouble. But you don’t know why the alarms are ringing or what they mean. It’s like having a popular take retweeted on Twitter by a celebrity: suddenly, everything you do is wrong and there is no way to calm it down.
(Image credit: Microprose)
This would be something that I could manage in most situations. However, experimental games such as this will cause confusion and you may have to re-examine the complexities. HighFleet has one problem. It is difficult, or at the very least, feels hard. And, most importantly, there are no difficulty settings. It’s a vicious cycle of fighting and replaying fights, getting frustrated, then losing more fights. You might not have the patience to solve these problems. You might be drawn in by the appealing interface and style and inspired to understand each part. Perhaps you are a twin-stick jockey and combat makes perfect sense. There are many components that might appeal to my imaginary player…but that player isn’t me. I am the one who played this game and cannot wait to get it over with.
