PTO IV – PS2 – Review

One thing I think all of us
gamers can agree on … we have had no shortage of WWII games to play this 2002
year and start of 2003. Everything from GI Combat, Battlefield 1942 and Deadly
Dozen on PC to Medal of Honor and Commandos 2 on PS2 and Xbox have kept our
strategic minds churning and our trigger fingers aching as we have blasted
hundreds of Axis or Allied soldiers away. Well, KOEI now graces the PS2 once
again, but this time with a little change from its usual feudal
Japan
or China theme … this time we take to the sea in a battle for naval conquest and
supremacy during WWII.

PTO IV places you in command
of an entire naval fleet from the U.S., Britain, Germany or Japan and allows you
to play out every aspect of leading a country to victory by testing every
element of strategy that you can imagine. You begin by selecting one of two
different gameplay modes. The first is campaign mode, which has you battling on
a map with 50 different regions controlled by you, allies, and your opponents
that you must capture and defend. You will also get orders from high ranking
officials who will increase your funding and will help you build more ships or
planes. The second is scenario mode, which allows you to play out historical
naval battles like the battle of Midway in 1942 or
Okinawa
in 1945. In addition, you can also transfer the results of the scenario to the
campaign mode afterwards to keep going.

The basic idea of the PTO IV
campaign is simple. Capture all 14 Key Bases on a strategic map in order to
claim victory for you and your allies. It sounds easy, but what goes into
achieving this goal will test your strategic and management skills to the max.
The initial phase of battle is the Strategic phase, which shows the map and all
airfields and control points that need to be captured or could present a threat
to you or your allies. During this phase, you have to build new fleets and
planes, research new technology, deploy fleets or ships, send spies to gather
enemy info, research new ship or plane models, send aid to an ally, and a number
of other things. Everything has a certain importance in how the end of the game
may come out, and while some things may sound somewhat minor … everything has
it’s own importance and can lead to defeat if not utilized properly.

The next phase is the
Tactical phase, which comes up after a fleet has been deployed into a hostile
area or an opponent has invaded one of your controlled areas. Entering this
phase will give you an objective, such as “destroy all enemy airfields”, and
gives you control of up to three fleets to attack an enemy or defend your
territory. During this phase, you will have to patrol areas, launch frontal
assaults on enemy fleets, and do some recon and scouting in the area. This phase
will also test out your strategic thinking as well, since many factors can lead
to victory or defeat. For example, if you go in with heavily armored ships, they
pack a punch and can take some big time damage, making you think that you are
unstoppable. However, they lack speed to get away if things get ugly, and may be
defenseless to aerial assaults that can take an unstoppable fleet down to
floating scrap after multiple torpedo and bomb hits from circling enemy planes.

One really impressive
feature in PTO IV (aside from the immense depth of the game) is the AI, both
yours and your opponents. Aggressors are really aggressive and will present a
challenge regardless of where you are in playing both in the tactical and
strategic phases. Also, you can tell your ships in tactical mode to act as they
see fit to do, and usually they would react as needed for the situation. If a
bigger and more powerful fleet attacked them, they would many times try to get
to a far distance and fire at the enemy to decrease chances of getting pummeled.
If an enemy had been all but wiped out, they would many times go into a full
frontal assault. In addition, admirals assigned to ships will often give
severely damaged vessels the order to retreat which gives you the opportunity to
repair it later on rather than lose it altogether. It’s not perfect, which is
where you come in … but it is helpful when dealing with another fleet that may
be in need of more attention and knowing that the computer wouldn’t just sail
you into getting smashed.

Another feature here in PTO
IV that is impressive is the fact that you will not beat this game over a
weekend, unless you glue yourself to the TV for multiple hours on end. There is
a ton of things to be careful of and plan well, and even having “the perfect
fleet” … or so you think … may wind up sending you back to home base to re-plan
your strategy due to something you didn’t expect. In addition, there is a ton of
replay value here since you have over 300 different ships and endless ways to
combine and put fleets together. Even little things like day or night raids or
weather effects can play a part in what happens, so if you lost a particular
battle the first time through, play it again using another fleet combination and
maybe try coming in under darkness vs. daylight. It’s all up to you.

There are only a couple of
things that I can see which would keep someone from wanting to play or enjoying
PTO IV. The biggest one is a Koei trademark … detail overkill. Having a game
that has that much to manage and do is good for the heavy thinker and big time
strategy fanatic, but trigger-happy action fans (WWII buffs or not) will
probably find this game to be way too slow or possibly too confusing to mess
with. The strategic phase has so many options and nothing going on except a
still shot of the map, this may be seen as dull or just “what in the heck do I
do now”. The tactical phase has you issuing orders, then sitting for a while and
flipping the camera from fleet to fleet, then issuing orders, then watching and
flipping from fleet to fleet to see what’s going on, then issuing orders, and so
on. There is also a definite learning curve to playing, and the first couple of
tries that I made had two of my fleets in a traffic jam trying to go in circles
and getting picked off like fish in a barrel. I also tried to do too much too
soon a few times (even though I had three full fleets and tons of air support)
and just sadly watched as I was sent to a watery grave.

The other downside to PTO IV
is in the graphics … or environments really. Now don’t get me wrong. The
graphics to PTO IV look really spectacular and during combat it felt like I was
watching a movie from an aerial viewpoint. The ocean had little rippling waves
in it and good lighting effects, and ships moving along left churning white
water trails behind them. The weather effects and day/night transitions also
look great, so those things are not the issue. The issue is just in repetition …
pure and simple. Granted (and in all fairness to Koei), this game is a naval
battle game and should take place in the water. However, every tactical phase
seemed to be endless ocean with periodic land involved over and over again. It
would have been nice to have some things like starting out a mile from a
beachhead (Normandy),
dispatching troop transports, then shelling the heck out of key points on land
every now and then just to break up monotony. This may or may not be an issue
for you, but that’s just one reviewer’s opinion.

In the sound department,
it’s not bad at all. The music has a WWII style cadence theme to it, and while
it’s not as dramatic as Medal of Honor or a movie like Saving Private Ryan, it
gets the job done and doesn’t seen out of place. The droning of overhead planes
and crushing and popping explosions of torpedoes and turret fire is present, and
gets pretty heavy during an intense firefight and is enough to rattle the
windows if you are using a 5.1 sound system and have it turned up to the levels
that I use to annoy my wife.

Well Admiral “PS2 Gamer” …
your orders for this mission are simple. If you are a fan of major strategy
games, past Koei strategy titles or past PTO titles that have hit the shelves,
go out and get this one … it will provide hours of naval warfare fun from the
comfort of your couch or chair and provides satisfying results in knowing how
well you manage your gaming abilities when it all comes to an end. If you are
more of a “run and gun” or button mashing action title fanatic …regardless of
how big a WWII gaming fan you are … you will definitely want to rent this one
before buying it or you may be sorely disappointed for possibly wasting $50,
regardless of the cool cover art.

Gameplay: 8.0

While there’s a definite
learning curve to playing it and some losses you will take due to trial and
error, everything consists of one button presses and after a few hours of play
time … you will have a good idea of what needs to happen and when to have an
opportunity to emerge victorious or zip around the tactical screen. Koei went
out of their way on the detail element of the game, and you strategy fanatics
will have a ball with this one. The AI is good, and while not flawless, provides
a decent backup when things get a little heavy and will present a good challenge
for even you veteran strategy players out there. Add in a ton of initial
gameplay and replay value, and it proves a good buy.

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics look
really good overall, and details like ships catching fire and big splashes or
explosions from enemy fire add to the cinematic quality of the game. Night
missions will even conceal enemy craft even after they have been pinged on radar
to add to the challenge, and the weather effects like rain or fog looked really
good and provided a realistic atmosphere. I felt that regardless of the fact
that it is a naval strategy game; some other environmental things could have
been done to break a possibly monotonous presentation. 

Sound: 7.6
The sound for PTO
IV consists of some decent WWII style music, but a little more dramatic style or
even dramatic changes during certain points in the game would have added to the
overall environment. The explosions and combat sounds of planes and water
effects also sounded good and will probably give a satisfying smile to you
surround sound users out there.

Difficulty: Hard
I’m going to have
to say hard on this one, because once you’ve mastered the controls and all of
the strategic elements of the game, you never really master the game itself.
Almost every time you think you have the perfect strategy … your enemy throws a
wrench in the whole thing causing you to go back and re – plan.

Concept: 8.1
Not only is this
different from your typical FPS or RTS style gameplay of other WWII titles out
there, but Koei did a good job in combining strategy and detail with cinematic
quality graphics to bring a good looking and challenging game to the strategy
loving PS2 owners out there. 

Overall: 7.6
Overall, strategy
gurus and any gamer looking for a challenging title in that style of gameplay
probably won’t be disappointed with PTO IV. Also, you Koei fans and past PTO
gamers who loved the other games in the series will be pleased with this most
recent offering and shouldn’t hesitate to pick it up, and it will provide
endless hours of war time fun. For those of you who are more into constant
action or itchy trigger finger style gameplay looking for a new WWII game … this
is most likely not it and if you are considering playing it … definitely rent it
first.