Jutland

By Andrew Dagley
March 02, 2009 11:15 AM PST
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The First World War was more than just combat on land; it also had an active naval war to which Storm Eagle Studios has magnificently recreated in this stellar simulation.

A war game fanatic through and through, Andrew was blown away by Jutland's unmatched realism and authenticity.

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The First World War On Water

While the First World War is remembered in our collective consciousness as one of men advancing fruitlessly towards entrenched machine guns, it was just as much the last and only war of the giant all gun battleships. While there was comparatively little fighting on the high seas, the Great War did see one of the largest naval battles in history - Jutland, the basis of Storm Eagle Studios second naval warfare game.

The whole of Jutland and its gameplay is structured around the historical navies of Great Britain and Germany in 1916 -- the year of the titular battle of Jutland. The game itself is structured around individual scenarios, such as three variants of Jutland set during differing periods of the legendary battle and other historical WWI encounters. Jutland also features a lengthy year long campaign in which you guide either the German or British fleet to victory in the North Sea. The scenarios themselves have a great breadth of scope -- for instance, you'll regularly go from controlling only one or two ships in battle to taking charge of an entire fleet upwards of a hundred or more ships. Jutland also comes with a new scenario editor, where players can design their own sea skirmishes, as well as a random battle generator.

Can I Be Jellicoe?

Much of the emphasis in Jutland is rightly centered on the large one year campaign in which you command the entire navy of one of the two factions. You'll start the year with several dozen battleships, and dozens of smaller vessels such as cruisers and destroyers arranged in fleets, divisions, and other small formations. The campaign is essentially the same in most ways to that of Storm Eagle's previous game, Distant Guns, and as such still has some of its flaws. The most noticeable one is the lack of easily accessible information on your divisions and individual vessels. Seemingly no effort has really gone into improving the campaign itself to any significant degree, though unlike Distant Guns, Jutland's North Sea setting works much better than the Russo-Japanese setting of its predecessor from a gameplay standpoint, and on the whole the problems presented with the campaign and its interface are, at worst, fairly minor. After having gotten used to the campaign and all its eccentricities the campaign does its job well, though the lack of varnish on the surface is disappointing.

The actual naval combat is, however, the most important single aspect of Jutland and I can happily attest to its good design. Gameplay is essentially unchanged from Distant Guns. Each battle gives you control over a group of ships, be they destroyers, light cruisers, or large dreadnought battleships. On the whole the game is very easy to get used to, but rather hard to master for those that may have little to no experience in naval warfare. The actual issuing of orders to divisions, the worth of individual classes of ships, and the best way to use them is all fairly self-explanatory. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be to say that Jutland is exactly what I expected when I got hold of it -- it simulates the naval warfare of the period almost perfectly. There are, of course, one or two small caveats to be found. For those who have had little experience with the genre or the franchise, the game's shortcomings will be more obvious. For instance there is comparatively little to no information given as to describe the best usage of your vessels, no advice or the like to tell you that it would be advantageous to have your ships close to such-and-such range for combat against another vessel, etc.

That's A Pretty Ship!

Jutland is though one of the most graphically satisfying naval simulations that I've seen. Ships on the whole are well rendered -- their turrets well detailed with appropriate levels of smoke belching from their stacks. During the heat of battle it truly is one of the more majestic war games in recent memory as cannons roar, shells hit the water and tremendous fountains of water spring forth from the ocean. The sound of the shelling itself was done particularly well -- I was quite happy when, during my first widescale battle, I could hear the shells whizzing through the air, followed by extreme relief when I recognized the familiar sound of the weapons narrowly missing my vessels.

On the whole Jutland is an admirable success from Storm Eagle Studios. In comparison to their first game, Jutland is more appealing to its potential audience with a better setting, a more engaging campaign not to mention filled with more interesting and identifiable ships for the war gaming community. There are issues with Jutland to be sure. If she was a ship she'd be lacking a new coat of paint and some of her basic amenities might be missing, but her guns are all in place and she'd be ready for a fight -- and during war, that's the most important aspect.

PROS: Best naval simulator available; excellent graphics and sound; good variety of scenarios.
CONS: Niche appeal; DRM scheme is intrusive and unwarranted; lacks polish.