TalonSoft Age of Sail 2 Simulation Review

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Price Paid:  $40.00 from Virgin

Summary:
I barely got through the first one on one encounter before I experienced my first crash. After doing several hard boots when my computer seized up I decided to remove the game. Unfortunately for me I didn't uninstall properly and the game will no longer play. When contacting Talonsoft they informed me that they knew the problem but couldn't walk me through how to fix it for legal reasons, in case I deleted something that effected my system. So don't go there for customer support folks. Despite this I enjoyed what little playing time I had but like others I believe Talonsoft dumped the product on the marketplace half finished. Poor dupes like me are now $40 Us out of pocket on something that is riddled with bugs. My GUI never functioned properly, constant crashes and some scenarios just didn't play properly. In the "Tars of Old England" the AI was supposed to play the American side but at game start it took over the British side. I had to manually change this in the options page but at games end it was recognizing a British success as a defeat not a victory. What the hey? Steer clear of the three leggedsea dog folks, trust me.

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Price Paid:  $50.00 from London UK

Summary:
THIS GAME DOES NOT WORK!! It seems as if some brilliant programmers got some money that ran out and were forced to release it. Either that or this game is a successful cynical attempt to rip people off while they develope another game that will use the same code.

Either way I'd stear clear of it and any other software released by these people.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Price Paid:  $50.00 from EB

Summary:
Age of Sail II is the poor sod who nobody said anything nice about. Well, the game is brilliant. Despite many reviews, the game itself is one of the most enjoyably indepth tactical war simulator ever. The ships look great, the game plays well and the over polish of the game is extraodinary...

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Summary:
A nice game IF IT HAD BEEN FINISHED! and Talonsoft consider themselves professionals....
This game looks & sounds great, but crashes often, and has many parts that do not work....also it is too easy to get bogged in detail. I got the patch and the game still often crashes.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Price Paid:  $30.00 from HMV

Summary:
This game is a hell of a lot better than people give it credit for. Lets give it a look: As mentioned below, AOS2 is a tactical simulation of those legendary "Iron men, Wooden ships" from the late 18th to early 19th centries. While there are some draw-backs to the game, it still is one nice piece of software. Finally a game has succeeded in its own way in instilling an authenticity and mood that none in the past in its genre have done. The problem is that it is a niche game and most people write it off because it plays too slow. Also, it issued with quite a few bugs that are slowly being ironed out, but people are too impatient to wait. Too bad. In the game, you command anything from one ship to a whole fleet in either a single battle or a campaign is in the choosing as well. A huge selection of ships are in the offing with beautful graphics that finally show them in their true light, more on this later. The game features a large selection of both historical scenarios (Trafalgar is an awe-inspiring site!!!) and non-historical what-if scenarios. Unfortunately not scenario editor is present, even though I believe a third party one is available from one of the fan sites. It features a multiplayer capability for on-line play with up to 3 people per side. There are some pretty dedicated gamers that stick with the game just for this reason. I have had nothing but fun with this game since I got it. It put smiles on my face that I haven't had since Combat Mission came out. Lets take a look at the gameplay: