For them that don't know the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was, along with the Spanish-American War, a real watershed in terms of naval warfare, separating the wood and tar of the nineteenth century from the steel and oil of the twentieth. Hoping to obtain the resources necessary to support a drive towards modernization and mechanization, the Japanese seized the Korean peninsula in 1894. Under pressure from her new Russian neighbors (and other European powers) the Japanese were soon forced to abandon their claim on the territory and it's valuable warm-water port Port Arthur. The shame of this defeat brought about riots and governmental upheaval among the Japanese.

When China awarded the Russians a 25-year lease on Port Arthur, the Japanese could no longer stomach having one of her main rivals securing such an important position. But before they could land their troops in Manchuria and on the Korean peninsula, the Japanese first had to win control of the seas between Japan and the mainland. Distant Guns allows players to fight those battles for themselves.

The Japanese attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur is probably the most famous of the war's sea battles. It's recreated here in exacting detail, from the stealthy approach of the Japanese destroyers to the lack of readiness among the Russians. Even the lighthouse at Liau-ti-shan, which played a significant role in helping the Japanese orient themselves towards the harbor, is in place on the shore. Other battles are equally authentic, from the one-on-one hunt for the Novik to the massive clashes of Tshushima or the Yellow Sea. In all there are ten battles represented here.

Though there are plenty of direct action engagements, many of the battles involve one side trying to escape a pursuing enemy. You'll also typically find that there are vast differences in terms of quantity or quality on either side. In some cases you may be leading a large group of destroyers against a pair of powerful battleships. The battles in Distant Guns can be played from either side, so you can see how the action looks from your enemy's perspective.

There will be a comprehensive campaign mode as well, but it's not present in our early build of the game. You can see from the operational map, however, that the action will cover a large area of the Pacific, from the Sakhalin Islands to Shanghai. Ownership of ports and strategic maneuvering of fleets will play as large a role in your success as your proficiency in ship-to-ship battles. There's currently no plan for a multiplayer option in the campaign itself, but you can still go head to head with your buddies in the one-off tactical battles.

All the action takes place in a fully 3D world, complete with heaving seas, gunfire and spotlight lighting effects, and a variety of day and weather conditions. All of these factors matter in terms of the gameplay. If the waves are higher than your guns, you can't fire. If your ship is rolling from side to side in heavy seas, your shots will be less accurate. Spotting and identification of enemy ships will be hampered by rain or night conditions.

All of the ships involved in the conflict are rendered in great detail here. Assuming you're familiar enough with the types, you could even pick out individual ships based on their profiles. Weapon effects are definitely satisfying, nowhere more so than with the massive broadsides fired by your battleships. An interesting "shell cam" will sometimes let you follow the path of a large shell as it flies towards its target. Shells impact the water with a giant splash or else punch through the hulls of their intended target. Damage textures and smoke and fire effects give you an instant readout of how your ships are faring.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of a ship's status, you can mouseover the ship in the main game window and launch a small info box. Here you'll see a summary of the ship's current orders, damage level and weapon status. A more comprehensive information window gives you the full breakdown of every possible feature you'd want to know about -- ammo levels for individual guns, crew quality, flood rates, and a host of other data.

Command and control is relatively easy to manage in this game, at least as far as the interface goes. Ships can be controlled individually or as part of a larger division or task force. A variety of maneuver options let you determine whether or not to preserve a division's formation, letting the ships maintain line ahead of formation or turn into an oblique or line abreast formation. Separate controls for speed give you even more control over how your ships behave in battle.

You can rely on the initiative of the individual ship commanders to avoid collisions with land and other ships. If you plot a course that cuts through a dangerous ice floe, the AI will find its own route around it. If you send a line of ships through another formation, they'll break through where they can or else go around. Your own ships will often have to drift left or right as ships ahead of them in the formation are damaged. Happily, all of this is managed for you. The current build scales back the time compression during this replotting, even when it's the enemy ships that are having problems.

Though the interface makes it easy to keep ships formed up in their proper divisions, the actual tactical situation tends to frustrate your efforts to maintain nice, clean battle lines. Damaged ships, erratic enemy maneuvers and the need to dispatch scouts from time to time will eventually tear apart your tidy formations. Getting ships back together is relatively simple but it takes a bit of time before order is restored. In the meantime, your enemy can take advantage of the confusion to pick off stragglers and defeat you in detail.

And don't think they won't. The AI in Distant Guns has proved particularly challenging. It's very smart about anticipating your movements and staying one step ahead of your decisions. It never attacks or retreats without presenting some unforeseen challenge. Moreoever, it chooses targets wisely, taking care to spread damage across an entire division while also taking advantage of opportunities to focus fire to finish off badly damaged ships.

The fire controls for friendly ships are largely autonomous. You'll merely tell your ships whether or not to focus on division leaders or on whatever ships happen to be closest to them. Among your arsenal you'll have massive centrally directed guns that fire powerful shells at long range. Locally directed guns are going to be more effective at close range. You'll also sometimes have access to squirrelly torpedoes. When they work, they're great. The problem is that they never do.

So far Distant Guns seems to have a lot going for it. Once we get a look at the campaign we'll have a better idea about the potential for enjoyment over the long-term. To be honest, though, I still have a lot of tactical options to learn before I start worrying about managing the strategic end of things as well.

Now if you'll excuse me, Togo needs to be taught a lesson.

source: pc.ign.com