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Naval sims are a rare breed in the game industry. I’m not sure why, exactly. Maybe too niche a fan base, maybe no general industry-headed interest. Whatever the reason, it makes for a pretty bum gig for anyone looking for a game that puts you in control of a Naval fleet. It’s thankful then, that Enigma: Rising Tide has come along to sate your needs. It may be one of the only Naval sims in town, but is it any good?

I guess, in retrospect, ‘sim’ isn’t exactly the best word to describe Enigma. Since the game does have RPG elements thrown in with the simulation aspects, the game varies from the traditional sim definition, but the game should catch a few eyes, genre disputes aside.

Early impressions of Enigma might lead you to believe that it’s a World War II game. In fact, the game actually takes place in an alternate history, where Germany won World War I, now controlling most of Europe. The rest of the world is pretty much scrapping by, trying to gain some form of influence. Japan and ex-British Navy have formed The League of Free Nations, and fight both America and Germany.

The game offers you the chance to play a full campaign as any of the three factions: Germany, America, or The League of Free Nations. When you start out, you have control over but one sub, but eventually you’ll pull your way up the Naval food chain until you’ll be able to command allied vessels as well as your own. Each mission kicks off with a briefing of your orders, and your captain’s log notes. Your notes allow you a bit of a look at what’s going on around your ship. Your in-game self keeps track of the morale of your crew, and what they think of things happening in the game. You also get to see some newspaper pages that highlight certain aspects of the alternate history you’re in. For example, Truman is president in the 30’s, not Roosevelt.

Being a game based on an alternate war situation, combat comes in spades. Thankfully, Enigma handles combat on the big blue fairly well. You won’t have to spend much time after going into a mission before you find trouble. You’ll come across various enemy types, from tankers, planes, freighters, etc. You’ll also get to control a few different crafts, including classic submarines, torpedo boats, destroyers, and a few more.

Instead of focusing on the nit picky stuff, Enigma focuses more on making combat accessible and easy. Shooting a torpedo is as simple as point, aim, fire. All the ships command pretty much the same way, with the same HUG and controls. Of course, there are a few differences between submersibles and above-water ships, but that’s to be expected.

Thanks to the constant stream of action, Enigma does a pretty good job at keeping you interested. You’ll find yourself blasting torpedoes at battleships, manning antiaircraft turrets, and generally just blowing the hell out of your enemy. Of course, you’ll also have to make plenty of strategic decisions through the course of the game. Learning the best times to submerge your vessel, recharge your ships battery, etc. are all key to success in Enigma. You can blast away all you’d like, but it can only get you so far without thinking about your next move. Wouldn’t be a sim otherwise, now would it?

The game looks just about as well as it plays, too, which is a plus. It might not be the shiniest looking game on the market, but like the core gameplay, it gets the job done fairly well. Water is rendered really well, and the ship models are pretty nice. The game boasts a weather condition system, and it’s implemented rather well, I think.

On the audio front, the game is pretty well rounded. During tense battles, you’ll be able to hear torpedoes as they zip by you, which is a really cool effect. Alarms and sirens when engaging the enemy help pull you into the experience even more. The games powerful soundtrack helps bring out the atmosphere of the game, while at the same time not overshadowing the games sound effects. Unfortunately, the game is void of any voice-over work. A shame, really, since that alone could have helped boost the audio mark up a touch higher.

Enigma does a lot right, but there’s a few shortcomings that really hinder it from being something great. Paying for the games online component is the big killer, especially when you consider the sheer level of MMO title available to consumers today. There’s also a few minor AI glitches that aren’t overly prominent, but really take you out of the experience when they occur. Overall, though, Enigma does a good job of providing gamers a fun, tactical (and interesting) naval combat action sim. She may not be the prettiest babe on deck, but she’s worth a go.