"What you would expect from a Battleship game and a little more"

Battleship is a Strategy game, (or a Battleship sim if you'd like), developed by Milton Bradley and released by Mindscape. It is very similar to the well-known board game so if you don't like the original you can now leave, if you do like it get ready for a few nice additions.

Story: N/A

A race of extraterrestrial beings devoted to the lord of chaos are trying to resurrect him, you are a night elf sniper who… YEAH RIGHT! Who would expect a Battleship game with a plot?

Graphics: 6/10

Typical low-budget-NES-board-game graphics. Simple colors for all the sprites, the ships are all gray and look all the same, (like all the levels), even when they are hit or they sink. Simple effects like water hits and explosions.

Sound: 4/10

Quite possibly, the most irritating aspect of the game. The sound quality is awful and I'm not talking about the missiles hitting the ships, the ships sinking and in general the sound effects. All these are ok I guess, at least for a simple NES board game, the worst thing is the music theme. In all 40 levels you only hear one tune which is very irritating and repetitive and can drive you nuts! Just turn it off or just use some of your own favorite music to cover it up.

Gameplay: 7/10

Ok, I'm sure you're all comfortable with the Battleship rules. You and the Computer put your ships in your boards and then start shooting missiles at each other hoping for a hit. You can only make a hit per turn and the game is over when somebody loses all his ships. Now about the new staff.

Each ship can use a special missile that can hit more blocks than just one, but beware this can be used only once and if a certain ship sinks then you can't use its own special attack. There are also two sonar abilities that can show you if there is a ship in a specific area. Finally there are some new ships in the game, (I think only two), other than that nothing else, something, which is the main downpoint of the game. In my opinion it should have more extra stuff.

The game depends both on luck and strategy but don't expect some extreme challenge like you would from a chess game. It has many levels but that's something that isn't good since all levels look the same and only after many of them you will be able to use a new ship or ability.

Positives:
-Each ship can shoot a special missile.

Negatives:
-Extremely repetitive music
-Not too many extras

Overall: 6/10

Ok, it's not the next Command & Conquer, it is just a simple simulation for the good ol' Battleship board game and never forget that we are talking for a NES title. Of course it could have been a bit more complicated, (more ships & weapons, different levels etc), but then again it is ok and it serves its purpose which is keeping you company for a while and nothing more.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/07

Game Release: Battleship (EU, 1993)