Battle Sea

Genre: Board Game

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online)

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Review:

Battle Sea, released on Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a family-friendly Board Game-style game that is extremely similar to the game Battleship… which is to say that this is basically an off-brand Battleship, with this game’s theme focused on cartoony ocean creatures.

The presentation here is decent, using simple cartoony characters and an overall colorful theme, backed by simple repetitive music. It’s nothing special, but it gets the job done.

While Battle Sea definitely plays similarly to Battleship, it has distinct differences. The number and size of the pieces is a bit different, players are forbidden from placing pieces adjacent to each other, and bombing an entire boat (or fish?) clears the entire area around it (which makes sense, as nothing is allowed to be placed adjacent to it anyway). These rules are a bit restrictive, but I suppose players will likely adjust quickly enough, and incorporate this into their strategy.

Players looking for something a bit more advanced can choose a “pro” version of the game, where players must conserve and use energy to either aim shots or power up character-based special abilities. This mode is definitely different, but I think the need to charge up energy ultimately works against this mode, slowing down the pacing.

There is one other element I have to discuss here, and that’s multiplayer. If you’re familiar with how Battleship plays, you won’t be surprised to hear that this game has no local multiplayer, and players must use either a local wireless connection to a player with a second Nintendo Switch, or connect online. And despite the game having only just released, I’m sorry to say that there don’t appear to be any random players hanging out online, so suffice it to say that if you want to play this game multiplayer, you’re going to have to bring your own friends.

All of this is sufficient, but I feel like the actual licensed release of Battleship on Nintendo Switch did a better job with its expanded version of the game and it found a way to make local multiplayer work using a free downloadable smartphone app. And while that game is more expensive than this one, selling for $20, this game’s $8 price tag still seems overly-high by comparison.

In the end, Battle Sea is a perfectly serviceable take on Battleship, but it doesn’t do anything to truly transform the classic Board Game, and everything it does do, the licensed release of Battleship on Nintendo Switch does better. As such, while I don’t think you’re likely to be disappointed by this game, neither do I think you’ll be thrilled with it.

tl;dr – Battle Sea is a family-friendly game that’s clearly using the same sort of gameplay as in the classic Board Game Battleship. It works, but it doesn’t do anything to truly transform the original game, and it’s hard to recommend this game when the licensed release of Battleship on Nintendo Switch is better in multiple ways. I suppose if you’re looking for a less-expensive take on battleship, this will suffice, though at $8, “less expensive” is relative.

Grade: C

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