Windows

Enigma: Rising Tide

The quibbles I’ve had with the game are minor though, and I thoroughly enjoyed Enigma. While most games promise to be good down the road, you can’t help but feel that the future promised by Tesseraction is going to be extremely rewarding based on how excellent the game is right now. They have promised to continue the story arc through several expansions, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. Each of the expansion packs is also going to introduce new vessels the player can control. While the lack of multiplayer may be a strike against the game for some people, it is worth getting just for the excellent story line. You won’t be selling yourself short getting the game now, and waiting for the multiplayer to be added in.

There’s really nothing obviously wrong with Enigma. The ship models are good, but they’re not great. This doesn’t really matter when compared to their realistic capabilities and the overall gameplay. The music is suitably dramatic, and the best thing I can say about it is that you won’t notice it after a while. The sound of 4” guns thumping away is all the music you’ll need to accompany your maritime madness. If you’re a diehard naval sim fan, you may be dismayed a bit by the lack of tweaking available to you, but that shouldn’t be enough to put you off. The only thing you’ll really miss is the multiplayer component. The game does suffer a bit for the lack of it, so I truly hope the Warfleet.net experience is able to make good on what has been promised.

Ambitious, consistently entertaining and engaging, Enigma is deserving of your hard-earned cash. I was disappointed with the weapon sounds, and I think they could have slipped in a handful of other gameplay details while still maintaining appeal for middle of the road gamers, but the streamlined accessibility should enhance its allure and foster a strong online community of would-be sailors.

Enigma hat mich eiskalt erwischt, dafür umso mehr Spaß gemacht. Die Kanonen reagieren je nach Kaliber träge und brauchen Zeit, bis sie in Position gedreht sind. Dadurch fühlt sich Enigma »echt« an. Trotzdem bleibt das Spiel immer fair, denn der Computergegner muss sich auch auf Ziele einschießen. Dank der simplen Steuerung vollführt mein Boot dabei sogar noch unglaubliche Ausweichmanöver. Etwas mehr Abwechslung samt schönerer Optik würden die Seeschlachten beim nächsten Mal wohl in den Wertungs-Olymp katapultieren.

Enigma: Rising Tide is destined to become a massively multiplayer online naval action simulation. And I can see where that would be a blast. Certainly throwing humans in all the ships would address any problems that the game has with artificial intelligence. It will also be cool to join a faction and battle it out in Enigma's persistent world. What's even cooler is Tesseraction's beta test offer: Buy the single-player version and you are automatically included in the multiplayer beta test. Pretty neat!

Die Action-Simulation Enigma: Rising Tide holt Ihnen die Seeschlachten des Zweiten Weltkriegs mit ungeahnter Leichtigkeit auf den Monitor. Das Ganze spielt in einer Art Parallel-Universum im Jahr 1936, in dem sich Europa - unter der Führung der Deutschen -, die Amerikaner sowie das Bündnis zwischen Japan und der abtrünnigen britischen Navy gegenüberstehen.

A host of details and engineering touches make Enigma superior to most naval games that have come before it. The AI is better, the pacing is geared for action, the voice control works, and the environment is thoroughly engaging. Enigma promises fun and action in a superior ocean landscape and the single player version delivers completely. If you like naval games in general, you'll like Enigma. If you love good naval games, you'll love Enigma. This is truly a good naval game.

Even with these problems, it's hard not to enjoy Enigma. Streamlined but not dumbed down, the game captures the exciting feel of WWII naval combat even if it ignores many of the details. Whether you're a WWII or naval combat buff or simply someone who loves a smooth combination of action and tactics, Enigma: Rising Tide can offer a lot of tense challenges and high-seas drama.

Overall fans of the genre will really enjoy this title. In my opinion what could make this good game into a fantastic game would have been the use of voiceovers. If I could hear "in coming torpedoes" then I could yell out "Hard to starboard ahead flank" That would have even been more realistic. Maybe next time. Still a fun and entertaining game that most naval buffs will enjoy.

Playing Enigma reminds me of the grand old days of 688 Attack Sub. It's a no-nonsense approach to naval combat that may not please the hardcore sim fans, but is approachable to the average gamer. The voice control lends Enigma a level of immersion not yet seen in most PC-based sim games, and is a major point in its favor. When you get right down to it, Enigma is a good tactical combat game that will become great when the online component ships.

Au final, Enigma : Rising Tide est plutôt une bonne surprise, mais même si l'on prend plaisir à y jouer quand on est payé pour, il est certain que si vous n'êtes pas un tant soit peu amateur de sous-marin et autres corvettes, le risque de vous lasser est grand. En tout cas, on regrette que la version solo soit assez courte et que le multijoueur ne soit pas encore disponible, car l'intérêt du jeu prendrait une toute autre dimension en affrontant des joueurs humains.

If you're willing to ride out these few waves, you'll find Enigma: Rising Tide to be a solid and deep naval combat experience. Be it managing a single ship or an entire fleet, the exhaustive amount of options available to you makes for some great strategic gameplay. If your trigger finger needs a workout, the game caters for that too. Whether you can recite Connery's dialogue from The Hunt For Red October or just the lyrics from In The Navy (which is an extremely disturbing talent), this one's well worth a look.

Mede omdat de gevechten niet zomaar een kwestie zijn van klikken en schieten, maar ook enig strategisch inzicht vereisen is Enigma: Rising Tide niet voor iedereen weggelegd. Een aanrader voor de liefhebbers van intense naval combat, maar wie pure actie op het water verwacht moet elders z'n gading zoeken!

The best of its genre, which isn't saying a lot to be honest, but it will definitely appeal if this is the kind of thing you enjoy. Unfortunately, Enigma's niche appeal doesn't make it a particularly attractive proposition to anyone else.

Taking everything into consideration, it’s hard to really know what to make of Enigma and perhaps that’s why the developer selected that name for the game. As with many enigmas, it will appeal to the curiosity of some but the majority will not want to be bothered by it. At times it can be really fun, but at others frustrating and tedious. Unfortunately, it’s the frustrating and tedious side of the game that you’ll see the most and the fun part is not enough to make up for it.

Enigma: Rising Tide aurait gagné à être une simulation. Au lieu de ça, on se retrouve avec un mixe entre de jeu de sous-marin et jeu d'action, très sympathique au demeurant. Quel dommage que les possibilités de gameplay soient un peu trop réduites.