Great Naval Battles 5 is a worthy addition to the Great Naval Battles series, for the most part. This game takes you back into the time of the Dreadnaught battleships of the First World War. It makes for a very different type of game from the earlier titles in the series. There are no aircraft to worry about, and the massive guns on the early battleships are capable of causing serious hurt to your opponent.
This was an era - perhaps best defined by the Battle of Jutland - where two fleets squared off and pounded the hell out of each other until one turned and ran.
And, as you will find with this game, turning and running has advantages and disadvantages for both sides. A fleeing battleship can still be quite dangerous, as can the smaller ships in the fleet. And you never know just what is hidden a few more miles out to see. As I said earlier, there are no - or very few - aircraft in this game, so you can only fight what you can see.
This was the final game in the GNB series. There are some impressive advances in graphics and AI, but probably the biggest and best component of the game is the scenario editor. With it, you can create almost any battle involving ships of any selected period.
You can choose up to 14 ships for your fleet, so although you won't be able to set sail with the entire Royal Navy force or the Imperial German Navy for Jutland, you can at least get an idea of what was involved in at least part of the battle.
The SVGA graphics are nice and sharp, and controlling one of these behemoths is quite simple - at least in gaming terms. You can even see the shells splashing in the water around other ships in your fleet, which is almost worth the price of admission in itself.
The AI is also quite competent, and unless you dumb down everything, you are going to have a real challenge in the first few battles. And even if you win a battle, you are going to be limping home with a ship streaming smoke.
And although I give the game itself a good, solid 7.5, there is a sense that SSI, which created many great wargames for the computer, went to the well a couple of times too many with this series. GNB 4 was a real disappointment, and the real saving grace of GNB 5 was moving it 20 years before the rest of the series. Overall, this title was a fitting end to the GNB series.
