Review: Boat Crew is a Naval Combat Simlite that revolves around the Mosquito Fleet actions in the Second World War, placing you in command of a PT Boat and its crew. With one of the best dynamic campaigns available and a wide array of boat customizations, Boat Crew is a singular title that does what it sets out to do rather well, with a few wrinkles it should iron out during its Early Access phase. 

• Genre: Naval Combat Simlite
• Developer: Tabbing Tabby
• Publisher: MicroProse Software
• Release Date: 2 August, 2022
• Price: 20€/ $19.99/ £15.99
• Buy at: Steam
• Reviewed On: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.70 GHz, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 2080

It took me a couple of tries to get into Boat Crew, and I immediately came to the realization of why. This game has one of the hardest tutorials I’ve ever seen, and while it’s probably trying to set the stage for what’s about to come next, it really doesn’t help new players a whole lot if you immediately throw them under the unrelenting waves of zeros fighters and enemy ships while still learning the ropes. This really needs some rework and I fear some of the less experienced players might bounce off right here, even before the game starts, and that’s a shame because, behind the tough tutorial, there’s a really good dynamic campaign, seldom seen in other titles.

Another point that might put some people off are the graphics. While the ships exhibit impressive detail, the crew members have a quirky appearance with buggy, wide eyes, and blank expressions, resembling stuffed cloth toys. Bomber Crew had a similar feel, but Boat Crew’s less cartoony approach makes it more awkward-looking. Nevertheless, the enemy ships are distinct and recognizable from a distance, allowing players to make informed decisions during engaging naval combat scenarios.

This is especially important because Boat Crew is the kind of title where mission success starts with a primary decision: Is this battle worth fighting? Things will either go very well or very bad quickly. Pick a fight with a bigger ship without some kind of upper hand and it won’t be long until your crew is joining the search for Davy Jones Locker.

As expected, the preferred tactics for a PT Boat commander involve lightning hit-and-runs. This approach aims to maximize damage and chaos inflicted upon the enemy while minimizing the chances of retaliation. So it’s imperative to mix and learn the art of strategic decision-making and hit-and-run tactics to navigate the challenging waters of Boat Crew’s campaign skirmishes.

The game really comes to life as soon as you realize that you don’t need to work alone, and the game allows you to build your squadron of heavily armed Elcos. Get enough in-game doubloons and you can add up to 5 other PTs following you around the strategic map and helping you fight the good fight in the tactical battles. While you cannot manage their equipment (a missed opportunity, if you ask me), the available choices provide more than enough variety to fit your needs for armament.

Alongside your mates helping guns there are call-ins available that include artillery strikes as well as fighter and bombers.

Now, despite its excellent campaign and heart-pounding fights, Boat Crew isn’t without its flaws, most of them minor, but others quite more substantial. I’ll start with the one that bugs me the most: the directions from which you approach fights in the campaign map don’t affect your starting position on the battle. Now, in some games, I wouldn’t mind this being the case, but when your main tactics should be hit and run, I would argue that the ability to start a battle from the enemy flank is important. For example: an enemy task force is currently attacking a port, and you rush, full speed ahead, to lend a helping hand, with the intent of approaching from the back of an already engaged enemy. The perfect opportunity to sneak and strike, you think -Problem is the game will spawn you on your port, facing the enemy head-on, negating every possible advantage you might have had.

To add to this frustration is the fact that there’s no way to previously assign crew members to existing weapons if said systems require more than two gunners. Say that, like me, your PT is equipped with two M2 Machine Guns, a M3 anti-tank gun, and 40mm Bofors. Having only two gunner slots available means that for every battle you start, you’ll need to juggle your crew around so that you’re able to man the guns you need for that battle. It’s not the worst thing, but having the ability to prepare this before the battle would be a good quality-of-life option to have.

The final thing I would love them to increase the defences because it so happens that once you have the M3 anti-tank gun there’s nothing the enemy shore defences can do to stop you from snipping them at length. Planes will come out, from time to time, but they’re as rare as a genuine pearl.

Even despite all this, the game’s campaign is the definite highlight that will keep you coming back for just one more mission. The basic gameplay loop is to rest at a port, go out, scout enemy ports and engage in bit-sized skirmishers, come back to the port, rest, rearm and reequip before going out again. Attack a port enough times and the friendly AI will send in an invasion force to try and capture it.

The enemy won’t stay still, and will try and fight back, capturing your ports in turn.

There’s also a list of targets you can strive towards destroying that will net you a hefty pouch of coin to upgrade your boat with.

PT Boats are highly customizable, and currently, there are more than enough options to keep you constantly on the grind for more advanced equipment. From Lewis machine guns to torpedos, mortars, depth charges and even rockets, there’s no lack of arsenal to choose from.

The battles themselves are quick affairs that won’t last for more than a couple of minutes at a time, and most of the time the focus is on manoeuvring the ship and prioritizing targets for your gunners. But unlike bomber Crew, Boat Crew makes you control some of the weapons systems, as you’ll be the one aiming and firing the torpedos, manning the anti-tank gun and the mortar as well as the one dropping the depth charges. Do all that at once and you’ll soon be aware of how hectic and exciting battles become.

Final Score: 7/10

Boat Crew, despite all its flaws still manages to keep my attention extremely well, due to an excellent dynamic campaign that’s certainly its highlight, to the point that whenever I have 10 or 15 minutes I’ll always boot it up, fight a mission or two and go back to whatever needs doing. It’s not going to be the PT Boat simulator you’re probably hoping for, but it’s a good take on an aspect of war rarely seen, and one very competent at that.

Pros:

1. Interesting concept and well executed just needs fine-tuning;
2.  The dynamic campaign is easy to get into and will last you a couple dozen hours;
3.  A large amount of PT Boat customization caters to different tactics and playstyles;

Cons:

1. The tough tutorial might put you off from the get-go;
2.  The approach direction to a skirmish should matter more than it does, and it makes no sense that every battle starts as a head-on fight;
3.  Human sailors look like stuffed cloth toys whose eyes refuse to blink, and will stare straight at your soul;

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