Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to like it
Review: After reading some of the Hornblower, Lewrie, and Blothio books, I was really craving something like this. Unfortunatly the game has so many bugs and the documentation on how to play is so bad, I ended up wasting what free time I had frustrated over the whole thing.Since the documentation was so bad, once I got the game somewhat stable, I thought purchasing the strategy guide for the game would help. It didn't. The guide was so full of pictures of ships and useless data that for my $20 I only received about 6 pages of actual strategy buried in all the "life of a sailor" garbage. In a strategy guide I would expect a lot more strategy hints and tips. Perhaps I'll find a book on ship tactics that I can apply.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifil graphics, horrible gameplay
Review: Age of Sail 2 has some of the best graphics I've seen in any genre of computer games. It's too bad that the graphics are the only good thing. The gameplay is horrible. All you do is keep clicking on a ship to shoot at it until it sinks. It's virtually impossible to play when you're expected to control a whole armada. My suggestion is to spend your money on another game.
Rating:
Summary: Frustratingly buggy
Review: As several reviewers have noted, this game has a lot of potential. It's visually nice, has tons of scenarios and flexibility, and is probably about as authentic as such a game can be. But it doesn't work. It often fails to load games properly, the game often freezes the computer (a P4, so it's not an old computer), and various key options--like manual firing--don't always work. Further, Talon Soft tech support was useless--they merely said to get new drivers for the graphics card, which was clearly not the problem. The game says it is Win Me ready, but it's not. I keep checking for new updates to see if they fix any of this, but the .1 update out so far doesn't do a bit of good. Until it's fixed, I find the game unplayable and I feel ...
Rating:
Summary: Pretty boring
Review: At first it's fun to play, but very quickly the similiar battles get boring. Good for a game to play every once in a great while, but definitly not worth the [price] they're asking for here.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to play, adictive
Review: Don't listen to the other reviews. These people want blood and swash in there games. This is the first PC game I've ever purchased. This game is a PC version of Avolon Hills' "Wooden ships & Iron men." I'm a veteran wargamer and love the playability of this game. Any of the bugs previously mentioned have been patched. I will agree that the little guide book is sparce and doesn't explain the mechanics in any usable detail. The AI seems to go by British naval doctrine of the era and acts like anyone would expect a thinking person to act. I attacked a 12 gun British merchantman with a 26 gun sloop of war, the merchantman struck his colors after a short fight, wouldn't you? Also, when I made an attempt to cut the line and give a bow/stearn rake, the limeys read my mind and made turns on me to prevent giving me the advantage. This game has awsome potential. I would like to see more role playing and character generation capability and aditional tactics employement (fire/bomb ships). It was good old American inventiveness and improvisation that allowed our navy to hold it's own against the most powerful navy of the time. I read the other reviews after buying the game and thought I made a mistake. This caused me to play it hard and find out for myself, maybe I'm too optomistic, but I didn't see any of there complaints except for the book. But what the heck, I have fun learning by doing. Buy it and have fun.
Rating:
Summary: Fun to play, adictive
Review: Don't listen to the other reviews. These people want blood and swash in there games. This is the first PC game I've ever purchased. This game is a PC version of Avolon Hills' "Wooden ships & Iron men." I'm a veteran wargamer and love the playability of this game. Any of the bugs previously mentioned have been patched. I will agree that the little guide book is sparce and doesn't explain the mechanics in any usable detail. The AI seems to go by British naval doctrine of the era and acts like anyone would expect a thinking person to act. I attacked a 12 gun British merchantman with a 26 gun sloop of war, the merchantman struck his colors after a short fight, wouldn't you? Also, when I made an attempt to cut the line and give a bow/stearn rake, the limeys read my mind and made turns on me to prevent giving me the advantage. This game has awsome potential. I would like to see more role playing and character generation capability and aditional tactics employement (fire/bomb ships). It was good old American inventiveness and improvisation that allowed our navy to hold it's own against the most powerful navy of the time. I read the other reviews after buying the game and thought I made a mistake. This caused me to play it hard and find out for myself, maybe I'm too optomistic, but I didn't see any of there complaints except for the book. But what the heck, I have fun learning by doing. Buy it and have fun.
Rating:
Summary: Fun to play, adictive
Review: Don't listen to the other reviews. These people want blood and swash in there games. This is the first PC game I've ever purchased. This game is a PC version of Avolon Hills' "Wooden ships & Iron men." I'm a veteran wargamer and love the playability of this game. Any of the bugs previously mentioned have been patched. I will agree that the little guide book is sparce and doesn't explain the mechanics in any usable detail. The AI seems to go by British naval doctrine of the era and acts like anyone would expect a thinking person to act. I attacked a 12 gun British merchantman with a 26 gun sloop of war, the merchantman struck his colors after a short fight, wouldn't you? Also, when I made an attempt to cut the line and give a bow/stearn rake, the limeys read my mind and made turns on me to prevent giving me the advantage. This game has awsome potential. I would like to see more role playing and character generation capability and aditional tactics employement (fire/bomb ships). It was good old American inventiveness and improvisation that allowed our navy to hold it's own against the most powerful navy of the time. I read the other reviews after buying the game and thought I made a mistake. This caused me to play it hard and find out for myself, maybe I'm too optomistic, but I didn't see any of there complaints except for the book. But what the heck, I have fun learning by doing. Buy it and have fun.
Rating: 
Summary: I like winning, but only if it's a challenge.
Review: Ever since reading the Hornblower series as a kid, I have searched for a game that would allow me to reenact the excitement of naval battles in the big wooden sailing ships. This game does allow me to do that, but only to a very limited extent. The game's AI is pathetic. Enemy ships consistently run aground. Enemy captains always try to run from battle. Ship-to-ship action turns into a 2-D dogfight, with the enemy ship trying to turn away from you, consistently presenting you her stern to rake with repeated broadsides. Actually paying attention to sailing your vessel is not even a concern. Ships never fail to tack (i.e., a ship will never hang in the stays, even if its lost a mast). There doesn't appear to be any accounting for which vessel is more weatherly. This game is no challenge at all. Part of the allure of the naval battles of this time period is the skill required to successfully lead one of these highly unmaneuverable ships into battle and to victory, this game completely fails to bring the user that experience.
Rating:
Summary: do not buy
Review: Great concept! Wonderfull research! Spectacular graphics! Unfortunately the game was released in a state of only partial completion. It is about forty percent finished. Buggy as hell and essentialy unplayable.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a MUST have for RTS and sailing ship fans!
Review: I got this game a couple of weeks ago and have been playing NON STOP! It's the best Naval warfare game to EVER come out. I haven't even gone through half of the 200 or so scenarios and campaigns that are included with the game. I haven't had any problems with it. It installed and runs fine. I have a mid-range P500 system. Highly reccomended for RTS and naval combat fans!
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