14 DAY TRIAL // Traditional tutorials tend to be relatively short and often uninformative in the video games world, and there are plenty of players who have become accustomed to skipping them in order to learn about the game by jumping right into the core modes.
Order of Battle: Pacific is an exception from the norm and is the kind of title where going straight into one of the campaigns, or even worse, in the multiplayer, is not advisable.
Gamers should take the time to experience the tutorial campaign in the title created by The Artistocrats because it is informative and manages to deliver a solid set of gameplay challenges that perfectly show what the strategy title has to offer.
There are four scenarios the player will move through, each of them dealing with one aspect of the core features, and the final one shows the complexity that Order of Battle: Pacific can deliver.
Along the way, players get helpful pointers about the interface, the mechanics and the way they need to think and move their troops around to reach their objectives.
Order of Battle: Pacific might seem instantly familiar to Panzer General fans, but the focus on naval and amphibious warfare means that even for them the tutorial is a good idea.
The game delivers innovation mixed with classic elements
I was initially a little annoyed with the tutorial because it was only telling me about ideas that I was already familiar with and it took time to get through the little messages the developers covered the screen with.
But after about half an hour, I was engaged in a naval-only battle and I was glad for the details I was given and for the fact that I could test my skills before jumping into an actual campaign.
Order of Battle: Pacific manages to walk a very fine line between familiarity and innovation, something that only a small number of video games manage pull off successfully.
When I played the Imperial Japan campaign, I still had a few details I was unsure about, but the core structure of the title was clear.
I think that more developers should approach tutorials like the team at The Artistocrats has done for Order of Battle: Pacific.
