Guadalcanal

[Adam Parker]

Hi Hank, I bought it and have Jutland too.

IMO the Naval Campaigns series is one of John's best and of all the series he has, I wish he would expand it (and I was so disappointed when I saw he had seemingly called it off due to some provocative, anti-HPS criticism on the Usenet - it's interesting that with time some of these guys have now mellowed and would now kiss John's feet.

This game was the first in the series to include land as a tactical maneuver factor. It's as good as any other NC title and sees a very agressive Japanese AI.

Where John IMHO may need to improve the series to keep it afloat in WW2, is to include an air aspect. Pretty much as with Jutland, John takes advantage of this campaign, being predominately surface oriented, including the night-aspect of the Tokyo Express where air could play no part.

Now, if you've seen the new 2d top-down graphics included with SSG's new Carriers at War, I could only wish that SSG and John combine to give his art a facelift. I just LOVE watching those SSG torpedoes in the water!

All-in-all, Guadalcanal is a good game but just expect pure surface action here, an overly criticised lack of control over secondary gunnery and pure tactical decision making.

It is this latter element which is the biggest difference between it and Carriers at War. The whole maneuver aspect that makes a naval battle so immersive. I wish the two game systems would merge!

Cheers,
Adam.