From a gaming standpoint, we’ve often been presented with three effective ways that were used to annihilate enemy ships and cruisers during World War II; by pounding them with enough cannon fire and heavy artillery so that there was nothing left, through the use of carefully-coordinated air strikes (or, if you’re playing IL-2 Sturmovik with me, by executing a kamikaze maneuver I call “trying too hard to dive-bomb and failing to pull up”), or by sneaking up on them in a sub, launching a salvo of torpedoes, and then praying to the glorious Fatherland that they don’t miss – which in itself brings back a rash of mixed memories of cowering from depth-charges in Silent Hunter III. But naturally during the real World War II there were a huge number of creative options available for keeping the sea-lanes secured, and one of the more interesting (and overlooked, at least in gaming) choices was through the use of “PT’, or “Patrol-Torpedo” boats. This oversight is something Akella Company intends to correct, through their up-and-coming release of PT Boats: Knights of the Sea (or ”KotS” as I’ll refer to it in short-form). Having been anticipating this game for some time, I was recently blessed with the chance to check out a limited 3-level demo from the game, and came away with some very interesting details on how the game looks in action. Let’s get started!

To begin with, KotS isn’t just a generic action title. In fact, Akella has had a history of providing some past naval titles with a good deal of tactical depth (KotS actually shares the same “STORM” engine used previously in titles like Sea Dogs), and this in turn is carried over to their latest title. The game can be played in primarily two modes: Either a direct-action mode where the player is thrust directly into command of their PT boat and all of its respective weapon systems, or instead from a ‘strategic’ mode with a free-roaming camera above the action, where players can command multiple vessels (even ships other than PT boats) and lay down waypoints and other commands to co-ordinate their assaults, as well as jump back to their boat and take direct control at any time. The interface for either option will also be quite easy for players to pick up on – the HUD elements at the bottom include a radar display, remaining crew count, a message log, and information on remaining ammunition levels (if applicable for the crew position being manned), along with a plethora of other useful details about the status of your vessel. Launching torpedoes also gives a timer at the top left that will be familiar to Silent Hunter III fans, to help players gauge the time before impact.

The first mission in the demo I played was actually presented as a kind of ‘training’ level to help introduce the game, and to this end I was blessed with infinite torpedoes to play, along with plenty of targets to shoot at. The mission opened with a cut-scene showing a wave of bombers coming in to attack the enemy boats amidst heavy anti-air fire, showing off the game’s impressive high-detail models and special effects, with tracer fire littering the skies from the ships below. Then I was thrust into the driver’s chair of a single PT boat just off the flank of the destroyers, ready to kick some ass. The first thing I learned during the course of this mission is that being close to enemy ships can be a very dangerous process – mostly because of how their defense fire knocked by boat around like crazy, sending crew members into the water and making aiming impossible. Fortunately a button can be pushed to have your crew abandon their positions and retreat into the safety of the boat cabin, though this means that the turrets are also no longer functional.

Playing the game was also surprisingly easy. WASD is used to control throttle and rudder on the boat, while numbers 1-0 can be used to switch to different positions on the boat, or different camera angles (including a handy free-roaming camera for getting the best possible angle on the action). Meanwhile, selecting different targets is as simple as rolling the mouse-wheel and waiting for a target icon to appear over the item you want your gunners to focus on – though I’m really hoping a “Target what I’m looking at” option appears in the final release. Launching torpedoes is also incredibly easy – simply switch to the torpedo position, then roll the mouse wheel until the torpedo icon appears above the designated ship. Finally, all I had to do was right-click to go to my iron sights on the torpedo guide and line up t he crosshairs with the ship, and let fly. Hitting a ship is particularly satisfying, watching the ship split apart at the point of impact with crew members diving overboard to escape the wreck before it sinks.

The second mission in contrast focused a bit more on the PT boat’s other uses – in this case, as an anti-aircraft platform – as you rush to the rescue of a stranded vessel trying to fend off a massive aerial invasion. In this case I was required to hop in the machinegun turrets on the boat and attempt to nail the swarm of enemy planes making their attack runs. Pretty straightforward, but the same mousewheel-targeting could be used to prioritize which planes my other gunners should shoot at, and as a cool novelty I can also still steer the boat as normal while manning the gunner positions. This also gave the game the opportunity to show off its gorgeous backdrops, and the damage-modeling in effect on the planes (the mission took far longer than it should have in fact, because I kept switching to the free-roaming camera modes just to watch every moment of the action from all possible angles).

Finally, the third level gave me a nice crack at the RTS mode. By default I was equipped with 3 PT boats and a single destroyer under my command, and tasked with taking out a couple of ships in a heavily-guarded convoy. While playing around with this mission, some cool things of note I found included a versatile waypoint system to help manage exactly what my fleet would do and when it would happen (as well as set up defaults, such as a patrol or evasive pattern), manage and track the individual weapons for each unit, assign control-groups, set up formations… and even found a neat little button marked “Landing Party”, which I can only guess as to the full use (as well as options for mines and depth charges). The tutorial information for this level also suggested a strong lean on tactics to try and flank the enemy to get your torpedoes in the water and pull out before the enemy could annihilate me, which was something I definitely had to put into practice too – successfully striking that convoy required exact placement and careful maneuvering, though on my first attempts, this translated to plowing my destroyer right into their formation so I could watch the pretty fireworks. To this end I’m very interested in seeing how this mode develops – especially with the game’s original promise of multiplayer! The thought of having one player in a command-perspective laying down strategic objectives while the other player(s) carry them out in first-person gives me goose-bumps I haven’t felt since the days of Battlezone 2 and Allegiance, so I’m really interested to see where the developers take this.