What also deserves a special mention so far was the game’s graphical presentation. Even in this early stage, KotS offers one of the best approaches to water I’ve seen to date,

with waves and tides dynamically shifting in reaction to real-time factors – be it the wake from your boat, explosions, or other stimulus, and it just looks all around amazing in motion. What I found to be a particularly cool touch however is in the amount of raw detail put not only into your PT Boats, but also that of other ships. I hinted earlier at being able to see the crew in motion, but Akella has really pulled out the stops on this. 3D, fully rendered crew members can be seen running on the decks of ships at all times, manning turrets or tending other tasks as needed. They can also get knocked overboard (and this applies to your own vessels), and when they do, can be seen swimming for shore or just trying to stay afloat – the ragdoll physics when a crewman “dies” are also a very nice touch too, and really show how far we’ve come technology-wise for the detail that can be added to games now (up close, I was even able to make some facial animations).

After having just a taste of the action, I’m definitely excited to see how the final rendition of this game turns out. Some of the advanced hype I’ve seen promotes a semi-dynamic campaign system that reacts to how you play out the individual missions, as well as a strong lean on tactics and clever thinking and some really intriguing multiplayer possibilities, so this game has a great deal of potential. Following a quick inquiry, I’ve also received confirmation that the developers are working hard to ship KotS with multiplayer support, which will include co-op play and team-based deathmatch modes, as well as options for players to occupy the same boat (or separate boats) and work together to accomplish their objectives. Because of this, the game is currently on track for a release date at Q3 2007 – so expect to hear more on PT Boats: Knights of the Sea later this year!