Great Naval Battles V: Demise of the Dreadnoughts: 1914-18 is the final entry in SSI's long line of good World War sea battle simulations. The game is essentially the same as GNB 4, but with WWI ships instead of WWII, and no aircraft. There is a wide range of scenarios, plus a surprisingly easy to use scenario generator/editor. Since the gameplay is already covered in reviews of previous GNB games on this site, I will just briefly describe the excellent scenario editor. Creating a scenario to play can't be simpler: you pick a map, select which bases are active, choose a time period, and place resources at various locations. At the bases you can set the number and types of planes, AA, supplies, troops, and radar. You can choose up to 14 of ships to put into a fleet. You can set the ships to start in port, or "script" them to do so only after a certain time has passed. You can customize many other variants, such as weather, submarine activity, base victory points, menu settings, and scenario descriptions. You can then save your scenario and play it by choosing "User Scenarios" from the main menu. With excellent SVGA graphics, good interface, a wide variety of ships and options, and a competent AI that fixed many of the bugs in the earlier games, GNB5 is a worthy end to one of SSI's most underrated series. If you enjoy naval simulations or World War games in general, check it out. Reviewed by: Underdogs |