Man O’ War: Corsair
Nautical-but-nice sailing game Man o’ War: Corsair sinks under the weight of its own ambition.
There’s something Orkish about Mano’ War: Corsair. Despite gimcrack construction, it holds together through force of will, delivering flashes of brilliance bolstered by a boisterous score and vivid setting. But they’re counterbalanced by moments of failure, where the game feels unfinished. Even then, as you stare at the floating fragments of vessel this could’ve been, it’s an oddly endearing wreck. Gork (or maybe Mork) would be proud. If you’ve lost track of which tie-in game this is—in the time it’s taken you to read this, three new Warhammer games have been announced— Mano’War is a naval action game based on an out-of-print Games Workshop tabletop title. You can play versus battles, but at its heart is a campaign mode which sees you sailing around the jagged shores of the Old World, visiting places every Warhammer fan will recognize. It’s lovely to explore a coastline only glimpsed in the maps of tattered army books. What you actually do, however, is up to you.
As the captain of an independent ship, you can dock, trade goods, and complete missions for the factions in the game. Or, if you’re feeling piratical, you can hunt down cargo ships and make your fortune selling stolen goods. Your behavior affects your standing with each race. You can happily make a living as an Empire privateer, for example, preying off its political enemies. There’s a wonderful sense of freedom, and the world has economy worth exploiting. Heard a port is suffering from famine? Load up with food, sail there and sell it at an inflated price.
The variety of missions is decent, too, bringing character to a game that would otherwise be (ironically) dry. In the first few hours I quelled an undead plague on my ship, liberated a magical hammer from zealots and raced a rival captain while drunk. The missions are all simply presented, with bare text boxes rather than grand cinematics, but it works in the setting. My favorite experiences came from getting swept up in the simple moments—hearing the music flourish while sailing through stormy seas, or watching the sun rise after a night spent battling a massive shark. It’s a game alive with anecdotes, and it benefits from a generous imagination.
You’ll need to be generous, though. At times the game is shaky to the point of collapse. The essential stuff is handsomely done but everything feels tired. Characters resemble Warhammer models dipped in unthinned paint, and move with an absence of grace. Aside from the occasional shipwright, every port you visit is the same, regardless of how large the city is. Combat is fine when you’re firing cannons into enemy ships, but hand-to-hand engagements look weary. Despite this, there’s something satisfying about making fighting work—I love the feeling of connecting a hammer with an Ork’s head—but it lacks finesse in a MountandBlade sort of way. Elsewhere, it’s a case of great ideas done poorly. Encounters with sea monsters are brilliant, but they become stale when you figure out attack patterns. Most are limited to specific areas on the map, too, which diminishes the sense of an omnipresent threat. It’s also worth noting that the release version only lets you play as one of the four Chaos factions (Khorne—the Manchester United of Ruinous Powers).
World of Waaaghships
These problems contribute to the sense that Mano’War is a fun game scuppered by ambition. It almost delivers on its promise, but it’s superficial. You’ll have moments when you feel like a dashing captain, but after ten hours the gaps between the boards begin to show. It’s also suspiciously easy. Many encounters give you a thrilling sense of being in danger, but the threat isn’t real. That said, the fact it tries so hard to cram in all these ideas is uplifting, and I persevered with it despite the faults. Aside from the odd glitch—my captain once floated off like Tzeentch’s chosen—the problems are forgivable if you love the setting enough, especially given the lack of compelling age-of-sail games.
If you’re forgiving, there’s genuine adventure to be found in Mano’War: Corsair, but it’s impossible to recommend unconditionally in its current state. You get the sense that this is a game that will improve, but right now, the asking price is steep for a game that feels so wobbly.
At times the game is shaky to the point of collapse