Gameplay

Game?

Hostile Waters is one of those games that like to blend different kinds of genres together. You get a little bit of action, a little bit of strategy, maybe even some other stuff, but you can't really lump it into one category entirely.

ooo...

Contruction screen

The action part of the game is fairly straightforward. It all takes place in a third person environment, with you being able to control any of the vehicles that are built. The strategy part of the game is a little less obvious. You get to build vehicles, but there isn't base management like in conventional RTS games. Resources consist of deploying an overrated trash compactor to collect scrap. All that really leaves you with is battle planning; arranging your units the best way possible. Choosing which character mans what vehicle or deciding what vehicles you need and when.

They move

Movement in HW isn't exactly a chore. Since you are controlling air, land and sea-based vehicles the control scheme wouldn't have been made too elaborate. The common WASD configuration, in conjunction with a mouse, is used for maneuvering. Changing from vehicle to vehicle is akin to changing weapons in any FPS. Simply push one of the number keys and you are there.

Scrap hauler	Command screen
Night time	Means it's time for night vision

Movement in the various vehicles wasn't too bad either. The helicopters didn't exactly behave like something out of a flight-sim, but I doubt the developers could have devoted enough attention to each type of unit to satisfy any hardcore buff of any genre, be it flight-sims or racing-sims. Consider the physics good enough to be fun, expecting anymore is setting your self up for a let down.

Make them move for you

The game gets much more complex when you take in the other controls you have at your disposal. Aside from the movement controls, there are a host of other keys that are used to control how you manage and create your units. The use of the first three F keys switches you between the three biggest menus in the game. F1 takes you to a screen where you can command your units. The entire game is paused when you come here, so you aren't obscenely rushed to queue up mundane things like gathering scrap or setting up drop points. Most of this can be navigated with the mouse or through the use of hot keys that are all located within the WASD sphere of influence.

Scrap eating

Munch munch

Later in the game you are introduced to another method of commanding units, akin to bossing around wingmen. Except, the keys here are really easy to learn. There are nine commands that map into the square of keys right in the WASD config. Once you hit the space bar, it activates the command console, you cannot move around once here because your movement keys just became your command keys. But once you get the hang of it, issuing commands will probably take all of a second or two at most. This is actually a great concept, as I hate to pick up my hand to move to anther set of keys while playing a game. I almost always end up placing my hand some two keys away from the W; this usually results in button mashing until I realize where exactly the W is again. Of course by then, I'm probably dead and have had my eyes off the screen for a few seconds. Doh.