The Great Whale Road

There's a lot of potential on this "road," but as it currently sits, this adventure is best for role-playing and strategy fans only. The Great Whale Road refers to the ocean that transports the main civilization on adventures, leading to trade, diplomacy, and combat. At first, gameplay seems a bit too simple: The tutorials -- particularly where combat is concerned -- seem a little sparse even if the control schemes are intuitive. But it's precisely the combat, which uses skill cards that can be played on certain turns, where the game starts to expand and prove to be challenging. Similarly, the text-driven storylines attempt to capture the era, but the story is simplistic and the text "incidents" can be repetitive. But hey, if the decision made worked the first time, why bother to change it?

How the player prepares his or her village, where the skill points are allocated (into farming, husbandry, hunting, warfare, diplomacy, traditions, or craftsmanship) really sets up the chances for success as the game progresses. Plus, this helps with the heroes you get to crew your ship, each with stats and skills that help out in combat. Again, battle is the game's strength, and it's only enhanced with its random cards that throw a necessary twist to the action. Overall, The Great Whale Road has a lot of potential, which is just slightly underused right now. There's still a lot of extra content being released for the game, and it could become very intriguing for players in the near future.