Review: Waves of Steel

destructoid.com:

I have a soft spot for naval warfare. I attribute this to either the hours I pumped into Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 or that time my appendix decided it was time to come out while I had P.T.O.: Pacific Theatre of Operations rented on SNES. Pleasant memories.

I don’t, however, find myself drawn to naval simulators. I need some time to reflect on this thought, but in the meantime, Waves of Steel figured out a way to ramp over that barrier and into my heart. It just needed a way to make naval warfare more radical.

Waves of Steel (PC) Developer: TMA Games Publisher: TMA Games Released: February 6, 2023 MSRP: $19.99

While Waves of Steel sells itself on the promise of kickflipping warships, its buildup to ridiculousness is much more gradual than it lets on. Things start off without you even having the ability to customize your ship. You’re simply sent into battle with a pre-built ship, and things seem pretty loose but normal. Don’t worry, that won’t last long.

Waves of Steel is a game that gets by on its customization element, and it knows exactly what players are going to do with that. You pick up additional parts as they’re dropped by enemies, but if you’re truly intrepid, you’ll plumb the environments for secrets. Typically, the strangest weapons are found in these secret treasures. Stuff like a drill for the front of your ship or even the mighty kickflip are found in these secret caches.

You won’t be able to go completely bananas, however. Waves of Steel is pretty careful about what it will let you get away with. The parts that are dropped aren’t entirely random; each mission has specific ones that it will drop. This means, you can’t just grind earlier levels to play the RNG for the best parts. You won’t get them