I’ve been playing a lot of Navy Field 2 lately, and it got me thinking. It’s a fun, light naval simulation game that focuses on short battles. The game itself pits two teams one against the other, and the goal is to sink all the enemy ships. The controls are easy to learn and very arcade-style, meaning that faithful recreation is trumped by speed and ease of play.

Playing the game means controlling a single ship during a battle. You begin play with a small destroyer, but as you progress, you can unlock other ships, such as cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines. So far, I’ve been mostly concentrating on destroyers, and I’ve been having quite a bit of success. Once you figure out how to play a particular ship, it can stand up against just about any other. In fact, many a powerful dreadnought has met its end thanks…