SeaOrama – World of Shipping – Review

Testing the business simulation Seaorama – global trade and shipping

Seaorama – World of Shipping is an, unfortunately rather simple, old-school business simulation. It is somewhat reminiscent of Ports of Call from the late 80s, which was a big hit on the Amiga a long time ago, at the end of the 80s, and was subsequently re-released several times. However, Ports of Call had more features and nicer graphics back then, making Seaorama a game that leaves a lot to be desired.

What is SeaOrama about, and how is it played?

We buy a general cargo freighter or a tanker and use it to complete transport orders worldwide. 17 ship types are offered, and we can call at 90 ports and trade dozens of goods there. If we do this reasonably well, we earn money and can buy more ships, trade more, and build up a larger transportation empire.

In theory, that might not sound so terribly boring. In the advertising for the game, there were also pretty 3D animations of ships sailing into the sunset and tracking shots that somehow suggested action. But unfortunately, these 3D views don’t exist at all in the game and the whole thing has been implemented in a very unexciting way.

SeaOrama – Gameplay Pictures – Ingame Screenshots

Click or tap on the image for a larger view.
In the enlarged view, you can scroll right and left on the edges

A trade in the wet element, but presented bone-dry

When traveling, we only see our ships as small triangles moving along lines. Almost the entire game consists of selecting one or a few orders from a table in a port, and then watching the triangles move slowly on the world map.

But even at the highest speed level, you often sit there for minutes on end and nothing really happens. It’s not very spectacular or exciting. And the most important action we constantly perform in the game is waiting and being bored.

There are weather influences and small random events can also occur, such as engine problems or even pirate attacks. But here the choice of the random event generator is also quite limited and therefore the same 4–5 things happen to us over and over again, which is not entertaining at all. And so the whole gameplay consists of tables and a world map where you watch triangles move.

There’s also a personnel management system, but actually, all the employees are either quality 1 or 2, and with a lot of luck someone will become quality 3 after a long time, but that’s about it. It’s as exciting as the operating instructions for a can opener. You won’t find any personalities, training, or special features here.

Not only little content, but also just moderately well-made

Unfortunately, in addition to the lack of features and things you can actually do, the balancing is sometimes strange. In the end, if you want to make a profit, you should simply avoid all trips through canals and if a random event happens, the tour is usually a zero round.

For €19.99, SeaOrama disappointingly offers no fun at all and far too few features. To be honest, you’d have to say it’s a totally boring and uninspired game, and you could probably build more exciting Excel spreadsheets. I’m sorry for the developer that I had to write this, but a game should offer variety, challenges, different ways to play, and fun, and in SeaOrama, unfortunately, you won’t find any of that.

SeaOrama – World of Shipping – Opinion, conclusion, and rating

At 19.99 euros or dollars, the game is not very expensive, but unfortunately, this is still far too much for the depth of gameplay offered, or rather not offered. Even for 5 euros/dollars, I would have been annoyed if I had bought the game. Unfortunately, I have to give SeaOrama a rating of 35%. At least it works, but that’s all it does. And above all and most importantly, it’s no fun.

Links and Sources

Seaorama Steampage

SeaOramaGame

Seaorama Facebook

Publisher PID_Games Twitter