Naval Battles is fairly easy to pick up and play. You may need to refer to the rule book the first few games to get the hang of what each card does, since they use symbols in place of card titles (especially with the action cards), but the cards look good, are nicely laminated, and it's cool that the ship cards are named after real ships of each country, with relative strengths. I can't speak to the realism of the ship illustrations, but an effort was made to make each card unique-looking, and each fleet has it's own strengths and weaknesses, so they don't all play the same. I've played 5 games so far and each one was very different. Once we got the hang of the card abilities, the game was a blast- exciting and fast-paced. Luck of the draw does have an effect on play, but smart ship placement and knowing when to hold certain cards can make all the difference, so there is an element of strategy. Some action card effects will be more interesting with more than 2 players (and with 6 fleets, you can get a good-size group together), but the game is fine for 2, too. There's enough variety in the action cards to keep you engaged in the game, so it's never dull. The game could have used a more interesting name- it doesn't jump out at you with such a generic title. However, if you like the WWII/nautical theme and would appreciate a fun military game that doesn't require lots of space/time for set-up and plays relatively quickly, the game comes highly recommended.