Command: Aces of the deep is the fourth and last installment of the "aces" series of simulations released by Dynamix in the early '90's. But, unlike its predecessors, is the first to put the player in command of a German U-Boat. As a fan of these games, I was eager to try Aces of the Deep when it was released in 1994. Aces of the Deep is an accurate simulation of German U-Boat combat during the Battle of the Atlantic during World War Two.
Command: Aces of the deep is the fourth and last installment of the "aces" series of simulations released by Dynamix in the early '90's. But, unlike its predecessors, is the first to put the player in command of a German U-Boat. As a fan of these games, I was eager to try Aces of the Deep when it was released in 1994. Aces of the Deep is an accurate simulation of German U-Boat combat during the Battle of the Atlantic during World War Two.
The mission of the U-Boat or was to sink as many allied merchant vessels as possible in order to disrupt the flow of supplies, and military personnel to the British war effort. The U-Boats were a feared enemy on the Atlantic, but they
were not invincible. Originally, the game was packaged with an authentic looking Kriegsmarin (German Navy) map of the Atlantic Ocean with all text written in German. The game also included a very interesting and informative game manual.
The manual was loaded with information about the different types of U-Boats, and torpedoes the Germans used. As well as the tactics the Allies used to fight the U-Boats, and the equipment they had (such as sonar, depth charges etc.). I stated out playing the scenarios to learn the basics of the game. And eventually I was playing career mode with the difficulty set at the highest with the German speech option enabled; I still remember some of the commands. You could play a single mission where you could attack a task force of warships and/or carriers.
Or attack a convoy of merchant and supply vessels. There were also several historic missions. There was also a single player career mode, which was my favorite. The game included many different targets such as civilian merchant and supply ships like cargo vessels, tankers of varying sizes and tonnages, large troop ships. And naval targets as well, such as battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers. In career mode the best way to sink many ships was to find a convoy, follow it during the day and attack it at night. This was best accomplished by firing torpedoes at multiple targets, submerging, then resurfacing in a different location and repeating the attack.
However, care must be taken to avoid detection of escort vessels which equipped with sonar could easily locate and destroy attacking U-Boats. Aces of the deep was and still is one on my favorite PC games.
