Let me first begin by saying this was one of my all time favorite sub simulator games. While the graphics are not all that good with the only graphics being the cut scenes with any kind of fair graphic value(torpedoes firing, ships and subs being hit and sinking, news casts of the war) and the sound is not all that great. With all that put aside the gameplay of this game makes up for all these downfalls in gameplay and with a great story to boot.
The Russians have just started world war three by invading their neighbors and you are the captain of a US submarine in this conflict.
Giving you missions to carry out in this war your results in these missions effect the success or failure of the war effort also you can attack enemy ships outside of your mission orders to further help the war effort.
With the option of up to four submarines to choose from and many other options to choose from such as dud torpedoes as well as difficulty level how you accomplish these missions really all depends on you. My personal favorite is the U.S.S. Los Angeles class submarine with torpedoes and tomahawk missiles so I can also receive missions for land targets. Every
shot counts in these missions as depleting your weapons could leave you vulnerable for your return to base to resupply or cost you valuable time in the war by making frequent trips back to your base. The enemy will also send out hunter groups looking for you and they as well as you have spy planes and satellites looking for enemy ships. Strategies on completing your missions will effect your outcome in them with such things to consider as speed, active or passive sonar, depth to name just a few.
Some examples are such a higher speed makes your propeller make more sound while a lower speed makes you harder to detect but the ships that are your mission objective may get away as they will no doubt try to run from you while their escort tries to destroy you. Active sonar will allow you to sense ships better but also makes you easier to see while passive sonar may let an enemy sneak right up on you. While your depth will have many effects a sub can go faster on the surface than submerged but is a lot easier to detect while laying below the thermal barrier will make you harder to detect by surface ships as well as enemy subs above the barrier it also makes it harder for you to detect them.
The ability to control the time for your torpedoes to go active as well as being able to self destruct them also comes in handy. As far as being able to protect yourself when attacked you have a limited supply of decoys and sound makers to help you avoid damage to your sub.
Perhaps I am a bit biased when it comes to this fine game as I loved the book of the same name as well. It is my believe that any true sub sim player will find what I did in this game that it is a very fun and addictive game well worth trying at least once and in my opinion is one of the best sub sims ever created.
