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mcarlsonus · 03-27-10, 07:37 AM

Earlier, "Sonarman" mentioned the old Microprose titles, "Silent Service," "Task Force 1942," and, "Red Storm Rising" as excellent examples of sims that succeed in immersing the player in the game. Having owned and played all those games, I emphatically agree! Matter of fact, "back in the day," whenever there was a party at my place, one would always find the 386SX - with VGA graphics (640x480), a HUGE 15" monitor, and 640K RAM - fired up and folks taking turns at the helm of an, "Improved Gato" in the Pacific or hammering away at an enemy task force 16 miles to the west.

Anyway, my thoughts on SH6: never happen. Never. Having owned and played SH5 for nearly two weeks, I can say, unequivocably, it appears Ubi, "threw out the baby with the bathwater" and decided to rehab the series totally. What they actually succeeded in doing was to remove GOOD, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" stuff, like the TDC, destroyers and aircraft that REALLY pose a threat, Recognition Manual that actually has useful information, DEPTH UNDER KEEL (!!!!), etc. Looks like they attempted a total rewrite, but someone at Ubi intervened and said, "Put it on the market...NOW!" Why? Because Ubi realizes that such things as subsims have a VERY limited market and very little potential for making money. In this world of, "first-person shooters" that appeal to folks with short attention spans who were brought up witnessing massive amounts of violence on the TV news, as well as in real life, few of the, "target market" have the patience or desire to plot a torpedo attack plan or set waypoints to a distant area where one may wander about for hours without encountering a target.

In sum, I believe this sad version was rushed to market. Ubi knew that modders who aren't on their payroll would make something useful out of it - which, of course, continues to be the case. However, I believe we've seen the end of the franchise - and others like it!

Too bad I can't get, "Silent Service" to run on my present computer...

03-27-10, 07:37 AM	#60
mcarlsonus Weps Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 362 Downloads: 13 Uploads: 0	Earlier, "Sonarman" mentioned the old Microprose titles, "Silent Service," "Task Force 1942," and, "Red Storm Rising" as excellent examples of sims that succeed in immersing the player in the game. Having owned and played all those games, I emphatically agree! Matter of fact, "back in the day," whenever there was a party at my place, one would always find the 386SX - with VGA graphics (640x480), a HUGE 15" monitor, and 640K RAM - fired up and folks taking turns at the helm of an, "Improved Gato" in the Pacific or hammering away at an enemy task force 16 miles to the west. Anyway, my thoughts on SH6: never happen. Never. Having owned and played SH5 for nearly two weeks, I can say, unequivocably, it appears Ubi, "threw out the baby with the bathwater" and decided to rehab the series totally. What they actually succeeded in doing was to remove GOOD, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" stuff, like the TDC, destroyers and aircraft that REALLY pose a threat, Recognition Manual that actually has useful information, DEPTH UNDER KEEL (!!!!), etc. Looks like they attempted a total rewrite, but someone at Ubi intervened and said, "Put it on the market...NOW!" Why? Because Ubi realizes that such things as subsims have a VERY limited market and very little potential for making money. In this world of, "first-person shooters" that appeal to folks with short attention spans who were brought up witnessing massive amounts of violence on the TV news, as well as in real life, few of the, "target market" have the patience or desire to plot a torpedo attack plan or set waypoints to a distant area where one may wander about for hours without encountering a target. In sum, I believe this sad version was rushed to market. Ubi knew that modders who aren't on their payroll would make something useful out of it - which, of course, continues to be the case. However, I believe we've seen the end of the franchise - and others like it! Too bad I can't get, "Silent Service" to run on my present computer... Last edited by mcarlsonus; 03-27-10 at 07:55 AM.