Is Jane's 688 Hunter Killer worth playing?

[Mr Lemmy]

A few days ago I got the Naval Combat triple pack of Jane's 688 Hunter Killer, Jane's Fleet Command. At first I installed Hunter Killer. Graphics weren't great, but I wasn't expecting them to be. It looked like it would be interesting (I've had a long term interest in the subject) The manual was on the disc but when I saw the size of it I hesitated about printing it, since I've got a real shortage of space in my house, and it might use about a third of a print cartridge to print off.

So I installed Sub Command yesterday, and to my surprise it lookss extremely similar to 688 Hunter Killer. In fact to my admittedly cursory look at it , it looks like an improved version of 688 Hunter Killer.

So basically, is there any reason to play both Sub Command and 688 Hunter Killer? I don't mind printing off a 200 page manual once, for one of the sims, but if the sims are very similar I think Sub Command would be better worth the time.

[Mr Lemmy]

I decided to give it a try anyway. And...I'm glad I did now. :up:

The manual is indeed large-in page numbers- but it's all done in fairly large print, so it's maybe not as intimidating as it first appears. There are some tutorials which are easy to grasp, and enjoyable to play through. Once I'd gotten to grips with the basic ships stations, I found my interest aroused and reading the rest of the manual became more of a pleasure that the chore I expected.

3 days later I'm pretty comfortable with playing the sim. I'm not 100% sure about everything, and there are times when I'm not sure why something happened, but I know enough by now to embark on the campaign.

There is one question which I'm not sure if anyone knows the answer to but I'll ask it anyway. I learned there was a v 1.07 reaslim patch for it and naturally downloaded it. Whenever I tried it though I got a graphics error message. I tried various things but nothing seem to cure it so I gave up on it, assuming that I'd only be able to play version 1.00. Last night though I right clicked on the 688_HK exe icon, and it says it's version 1.08. And it says Copyright 1997-2006 Sonalysts (or something like that) So do I indeed have the very latest version of Jane's 688(I) Hunter Killer?

So, overall, I'm currently having a lot of fun with this sim. I used to play Red Storm Rising a lot on the Atari ST in 1993 or so, and although there are a few similarities here and there, 688 seems a huge leap forward in realsim and immersion. I'm looking forward to Sub Command (and Fleet Command too :))

[Reinhard Hardegen]

If you like the two games, and yes they are upgrades of each other, you should also get Danders Waters (the upgrade to Sub Command). You will see that they are all tide into each other.

Good luck in playing as I grew up on 688i Hunter Killer. It was a fun game.

[Mr Lemmy]

In a way I'm glad that more recent games have improved on Jane's 688, but I have to admit I have a fondness for games of that era. I first played a "modern" PC sim in 1999, but to me it's interesting to see 1997 era games, to see what I missed out on! :D. I don't believe I was even within a 5 mile radius of a PC before 1999.

688 still seems like a valid enough sim, as the core gameplay is satisying, but the presentation and style seems very much like 1997 (synth soundtrack, video actors etc.)

I'd like to play more recent sims, but I'll need to do a major upgrade of my system before. It's from 2001, and I never got round to upgrading. I always seemed happy enough playing my old games on it :)

[bradclark1]

I still play 688I every now and then. It's got a fun factor.

[Keln]

I actually first got that game when I first reported to my boat. While playing it on my laptop in my bunk, I quickly realized the boat in the game was an upgraded version of the old peice of crap I was sailing on.

That, and the game was way more fun than the real thing. Still one of my favs :up:

[Frame57]

I play them all. But I still like 688i in that when I use the mission editor and designate an allied sub to engage other platform it will do it without me specifying which target platform to engage. It is far less complicated than the others. This may sound goofy but here goes. With the "upgrades" you buy in the game to improve Sonar etc... I liken the boat to be a hybrid between the 688i and the Seawolf, even though you have four tubes rather than eight. I also find that my crew picks up contacts and classifies them in a more realistic fashion. For example in 688i I usually pick up a contact between 20-30k yards. This is realistic and i know there are sorted variables. But i used to hangout with some ST buddies while i was on the USS Archerfish SSN 678. We picked up a Charlie at 20k doing 5 knts back in 1980. I cannot get my Seawolf crew to pick up anything at that range (most of time). So, IMO the 688i game has more realism than the other games. Still play it and still love it!:up:

[Blacklight]

There is one question which I'm not sure if anyone knows the answer to but I'll ask it anyway. I learned there was a v 1.07 reaslim patch for it and naturally downloaded it. Whenever I tried it though I got a graphics error message. I tried various things but nothing seem to cure it so I gave up on it, assuming that I'd only be able to play version 1.00. Last night though I right clicked on the 688_HK exe icon, and it says it's version 1.08. And it says Copyright 1997-2006 Sonalysts (or something like that) So do I indeed have the very latest version of Jane's 688(I) Hunter Killer?


Yes. Nothing in the Naval Combat Pack requires a patch from Sonalysts. They are already patched up to the current version. No need to download anything from them.
HOWEVER, check out www.subguru.com (http://www.subguru.com) and download and install SCX/SCU for Sub Command. It makes a huge difference. Also, there's a metric ton of Sub Command custom missions there for the download, most compattable with Sub Command with SCX. :up:

On another note, when you start playing Fleet Command, download and install the Naval Warfare Project for it from here: http://forums.navalwarfare.org/showthread.php?t=66

It adds a lot of new units, alters the database to make all units behave more realistically, and makes a huge difference in game play and scenario construction.
:up:

[KriegsMarine]

I highly recommend you to give it a good try! cuz Jane's 688(i) is a fundamental tutorial for modern nuclear fast attack training for sure.:up: