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mmaruda · 06-06-17, 01:10 PM

Here is my initial noob impressions after fooling around for an hour. For me, the game hit the sweet spot between realism and complication.

Dangerous Waters is something I hold in very high regard, but it's one of those titles that remain shelved until I retire or something. My history with this sim is that of confusion, being overwhelmed and failing miserably. I am probably too impatient and/or stupid for it at the moment and I don't have enough time to spend learning the more advanced stuff not to end up dead right after someone sneezes on the boat.

So far I used CMANO to scratch my nuclear boat itch, but certain things there are too general and there is zero eye candy for my sub-loving eyes.

Enter Cold Waters, a game that was advertised as easy to control and understand, while still having enough depth to satisfy my humble hunger for authenticity. Plus them eye candies!

So far the vibes are good. The game looks great and does require at least basic knowledge of sub tactics and common sense, so thoughtful play is rewarded. I also like the fact that you are essentially the captain of a boat and not every crew member at once. There is a good reason why certain military machinery requires a crew to operate - one person can only handle as many tasks in a pressure-heavy situation. Doing periscope stuff, drawing things on a map and steering the sub at the same time in something like Silent Hunter was often and exhausting experience to the point of frustration. Cold Waters doesn't do that. The only thing you are required to do manually, is piloting the boat, but it's a lot of fun. Maybe except going to periscope depth, it's easy to surface if you are not careful and that means torpedo hell. While it might be frustrating to some extent, I guess that is something people will need to adapt to, and probably this aspect won't be an issue after some practice. Another minor issue is the fact that towed arrays aren't rendered, but maybe this will get patched in at some point.

The enemy AI seems capable - ships start to zig-zag when you are made, helos dip sonars and launch torpedoes like crazy and those Bears can be pretty relentless. However, running from enemy torpedoes is quite exciting - I went to surface when I though there was noone around to make some screeshots and in less then a minute a Bear started dropping things into the water. Luckily I managed to dive and rush to around 1000 ft doing some crazy turning and non got me. It's cool to see how the torps go into search patterns or miss you by meters and the direct control and 3d view give you the tools to do some aware evasion, even if it's a bit arcade'y. All in all, I had fun and was able to learn the game mechanics while playing without putting too much stress on the brain, while still having the impression that this is not your today's idiot-back-patting underwater shooter, but a product for grown men.

A couple of things that I consider flaws though:
- tutorials are done on an old school way, meaning there is no narration or step by step tutor-guided introduction to various aspects, you need to figure things out on you own and reference the manual (thankfully it's available under SHIFT+F1 and not to long, so you won't find yourself spending hours looking for what you need).
- there is no crew voices, you need to watch those text messages
- the interface also does not feature tooltips and you do need to remember quite a few key commands
- some basic crew management would be nice, but that is just my wishlist stuff.

All in all, if you are totally anal about operating a sonar, plotting a solution, keeping an eye on how much compressed air you have etc and that is you main focus, you probably won't find too much to tackle your fancy. But if you just want a lightweight sim/wargame about subs with enough authenticity to consider it a "serious" game, Cold Waters seems like a great product. I would definitely recommend this as an entry-level game to naval simulations. It's also one of the few games that are placed during the Cold War.

06-06-17, 01:10 PM	#53
mmaruda Nub Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2 Downloads: 28 Uploads: 0	Here is my initial noob impressions after fooling around for an hour. For me, the game hit the sweet spot between realism and complication. Dangerous Waters is something I hold in very high regard, but it's one of those titles that remain shelved until I retire or something. My history with this sim is that of confusion, being overwhelmed and failing miserably. I am probably too impatient and/or stupid for it at the moment and I don't have enough time to spend learning the more advanced stuff not to end up dead right after someone sneezes on the boat. So far I used CMANO to scratch my nuclear boat itch, but certain things there are too general and there is zero eye candy for my sub-loving eyes. Enter Cold Waters, a game that was advertised as easy to control and understand, while still having enough depth to satisfy my humble hunger for authenticity. Plus them eye candies! So far the vibes are good. The game looks great and does require at least basic knowledge of sub tactics and common sense, so thoughtful play is rewarded. I also like the fact that you are essentially the captain of a boat and not every crew member at once. There is a good reason why certain military machinery requires a crew to operate - one person can only handle as many tasks in a pressure-heavy situation. Doing periscope stuff, drawing things on a map and steering the sub at the same time in something like Silent Hunter was often and exhausting experience to the point of frustration. Cold Waters doesn't do that. The only thing you are required to do manually, is piloting the boat, but it's a lot of fun. Maybe except going to periscope depth, it's easy to surface if you are not careful and that means torpedo hell. While it might be frustrating to some extent, I guess that is something people will need to adapt to, and probably this aspect won't be an issue after some practice. Another minor issue is the fact that towed arrays aren't rendered, but maybe this will get patched in at some point. The enemy AI seems capable - ships start to zig-zag when you are made, helos dip sonars and launch torpedoes like crazy and those Bears can be pretty relentless. However, running from enemy torpedoes is quite exciting - I went to surface when I though there was noone around to make some screeshots and in less then a minute a Bear started dropping things into the water. Luckily I managed to dive and rush to around 1000 ft doing some crazy turning and non got me. It's cool to see how the torps go into search patterns or miss you by meters and the direct control and 3d view give you the tools to do some aware evasion, even if it's a bit arcade'y. All in all, I had fun and was able to learn the game mechanics while playing without putting too much stress on the brain, while still having the impression that this is not your today's idiot-back-patting underwater shooter, but a product for grown men. A couple of things that I consider flaws though: - tutorials are done on an old school way, meaning there is no narration or step by step tutor-guided introduction to various aspects, you need to figure things out on you own and reference the manual (thankfully it's available under SHIFT+F1 and not to long, so you won't find yourself spending hours looking for what you need). - there is no crew voices, you need to watch those text messages - the interface also does not feature tooltips and you do need to remember quite a few key commands - some basic crew management would be nice, but that is just my wishlist stuff. All in all, if you are totally anal about operating a sonar, plotting a solution, keeping an eye on how much compressed air you have etc and that is you main focus, you probably won't find too much to tackle your fancy. But if you just want a lightweight sim/wargame about subs with enough authenticity to consider it a "serious" game, Cold Waters seems like a great product. I would definitely recommend this as an entry-level game to naval simulations. It's also one of the few games that are placed during the Cold War.