[bigwillydier]

Sorry guys, this is a long one..

My family has consistently served aboard U.S. submarines since WWII. I remember that my great grandpa’s stories were always the best. My grandpa and my dad served during the early and late cold war respectively. They never really talked about much, some boat stories, ports of call, but never anything really exciting. With all this talk about submarines in my family, I became very interested in it. I played Silent Service on my Nintendo and Silent Service II on my 386sx, both set in WWII. Those games rocked! Submarines kicked some serious butt in the Pacific theatre and the history and the stories of those who served on those boats is extremely interesting.

Following the 3 generations before me, I also joined the submarine force. It became clear during my time in the sub force that, the men who served aboard submarines during the Cold War aren’t talking about it! I remember when the book, “Blind Man’s Bluff” came out. This book claimed to offer a lot of the details about how submarines operated during the Cold War. The Navy responded by adamantly dismissing the book outright. We actually received training on what to tell people if we are ever asked about anything in the book. At any rate, it’s a damn good read.

Why a Cold War sub sim?:

688i, Sub Command and now Dangerous waters are cool simulators of the modern Submarine Force(s). When it comes down to it though, the platforms, campaigns and missions don’t represent the Cold War era. The platform models are fairly realistic and complex, and the missions are interesting enough. These titles provide some good ammo for modern submarine sim fun.

BUT.. again.. these can’t really be called Cold War era sims. The Cold War basically ran from the mid to late 1940’s all the way up in to the late 1980’s and early 90’s depending on who you ask. Though the first 688, USS Los Angeles, was commissioned in 1976, the first 688i, USS San Juan (SSN-751) wasn’t commissioned until 1988, just as the Cold War was coming to a close.

I know there are other sub sims out there. I don’t think there are any out there that offer us any significant realism, dedication to historical accuracy or the platforms that were actually the workhorses of the submarine force’s role in the Cold War.

And what about current releases?:

After playing 688i for a few years, I installed and played Sub Command for the first time.. I felt like I was playing 688i with the addition of the Seawolf and Akula classes and a few more bells and whistles. I liked it overall, but the graphics were starting to look dated. I don’t think they changed much, if anything at all on the 688. I was stationed on a Seawolf class boat at the time and when playing one in-game, it was like they changed the graphics a wee bit to maybe look a little bit more like the AN/BSY-2 combat suite, but I still felt like I was cruising around in the 688.

Then Dangerous Waters came out and I was excited again, because I really thought this one was going to be different. But… It was like Sub Command only with the addition of the Kilos, OHP, Orions and Seahawks., which I don’t think I’ve ever played around with.. lol.. I don’t know.. the series seems to be a bit dated. They just keep adding more units it seems without updating the existing platforms, graphics, UI, etc.

Hell, while the 688 platform was fairly close to simulating a real one when 688i came out, the 688’s in the real world today are now, in my opinion, much more capable as they continue to be “upgraded”.

Ok, now let’s compare Silent Hunter IV to Dangerous Waters, aside from the obvious time and theatre differences, on the design level they both seem to try to accurately depict the platforms included in each title. I think Silent Hunter is less complex, but then again, the systems on the old boats are less complex too. I think the physics are modeled in greater detail in Dangerous Waters.

Dangerous Waters offers semi-authentic fictional campaigns which are basically a set a missions that are followed in order. Silent Hunter IV offers a “dynamic” campaign that tries to immerse you into the historical situations that played out in the Pacific theatre of WWII.

Graphically, I think Dangerous Waters is way behind the curve while Silent Hunter is absolutely gorgeous.

What I’d like to see:

There have been numerous WWII sub sims. There have been some decent, though seemingly repetitive modern sub sims. There has even been a few WWI sub sims. There may have been a few Cold War themed sub sims, but they really haven’t been significant titles.

I’d like to see a game that depicts the Cold War as accurately as possible. I would want to see dynamic campaigns that attempt to be as historically accurate as possible. I’d want to see a sim that attempts to render the platforms of the era as close as possible and offered the complexity offered in Sonalysts’ titles. I’d like to see better communications between other units, force commands and theatre commands. Basically, I like to see Ubisoft and Sonylsts to combine talent and develop a complex, dynamic, historically authentic and good looking Cold War themed sub sim.