Released! The first review please!?

[daft]

Originally Posted by Killerfish Games

This has been a sticking point for many and we're going to look into it after we get the initial bugs fixed.

Glad to hear! You have a little gem on your hands IMO. I hope it gets enough traction sales wise for you to build on that and make it even better.

[Lanzfeld]

Hella fun game so far. It's been keeping me up late.

Couple things for you to look at for the first tweak.

1. It would be nice to include the estimated death of a submarine that we are tracking without going to the F5 display. Maybe put it in with all the other data like course and speed?

2. And explanation of what all the various difficulty levels actually do.

3. I've mentioned this before but again it seems very odd to see Russian nuclear attack submarines going around with active sonar on much of the time. I really think they need to act more stealthy. The older and louder boats I understand but the newer ones should try to be quiet and not use active sonar.

Great work and please keep at it!

4. Oh yes! I alomost forgot.......an in game timepiece please.

5. Brighter lights on the ESM detector!!!

[Hans Schultz]

Here is my quick review after about 8 hours into the game.

This is unequivocally the spiritual successor to Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising. From the Campaign map to the tone of the game will remind you of Red Storm Rising, in a good way. This has been said before but I’ll echo it once again. This is not 688(i) Fleet Command, Sub Command or any Janes/Sonalysts game. Again that’s not a bad thing, it’s just different to expect….well….a different game. Sim, Sim lite, arcade, action. I don’t rightly know how to characterize the game. It certainly has simulation elements combined with action elements and it’s a great combination with TONS of potential. Potential is where I’ll leave the review. I like this game, it’s fun, it’s engaging and it shows lots of promise. Let’s face it in the PlayStation generation Simulations are a niche, subsims even more so. It’s up to the developer now to patch and polish what could be a gem.
The game has a nice help screen and in game quick reference. Tutorial missions, single missions and a 1968 and 1984 WW3 dynamic campaign.

Here are a few issues I have with the game at this time:

- No verbal/audio announcements for events in the game. Other than the small text in the status box on the bottom right of the screen. I don’t know how many times an Ace Russian ASW pilot dropped a torpedo and I don’t realize it because I didn’t see the notification. Audio announcements of “Torpedo in the water!” and things like that are a MUST! Crew voices are essential.

-Not being able to issue orders. I love manually controlling the sub and maneuvering it how I want. However, it would be nice to be able to set a course or set a depth.

-ASW aircraft are insanely accurate. They are on you before you know there are surface/submarine targets in the area. They have laser accurate sonobouys and torpedoes. Over all their weapons and sensors are too accurate.

-Helicopters stay on station too long, they would long run out of gas. (source I’m a military helo pilot) Bears fly over you unimpeded even when close to a friendly coast or we have air superiority.

-Surface task groups drive in with active sonar blazing, even if they aren’t sure you are there, or anything is there. They ping away making it almost impossible to sneak in for the attack.

-Even at the Max spawn of 25k yds the enemy is detecting you and engaging you too quickly. It almost instant.

-Coming off the campaign map to an engagement the player is always put in a poor tactical position. It’s maddening.

-Enemy submarines are ping way too often again running your stalking and then they instantly detect you and you’ve got torps incoming.

-Torpedo wires are cut too easily in my opinion. Even moving gently 5 or 10 degrees.

-Campaign briefings designate you to attack a particular target and intercept on the campaign screen. Sometimes it is difficult to find or you engage other targets or say take damage. Your failure is too drastic the debrief make it seem like your failure causes us to lose the war and you’re the sole submarine operating in the wear. It’s extremely annoying.

-Campaign map is boring. Where are the friendly subs, carrier groups, convoys, shipping lanes, front lines, fighter CAP patrols SOSUS stations? Oh how about a friendly sub tender maybe, please? It’s boring and plain not much else to say.

-Mini map needs drawing tools, range tools, more details and ways to organize contacts.

-As Nippelspanner said in his review, “Situational awareness is key, and here the game is lacking.” I could not say it better or agree more.

-Graphics are in the good category. I have a high-end system. I7 7700k, 32BG RAM, GTX1080 and some textures are beautiful and some are outright rough. I was honestly a tad disappointed in the textures but the 3D models are outstanding.

-Sounds are great once you turn the music off.

-The 1960s and 1980s propaganda art and news filling in between events is a really cool touch.

-I have so many issues with damage control and flooding being fixed then not fixed and fixed again. I’ve been back to port to repair and still have a compartment completely flooded. This game is buggy at it’s current state.

In summary, I think this game can be great. It’s fun and engaging in its current state but it’s far from perfect. I’m completely happy to support the devs and look forward to what they can produce in the future.

[Julhelm]

The campaign map assumes you make contact while at the speed you are doing, so left mouse button means doing full speed ahead. If you park the sub and let the enemy come to you, you will start in a more favourable position.

[macstu23]

I too have had my finger hovering over the 'Buy' button on Steam since this game's release. For the longest time I've been hoping for a game that is something like Silent Hunter but set in the Cold War era. I realise now Cold Waters doesn't quite fit that bill exactly, but it appears on the surface (pardon the pun) to be something I could still get into.
Some of the user reviews on Steam have been encouraging, but others have likewise had me holding back from buying, prefering instead to at and see. Anyway, I'm glad I paid a visit here (has it really been so long since last time?) to find out what the word was on Cold Waters. Your fair reviews, giving both the rough and the smooth, have been enough to convince me that, while this may not quite live up to my hopes of being a Cold War 'Silent Hunter', it's about as close as I'm likely to get for quite some time.
I'm also very much encouraged that Killerfish games have stated they are going to look into addressing some of the issues you're all talking about. This could well be the start of something great, so I'm heading over to Steam right now to hit that 'Buy' button.
Will no doubt post again in a day or two with more informed opinion. Cheers folks.

The most annoying thing for me so far:

You are drawn into a fight. You spend a lot of time to "escape" by hitting the red zone because the sonobuoy spam is causing the "vessel nearby!" annoyance, only to be drawn back in immediately after, without having a chance to move on the campaign map. ARGGH!
That is especially annoying when heavily damaged, or out of weapons.

P L E A S E give us a "break contact" option, by all that's holy, please!

[basti107]

I wonder if there is a logfile for messages in the game.

This tool could work with Cold Waters:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3457871

[Hans Schultz]

Originally Posted by Julhelm

The campaign map assumes you make contact while at the speed you are doing, so left mouse button means doing full speed ahead. If you park the sub and let the enemy come to you, you will start in a more favourable position.

I understand about the differing speeds on the campaign map. I still have not seen the player put into an advantageous position even when "parked".

Originally Posted by Hans Schultz

I understand about the differing speeds on the campaign map. I still have not seen the player put into an advantageous position even when "parked".

I feel the player is to close, even at max range (25Kyds/ just 12,3nmi!).
This isn't a range I would like to be at when my goal is a missile strike at some surface group.
Heck, that's not the range I want to be near heavily armed enemies no matter what.

35-40kyds as an option would be nice.
Room and time to maneuver, to stake everything out, use your better sensors...

[PL_Harpoon]

I agree on that one. More distance = more options.

[Stardog765]

Are you guys playing with the default distance scale?
I know default is 1:2. The setting for 1:1 is there but its not default.

Just a thought

[Lanzfeld]

I still don't fully understand what this distance setting does

Originally Posted by Stardog765

Are you guys playing with the default distance scale?
I know default is 1:2. The setting for 1:1 is there but its not default.

Just a thought

Good looking out, but no.
1:1 for time and distance.

Originally Posted by Lanzfeld

I still don't fully understand what this distance setting does

It scales the distance.
So if you set distance scaling to 1:2 (or whatever is available, I don't know), it would mean that a nmi ingame would "in reality" be only 0,5nmi, by that speeding up gameplay since everything's closer together.
Same with time.

That's what I read into it, at least.

[Char]

More Playing Around with the Campaign:

-Campaign map issues are easily solved my monitoring when you "Bump" into things. I've gotten ahead and abeam with a perfect intercept on the map, giving me a good firing solution on a tanker and escorts.

Problem: Distance setting seems to do nothing, or is not set to Represent the Default 1:2 Ratio. Will try on 1:1 and see if I'm not spawning in at 10k when I choose 25k and stationary Start.

-Aircraft are Psychic. There seems to be NO time between when you do anything noisy or alerting (Like say Launching Torpedoes) and a Bear or Heli appearing. I assume Helis, because only testing in 1968 campaign. Going back to above Convoy, Launched Mark 16s, Undetected from 8k. Good Spread on the tanker. Undetected, Dove,Undetected. Convoy begins maneuvering, Detecting Torpedoes. 10 seconds later, Bear Flies over.

Tanker Takes Hit, sinks. Escorts, STILL EVADING have begun moving away from area. This Attack was perfect... I was sneaking away. I would like to again reiterate, Escorts have NOT even realized I'm here. Bear Drops Sonar Bouy about 4k yards off my port. BAM! Both Escorts Immediately make full Steam back at me. Absolutely Ridiculous.

-Damage Control. Simplistic and effective. However, Better Flooding indicators are needed. I need to know IF a compartment will begin flooding again when I remove the Damage Control Team to another compartment.

-Torpedoes going to Gyro Angle before Clearing the Bow of the Submarine. Had this happen a few times with the Mk. 37. which causes it to contact and detonate. The launches in question were at 5 and 10 knots respectively, and were not more than 10-12 Degrees Opposite of firing tube. Someone Correct me if I'm long, but don't Torpedoes usually have a minimum Arming distance?

-Noisemakers: Bug or Feature? It seems i'm unable to Resupply them at port.

Overall, Enjoying the game when I'm not getting hunted to death by Bears flying well within Friendly NATO Airspace close to NATO controlled Norway, even closer to Potentionally active Norwegian Airbases