Its World War II and you are in command of a diesel submarine somewhere in the Mediterranean. Your mission: to destroy all enemy merchant shipping in these waters. You've tracked this convoy for ten minutes and you're ready to strike. Up periscope, the convoy's lead ship is a destroyer. Fire one! Fire two!
You watch as both torpedoes strike the ship and it begins to sink. Turning your attention to the second ship, a tanker, you fire two torpedoes. Two hits! Suddenly your sub shudders. You're under fire from the second destroyer! Dive! Dive! Reduce speed, stop all engines. You wait, not daring to breathe. Finally, the sound you dreaded most begins Depth Charges!!
This is the action in the Thorn EMI Video game cartridge, Submarine Commander. As Commander of a WWII Submarine, the player must sink all convoys in the area. The player has a limited supply of fuel, torpedoes, air, and charge in the batteries. To recharge batteries, and replenish air supply, the sub must surface. Surface speed is faster than underwater speed, but uses more fuel. Scoring is based on the amount of fuel left, torpedoes remaining, and game time.
The game makes excellent use of the Atari's graphic and sound capabilities. It has three screens. The first screen is a detailed map of the Mediterranean, showing the submarine's position, positions of all convoys and land masses in the area. Each screen has indicators showing compass heading of the sub, amount of fuel and torpedoes left, the submarine's speed, damage indicators, amount of air left, battery charge, position of the submarine relative to the sea bottom, and a game clock.
The second screen is the Sonar Scope. It looks, sounds, and works like a real sonar scope. Two indicators are added to this screen; tonnage sunk and Hydrophone Chart. The Hydrophone shows the player which direction to steer to intercept the convoy.
The third screen is the most important. This is the periscope view. This is where all the action takes place. This screen shows clouds, water, and the ships. As the ships enter the view, they're black shapes. The closer they get the more detailed they become. When torpedoes are fired they appear on screen and move toward the target. A 3D effect is achieved with your torpedoes receding in the distance. When a torpedo strikes a ship, the water billows up in the explosion with excellent sound effects as the ship slowly begins to sink. Ships can also fire back as evidenced by flashes and sounds of their guns. If the sub takes a hit, the whole screen shakes. There is one minor problem in the game. Moving the submarine, especially in the heat of battle is difficult to grasp. The sub doesn't turn as fast as the player wants. This slows down the action, but once the player gets used to it, it isn't that noticeable.
The game is in real time using the joystick and keyboard. There are nine levels of play with ships on levels seven thru nine possibly requiring two hits to sink. There are four types of ships: destroyers, tankers, cargo, and PT boats. The game ends when the sub runs out of fuel, air, sinks, or the battery charge is depleted; while scoring is based on the length of the game the tonnage sunk, and the amount of fuel used. The user manual is very good, covering all aspects of the game. This game will appeal to those who like arcade graphics and sounds, but enjoy a sense of war gaming.
