Submarine Commander

The Good
There had been simulations like Flight Simulator, and pseudo-games like Star Raiders, but Submarine Commander was both a true simulation AND a true war-game. It was possibly the first submarine game of its type (as opposed to just shooters) and was surprisingly detailed for its era.

The game takes place in the Mediterranean Ocean where a number of convoys appear at the start of the game. You play the game by running them down on the surface in the map view, and then submerging when you hear a bell indicating you are within visual range.

Once submerged, you can use your sonar to continue the approach, and once within one mile of the target, raise the periscope to see the targets and attack them with torpedoes. You can attack on the surface, but even the civilian ships are armed and will fire back.

Convoys are normally protected by patrol boats and destroyers, which are armed with multiple guns as well as depth charges. If they spot you they will attack while the cargo ships make a run for it. Any hit causes damage to accrue in one of four areas, and when the damage reaches 9 that stops working. If this happens to the hull, you are destroyed.

All in all, it has many of the elements of the later sub games like Gato or Submarine Simulator. It is somewhat simpler, which should be expected given the platforms it ran on, but it is hardly simplistic, and some consider it the most complex game that ever ran on the VIC-20.

The Bad
Really the only soft spot of the game is the sound, which was truly terrible, especially the engine sounds.

There is a also a bug where the seafloor will periodically rise above the top of the sea. In this case there is nothing you can do but move forward a bit, wait for the crew to fix the resulting damage, and repeat.

The Bottom Line
Remains a retrogaming classic to this day, with people continuing to review it 30 years after it was released. See what the hype was about and go try it out!