Depth Charge

The Good
In the late Seventies, Atari created a game that involved the player launching depth charges at submarines below it, and that game was Destroyer. Since its release, other game companies followed its formula but tweaked the gameplay, including Commodore, which released Depthcharge for the C-64. In my opinion, it is similar to Gremlin’s take on the game, but the difficulty level goes up a notch. What I like about the game is that it is a little time-waster. It is ideal for a few goes after work.

The game is housed in a box which has the same layout as the VIC-20 game boxes from Commodore. You have the machine logo near the upper-left corner, and the Commodore Computer logo at the bottom. A large portion of the box is occupied by a large picture containing a beautiful illustration of a submarine approaching one of the depth charges. Inside the box is a two-page spread with the lowdown and instructions on how to control the game. Instructions also appear once the tape has finished loading in case you happen to lose the manual.

The game was designed by Kevin Moughtin, who did a good job recreating the look and feel of Gremlin’s take. The destroyer looks way better than the arcade parent, and the way it sinks into the ocean is amazing. Moughtin also took the original PETSCII characters and modified them, and an example is the standard astericks, in which he added tails on them. What’s funny is that there are these astericks all over the top part of the water as they try to destroy your ship, making it somewhat difficult for you. It’s a good thing that you can actually destroy them before they do damage.

The Bad
The game offers four difficulty levels, but I did not see a difference between them. Also, Moughtin’s excuse for a sonar is rather poor. I know that Commodore didn’t get permission from the U.S. Navy to use their actual sonar noise, but that is no excuse not to use the 64’s sound generators.

The Bottom Line
In conclusion, Depthcharge re-creates the look and feel of the Gremlin arcade game very well, but the difficulty goes up a notch. The game is rather difficult in fact that when I played this game myself, I couldn't even go near the last ten seconds of the time limit. If you like to play simple games when you get home from work, like blowing up subs, then this game is for you.