Tom Clancy's SSN

The Good
The videos are quite nice. The simplified interface means you don't mess with the details of running a sub. The game still runs fine on a modern PC. Third-person view helps with the graphical flair.

The Bad
Weapons control too simplified... It's not possible to do some of the real sub tactics. No anti-ship missiles at all. Depth and rudder controls too messy (not possible to just designate a depth and tell AI to "go there"). Too many "kill everything" scenarios (by the end you've just about killed the entire Chinese Navy twice over!) Decoys too effective, torpedo performance unrealistic. Some of the acting quite wooden.

The Bottom Line
Tom Clancy's SSN could be described as a "sub sim lite" with a good background story. You control the USS Cheyenne on a 15-mission limited war against China over the Spratly Islands.

Before each mission you get a video "news" segment explaining the situation. The new footage have some decent sets, but quite a few of the segments are too obviously blue-screen jobs, and some of the video footage are simply... wrong.

The briefing is in text with no voiceovers, and does not use authentic NATO symbols.

Once in the mission, you're set in the sub, moving sedately at 5 knots, at a medium depth (200 to 500 ft), and you're supposed to move through the various waypoints while accomplishing the tasks at each waypoint (usually, it's to kill all opposition). The viewpoint is a 3rd-person viewpoint from just behind the sub, though you can rotate the viewpoint all around the sub.

You can turn left/right in varying degrees of rudder, or head up/down via the elevator controls. You can also flood/blow the ballast tanks (which is another way to control depth), emergency blow (which sends you to the surface in a hurry), and change speed (1/3, 2/3, full, flank, or 1 knot increment/decrements). If you go to depth less than 135 ft you automatically get access to satellite communications. If you go to less than 90 ft and going less than 10 knots, you can raise the periscope to view vessels on the surface.

The sonar controls are vastly simplified, as you don't handle the different arrays at all. All inputs are consolidated and displayed on a radar-style screen, and contacts show course and speed immediately (in real-life it takes quite a bit of time to perform "target motion analysis"). Your sonar crew will identify each contact when possible. Your sonars just don't perform well enough. Some times, you don't get sonar contacts even when they're inside 10000 yards. Other times you get contacts beyond 35000 yards.

You are given 26 torpedoes, 5 MOSS advanced decoys, and 99 acoustic countermeasures (small decoys). You can set each torpedo to fast, stealth, or unguided. (not that unguided has any use at all). The torpedoes have too little range... If you shoot one at 12000 yards, chances are they will not hit anything. If you shoot one inside 5000 yards, you're almost guaranteed a hit.

A typical mission goes like this: reach the waypoint, kill any enemies nearby (if any), repeat. If you haven't cleaned out the waypoint, you get messages like "I think we should search this waypoint further." You must complete all the goals, or none at all. No partial success is allowed.

There are sure a lot of enemy subs... China have Hans, Kilos, Akulas, Alfas, even a Typhoon and a Mao (fictional). They also have plenty of ASW ships like Luda and even a few helicopters. You'll sink quite a few of them in your missions. The subs have great decoys though... One torpedo hit will sink one, but getting a hit through the decoys can be difficult. Surface ships usually require more than one torpedo hit to sink, but they don't drop decoys. The helicopters don't seem to have any effect in the game.

The graphics are a bit dated, but reasonable for a 1996 title. It uses DirectX2 (yes, that's how old this is) and runs fine under DirectX8a. No 3D acceleration at all. The undersea terrain is not bad, as the contours are nicely portrayed, and the series of dots that portray the thermal layers are a nice touch. The subs externally look quite detailed.

The sound is quite good. There's no music to get in your way (not even background). There's quite a bit of ambient noise, from the low-volume engine "hums" and screw swooshes, to the helicopter "whoop-whoop" rotors, to the torpedo and sonar pings, and the torpedo launch sounds. However, some sounds are a bit TOO loud (the chopper can be heard even at 500 feet!)

The gaming experience is quite good except for low torpedo range, which makes every encounter a point-blank quick-draw contest and how fast can you pump out your decoys. There is also no "kill board" commemorating your kills, and you would have killed LOTS of ships by the end of the campaign. The atmosphere is great, but the lack of weapon options and controls is a bit TOO simple to make this a true submarine simulation.