Cold Waters

Poor UI implementation needs 5 screens(or sub screens) to accomplish one action

The game provides for playing in three eras, 1968, 1984 and 2000. The subs used are very different, as are the weapons, and therefore, the tactics differ reasonably. The game focuses on a slightly more arcade effect than some other games. In that sense, like others have noted, it feels like a prettier Red Storm Rising game. Unfortunately, some of the missing items add to artificial difficulty. When operating in shallow water, it is difficult to see ahead and figure out that you need to decrease your depth or you'll run aground. More than once, I was picking off enemy vessels, evading their return fire, only to run aground. Saving, works, but not how I would expect. When you save, there is no feedback to indicate the save succeeds. Missing: * A scenario creator to allow you to create a practice scenario of your choice. Maybe you want to try your hand at engaging a much larger enemy fleet. * Friendly units. All units are either neutrals like merchants, or hostile. Where's the "defend the convoy" or "defend the battle group" missions? * Towed sonar array control. It feeels like towed sonar is just missing except in descriptions and damage control * Active Sonar usefulness/range understanding. Knowing how far out your active sonar is reaching would be useful. Overall, a reasonably enjoyable game.

If you are looking for a game that recaptures the old red storm rising games continue on. For all the game tells in the tutorial none of that seems to apply in the campaign itself. Even worse for some reason a massive oversight is that air units do not show up on your tactical display. So engaged a massive surface force spent three hours dogging four escorts taking them out one by one, and finally sank the last one leaving the five transport ships unprotected, Come up to periscope depth and activate radar, EMS mast and periscope, lock on to the transport fire missiles. Check my EMS and I have strong radar signal, check the tactical display, see nothing, Dive just to be careful, fifteen seconds later I hear the props of a helicopter and then explode. No indication on tactical that there was aircraft nearby, no warning from the XO, nothing to hint that there was a threat. This is a critical oversight. This in addition to the fact that the game is more arcade than actual sub sim with several things just wrong about sub warfare. Not to mention how often your own torpedos jam or even arbitrarily explode even though they should be running safe before you activate them. And you must have the worst sonar man in the world becuase he can't even tell the difference between a surface ship from a submarine, and you have to waste your time trying to figure it out.

I have just about every sub game since the commadore 64, and have every ww2 sub game since then So the cold War era along with the diversity of weapons and aircraft made this a must buy for me, especially with our great GoG Friend (Thanks for being there guys) However after a full year of owning this and as one of the few games i committed to pauing full price for on release i though it time to give my experience of it, in case your still on the fence? Taking into account ALL the other Sub Games out there I can tell you the UI (User Interface) and control systems in this are truly Aybsmal! Ive had it a year and STILL cant fathom the over fussy fiddly little buttons than never seem to respond or give insat feed back like in every other game out there. I,m not the first to complain about this fact either. WHY O WHY they could not have done a (by now) Standard interface where lockomng pn to a target is simple mouse click when looking at it (as per Silent HunterS) and firing ANYTHING in the history of computer gaming has alway been with the LMB! In this its the space bar apparently? but even this requires other buttons combination first! before and after a year i still dont get how this thing works? If you love a good exercise in frustation and disapointment then this is for you. Otherwise go buy Silent hunter up to v3 as the much hated Uplay ruined that series after that version.

This is a fun game, with tutorials, single missions and two campaigns. There are 3rd party mods available for download that increase the units available to control and add more campaigns. It can be tricky at first, but once you understand the mechanics, it's very rewarding. Recommended purchase.