Silent Service

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Published in 1985 Silent Service offered the chance to take the control of American submarine during World War 2 on the Pacific Ocean. We could have take part in the clashes with the Japanese convoys in scenario mode, in which the game would start when enemy is detected and ends when all enemy forces or our sub have been sunk. The other option was a war patrol, in which we start in a Allied controlled port and we can choose ourselves where exactly we want to patrol, but there is no guarantee that during the patrol we choose the right areas to spot the enemy forces, thus it was more realistic option. Of course since it was such old game the graphic side of the project can now be hardly impressive - simplified screens, simplified enemy ship models and only few of them taking part in the clashes (tankers, troops transports, merchant ships and destroyers). But all the standard options were already available - periscope, view from the bridge, maps, control panel and deck gun. They were available for a reason - Silent Service more or less created the standards that have influence even in today games from the genre. From selection of the elements, the informations available on the screen, the way maps are displayed - all of it was started with Silent Service, not the first sub sim ever, but one of the most influential.

Although not very impressive on visual side Silent Service was a great simulator game, one of the first that gave the feeling how service on World War 2 submarine looked like.

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