The Hunt for Red October

1987 video games ZX Spectrum gamesPC gamesCommodore 64 gamesApple gamesAmstrad gamesAmiga gamesAtari ST games

submarine simulators

The Hunt for Red October was game based on the Tom Clancy bestseller about Soviet submarine commander, Marko Ramius, who decided to defect to United States and take with him the precious nuclear submarine called Red October. The defection of Ramius would be bad enough for Soviets, afterall he is one of their best commanders, but to lose Red October would be a disaster, because the submarine is equipped with experimental propulsion called "caterpillar". Caterpillar is a system that limits the top speed of the submarine, but at the same time limits the noise emission, which makes Red October practically undetectable for current NATO sensors. But Ramius did something more - he informed his superiors about his defection and right now whole Soviet Navy is desperate to intercept him before he can reach United States.

Games based on books and movies are usually bad (do I have to mention the infamous E.T.?), so it wasn’t much surprise that The Hunt for Red October wasn’t even remotely as good as the novel, mostly because the creators concentrated on the least interesting part of the story - the Ramius escape - so we start in the North Sea with the whole Atlantic Ocean filled with Soviet warships to cross. Unfortunately the options available in the game are limited (to say the least), the atmosphere is dull and the gameplay is simply horrible - there is no way to speed up the travel, so we are presented with perspective of long hours of really dull game in front of us. The Hunt for Red October is one tough cookie even for the subsim buffs.

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