Author Tom Clancy has become world renowned for his political dramas, military tales, and high tension, bureaucratic action. Many of his novels have been transformed into successful Hollywood movies and screen plays. Red Storm Rising is a Tom Clancy work that was turned into a successful video game and it revolves around a submarine that is being simulated in combat situations. The game is not one hundred percent battle specific, but it does have a good historical feel to it. Sid Meiers can claim development fame for this game, and given his excellent strategy and simulation track record, it almost guarantees that this is going to be a good one.
The game has a sound story to add to its feel. The Soviet Union has lost one of its largest oil refineries, and must make up for the loss by securing a new source. All possibilities in the homeland have been exhausted, and the Soviets are forced to press west into Europe in search of this precious commodity. NATO does not approve of this invasion, and the NATO allies come together to defend Europe from the Soviets. Their biggest concern is controlling the sea to make certain that the land battles can stay supplied and will be successful. The Soviet Red Banner Northern Fleet hopes to cut off the supply lines and destroy any chances of success in the land battles.
The game can be played anywhere from 1984 to 1996. There are ten different submarines that the user will have the opportunity to control, some available only in later combats. The user will be an American SSN submarine pilot. His method of operation will be that of a hunter killer and he will lurk in the waters of the Norwegian Sea, taking out a plethora of targets that appear threatening to the impending land war. All of the navigational controls are the responsibility of the user. He directs the submarine’s heading, depth, speed and so forth. The keyboard will be used for the one button commands the user will need to activate the myriad weapons on the submarine. He has many available, and the sub is basically a stealth, underwater killing machine. The user can send missiles and torpedoes after anything that Russia controls. Game play is easiest on the surface because there is less for the user to manage. Underwater combat sequences are a little trickier, with the user not only having to fire, but also to control his own depth and use gauges and instruments to view the enemy. Still, the game has a nice balance and is good overall.
Written by: ~dorento1
I first played this game on the Commodore Amiga around 1990. It is a strategic submarine simulation and at the time the graphics were considered very good, especially as the most up to date machine before that was the ZX Spectrum!
The idea was that you were a submarine captain that had to seek out and destroy enemy ships or submarines. There were various scenarios that you could take part in but the main scenario was the ‘third world war’ scenario. For every successful mission that you completed, the war would progress in your side’s favour. For every failure, the enemy would make ground. And so it went on until one side was victorious.
There were news reports that updated after each battle and gave you an idea of how the war was progressing. You could choose from the Los Angeles class subs on the American side or from subs such as the Typhoon class on the Russian side.
The actual gameplay was quite addictive. I remember sitting in my bedroom for hours trying to win the war, not that I can ever remember doing so! You had to make various decisions in the control room but you also had to control your sub when chasing the enemy down… Firing your torpedoes and steering it by wire, making ‘crazy ivans’, something that an enemy sub did by changing course for no apparent reason just to see what was behind it. Knuckles in the water were also something that you could do to confuse enemy torpedoes as they were closing in on you.
There was a bit of the game that did frustrate at times. It was quite possible that when you lost an enemy submarine you could spend ages just travelling round with your active sonar pinging out and never finding a target. I remember not knowing quite how to handle this situation, it almost seemed like it was a bug in the program. The only thing for it was to resign your mission and accept the defeat.
One other excellent thing about this game and almost every other game that Microprose brought out was the user manual. It was a very comprehensive booklet with a lot of additional information on various types of Russian and American submarines. All in all this was a very good game that I wouldn’t mind seeing an updated version of sometime. My rating would be 8/10. Written by: ~grscott_2000
Red Storm Rising was a truly entertaining game. It simplicity is what truly first intrigued me. Playing much like those shoot em games on your old NES or even an Apple 2, Red Storm rising entertained me as much as one of these games can. Fast pace, good selection of items were readily available through out the games. Story line was even pretty decent. I made up my own however where it turned out that internal affairs was really the enemy on the inside and it took Keith Mars from the show Veronica Mars to take down the corrupt ring.
As for replay value. I’d play it again in a few weeks, definitely not right way but for sure in a few weeks. It just one of those sit down here and there games.
The best part about this game, is that it is an all age game as well. I would be as entertained with this game now as I would be when I was 6 or 87. That is what is awesome about these types of games, they are always a challenge that gets you through the rough part of the day.
Written by: ~dorento1
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