Silent Service NES Review - Happy Hunting

...The only NES game that I seriously got into. At the time I started playing it, I was fresh out of the Marine Corps, and was studying the history of submarine warfare, mainly focusing on WW2 in the Pacific. I can't remember the book's title that I was reading through, but I got it from Oceanside, CA library. It gave intricate detailed chronicles of all the significant patrols carried out by sub captains and crews, which gave me a good insight of who they were and what things were like while serving aboard in the Pacific theatre. So, I'd just get done reading about an actual patrol, smoke some weed, then plug my brain into this simulator. Can't say I was in on the actual fighting, but things did frequently get pretty hectic. I went down to the bottom many a time. Particularly interesting was firing the deck gun, which requires some number crunching for range, windage and rates of speed for each vessel. And that's a quick way to find out if there are destroyer escorts, as they charge in at the first sign of unfriendly fire. You can't outrun them, so ya dive and play the game, and sweat it out. Or, if you're half nuts, you can remain on the surface and battle it out with with your 4 inch gun. This sim is lax in this respect, as it let's you get away with surface combat more often than real odds would allow.

I am trying to recall....I think there are 5 or 6 sims of actual historical battles that took place, that the player can get in on. Alternately, there are the war patrols, and the user selects the year. Early on, it's happy hunting, but if you pick a later year, you may exaust your fuel before the torpedo supply. The designers did good in designing in the "hot spots" that existed among heavily guarded shipping lanes throughout the war. For an 8 bit game, this one really packs it in. Keep in mind that this is more of a "heady" strategy based game, which is not "all guns blazing" throughout
gameplay. Many guys find it boring, but those aren't the type who can figure themselves through tough situations, anyway. Remember, this one
requires use of both hand controllers. You'll need the right controller for firing the deck gun.
noteworthy-
1. My pc version of Silent Service for DOS really sucks.
2. The pc game "Wolfpack" for DOS is great. It takes all of this NES game up to new levels. If you like this NES game, you will surely be into Wolfpack for DOS.
3. I have "Aces of the Deep" for DOS or Win95, but could not get it to work very well, although it seemed to be another good sub warfare sim.
4. I'm looking forward to trying "Silent Hunter" for DOS.
5. 688 for Sega Genesis is pretty good, but once you're familier with it's handful of missions, the thrill wanes off.
Any leads for other good games that I have not mentioned- PLEASE let me know!!! -Peace-Dave- email is nukeyork@earthlink.net

-Dave