Classic PC Game Review: MicroProse's 'Silent Service II' Submarine Simulation

Silent Service II torpedo-firing cutscene. (C)1990 MicroProse Software

In 1990, the now-defunct video game and computer simulation publisher MicroProse Software released Silent Service II, a submarine simulation game set in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. Developed by MicroProse’s in-house MPS Labs, the game is a sequel to 1985’s best-selling Silent Service. It is a single-player game that puts you in command of a U.S. Navy submarine during America’s war with Japan in various areas of Earth’s largest ocean.

The game’s design team – led by the project’s main designer Arnold Hendrick and programmer Roy B. Gibson – took advantage of improvements in computer technology (such as more powerful CPUs, better sound cards, and VGA graphics) to create a more realistic and enjoyable gaming experience that took its cues from Sid Meier’s original game but was a bigger and better simulation.

In Silent Service II, players can:

Choose Boats from Nine Different Classes. 

The class selection screen for a War Career game with a start date of Dec.7, 1941. (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

There are nine classes of U.S. Navy submarines – which are always referred to as “boats” in naval terminology – represented in Silent Service. They range in size, firepower, endurance, and survivability from the post-World War I “Old S-Class” to the Tench-class fleet boats, which were introduced in July of 1944 and remained in production until January of 1946.

Engage the Enemy in Single Engagements, War Patrols, or the Entire Pacific War

Players can choose to start a War Career on December 7, 1941 or any date after. I usually choose Pearl Harbor Day for the complete experience. (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

In the original Silent Service, players could choose from two “actual combat” options: Single Engagements (which were based on historical battles in the Pacific) and War Patrols. I don’t remember which battles were depicted in Sid Meier’s ’85 version; I do remember that there were at least six single battles, and that the missions increased in complexity. Some took place at night, while other were set in the daytime, but they all allowed players to use different tactical techniques – ambushes, “end runs,” night surface attacks, daytime periscope attacks, and “down the throat” torpedo shots at counterattacking Japanese escorts – and employ torpedoes (Mk. XIV and Mk. XVIII)  or deck guns. War Patrols were “accelerated real time” games where players maneuvered their sub on a map of the Pacific to an assigned patrol area in enemy waters. Players would see this map and a “fuel remaining” counter for much of the “war patrol” until – and unless – they ran into a randomly generated encounter with the enemy.

Every so often, CINCPAC updates commanders with updates regarding the war situation.... (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

But sometimes, the news from the Pacific Theater are not good. (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

In addition, the original Silent Service had a Gunnery/Torpedo Practice mission in which players learned how to operate their boat by issuing basic speed and course orders, diving commands, and fire the deck gun and/or torpedoes at four hulks in a Navy firing range.

Silent Service II also has these options, although the missions are different, the weapons don’t have Silent Service’s “only four projectiles at one time” limitations imposed by the computing power limits of 1985, and the graphics are much better.

Here’s the list of single historical missions available in Silent Service II:

1.      Whales and Duds

2.      Mush on the Loose

3.      Flasher’s Tankers I

4.      Flasher’s Tankers II

5.      “Killer” O’Kane

6.      Sink the Yamato!

7.      Death of the Shinano

8.      An Embarrassment of Riches

9.      Random Encounter

Silent Service II has, like its precursor in the series, the War Patrol option. It operates on the same principles of the 1985 original – players take their boat to an assigned patrol area (which is dependent on whether the boat is based in Hawaii, Midway, or the Southwest Pacific) and seek out Japanese shipping or fleet units.

Of course, the Japanese Empire can - and does - strike back  Here, enemy depth charges bracket an unlucky U.S. sub.

In both single-engagement and war patrols, a player’s performance in battle is gauged by a scoring system (based on several variables which include level of difficulty, whether the player chose "historical" or "flawless" torpedoes, class of ships engaged, number of enemies damaged, destroyed, or escaped, and the player’s use of weapons). If  players do well and are able to return to base, their commander will award them a letter of commendation and medals that range from the Bronze Star for Valor to the Navy variant of the Medal of Honor.

(Note: Silent Service II takes into account the technical issues faced by U.S. submariners regarding the Mk.14/Mk. XIV torpedo. From 1941 to 1943, this steam-powered torpedo will have a high percentage of "dud" or defective warheads that prevent a player from inflicting damage on a Japanese ship. The in-game percentage of dud torpedoes in a sub's warload varies depending on the difficulty level chosen in Game Setup, but it can be as high as 33%)

However, if players don’t do well in a single battle (and survive) or are too timid in a war patrol, the game will take it into account and the return-to-base graphics will reflect this. Less-than-successful boats enter harbor without the “enemy ships sunk” pennants and the base commander’s letter will be one of reprimand, not a commendation.

Taking its cue from Red Storm Rising – a World War III sub sim based on Tom Clancy’s best-selling second novel and co-designed by Meier and Silent Service II project leader Arnold Hendrick – the game adds a War Career option that allows players to experience the entire Pacific War from December 7, 1941 to August 15, 1945.

In Silent Service II, players can select which submarine command and base they can sail into combat from. At the start of the war, there are two basing options, Pearl Harbor for SubPac, Manila for SubsAsiatic. (C) 1990.

Essentially, the War Career is a series of War Patrols that begin on Pearl Harbor Day with the player’s sub assigned either to the Pacific Fleet (based in Hawaii) or the Asiatic Fleet (initially based in Manila). Throughout the War Career, the player commands either one sub (from any of the classes available at the start of the game) throughout the war or, if one doesn’t get killed along the way, transfer to a more modern vessel at the end of a war patrol. 

"Look, XO...our sailing orders." (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

Here's what a commander receives in a patrol with average results. (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

Again, a boat skipper is evaluated after each War Patrol upon return to base. Successful patrols earn players letters of commendation and medals. Unsuccessful missions and unproductive war patrols have negative outcomes, ranging from letters of reprimand to removal from command of a boat and assignment to a desk job. Really unlucky skippers in battle get their boat sunk with all hands and earn only a floating wreath on the waters.

"Lookouts spotted a ship, Cap'n, bearing 004 degrees. Do we sound General Quarters, sir?" (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

Like MicroProse’s other submarine simulations, Silent Service II requires the player to run a boat by looking at various screens that represent the most relevant game-related areas of a submarine. Each of these (Chart, Bridge, Periscope View, TBT (Target Bearing Transmitter), Main Status/”Christmas Tree,” Damage Control, War Log, etc.) is activated by an F- (Functions) button and gives a skipper vital information needed in order to fight – and survive – an engagement with the enemy and operate the boat. Learning how to view and use these views to play the game well is essential and takes some time (and practice). However, after a while, players shift from screen to screen easily – it simply becomes second nature, especially if one plays Silent Service II often.

Although Silent Service II can be played with a joystick, it’s not a required peripheral device. The game can be played by just using a PC’s keyboard; the original game package included a technical supplement that listed the key commands, as well as a keyboard overlay. (Note: The version that is available from Tommo’s Retroism brand on Steam allows you to see the game manual as a PDF file, but one must look online for the Technical Supplement or scanned images of the overlay.)

"Enemy ship...looks like a freighter...bearing 027...speed 9 knots...course 176 true. Range to target, 1528 yards and closing. Open outer doors and prepare to fire Tube One." (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

"Well, Tojo won't get his laundry back in Tokyo today!" (C) 1990 MicroProse Software

My Take

I originally purchased Silent Service II in the fall of 1990. At the time, most IBM-compatible computers ran on DOS, and Silent Service II came in two 3.5-inch floppy disks, and I had the whole enchilada of supplements: the game manual, the technical supplement, and the overlay, plus a map of the Pacific Theater, with the major U.S. and Japanese ports indicated.  It took me a few hours to learn; it was more complicated and detailed than my Apple II version of Silent Service, and the AI-controlled Japanese ships were cannier and deadlier, especially in the Ultimate difficulty level setting.  

I loved this game, even though by the early 2000s its sprite-based graphics were no longer state-of-the-art in video game terms. Since Silent Service II is not a large game in terms of required hard-drive space and memory, I was able to install it in various PCs between 1993 and 2001 because they came with floppy drives. As a result, I played Silent Service II until 2004, when a lightning strike hit near my house fried my last floppy-equipped computer; I bought a replacement PC, of course, but by then computer manufacturers had switched over to CD-ROM drives and omitted floppies from new-build machines.

I dimly remember that MicroProse released a CD-ROM version of Silent Service II for Windows, but by the time I thought about getting a copy, the company had closed down and the CD-ROMs were hard to find and pricey, to boot. Eventually, the game joined Red Storm Rising and F-15 Strike Eagle III in my brain’s storehouse of fondly-remembered things from the Land of Ago, never to be played again.

Luckily, California-based Tommo bought the rights to many of MicroProse’s classic games, including Silent Service and Silent Service II; its Retroism label sells both games (and others) through various online sellers, including Steam. (You can read the game manual in the Steam site, but to get the technical supplement, you’ll need to look online for downloadable copies.)

I’m obviously a huge fan of Silent Service II. It is historically accurate, but it’s not one of those computer games that requires either a Ph.D. in Computer Science or a naval officer’s commission to play. Its design is user friendly and the gaming experience is still a good one, especially if you are willing to overlook the dated sprite-based graphics and tinny digitized speech option.

As I told a friend recently, “Silent Service II was the best World War II sub sim I ever played.”

And you know what? It still is.