Running Silent, Running Deep into 'Cold Waters'

© 2017 Killerfish Games

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I've long been a fan of military-themed computer games, especially those that simulate specific weapons systems, such as aircraft (F-15 Strike Eagle III) armored fighting vehicles (M-1 Tank Platoon) and warships (Strike Fleet, Destroyer).

Although my top favorite category of military-themed computer games is "flight simulations," a close second is the submarine simulation genre. Ever since I watched Irwin Allen's 1960s TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and classic movies such as Destination: Tokyo, Operation Pacific, Run Silent, Run Deep, and The Enemy Below (which is technically a destroyer-vs.-sub film), I have long been fascinated by undersea warfare ﹘ a fascination that was rekindled in the mid-1980s by two novels written by the late Tom Clancy: The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. 

So it should be no surprise that when I started playing Apple IIe, MS-DOS, and Windows-based games back in the late 1980s, I always looked for submarine simulations for all three platforms. (Heck, even when I had an Atari 2600 clone from Coleco called "Gemini," I had ﹘for a while, anyway﹘ a submarine game called Polaris. It wasn't realistic at all, not even remotely, but it was still a submarine game.)

My favorite games for MS-DOS-based IBM compatible PCs back in the day were Red Storm Rising and Silent Service II from the original iteration software publisher MicroProse. When I bought those games in the early 1990s, I played those games at least once a day. I only stopped "running silent, running deep" when changes in operating systems and hardware no longer permitted it. Red Storm Rising wasn't compatible with any of my PCs after 1996; however, Silent Service II ran on all of my PCs (when I used the MS-DOS prompt) until the early 2000s, when computer manufacturers stopped adding floppy drives to their new models and went with CD-ROM drives only.

I liked both games equally; Silent Service II, which came out two years after Red Storm Rising, had better graphics and sound, but Red Storm Rising was based on my favorite Tom Clancy novel.

© 1990 MicroProse Software

 

I have written elsewhere on this blog about Red Storm Rising and Silent Service II, so I won't be delving extensively into those games except when its relevant. Suffice it to say, though, that I've had a hard time finding a worthy successor to either one, but especially for Red Storm Rising.

© 1988 MicroProse Software & Jack Ryan Enterprises Ltd. 

That is until I acquired Killerfish Games' Cold Waters two days ago. 

“Conn, Sonar: New Contact. Designating Contact as Sierra One…”

© 2017 Killerfish Games

I have known about Cold Waters for about a year and a half; it was published in 2017 but I only found out about it when I was looking for a re-issued Red Storm Rising (a fruitless effort because Retroism, the Tommo label that releases some of MicroProse's classic games, didn't have the licensing rights to the game). Cold Waters (and the similarly titled Dangerous Waters) popped up on Steam's list of possible matches, but even though I was tempted to buy Cold Waters then, the price was a bit too high for my liking. I didn't want to pay over $40 for a computer game, especially one that came with no DVD-ROM disc or a manual! However, I tucked it away in my wishlist, along with an old game from MicroProse, Fleet Defender: The F-14 Tomcat Simulation. 

But when I received an email on Thursday letting me know that Steam was having a sale on some of the games on my wishlist, including Fleet Defender and Cold Waters.  The former was priced at $1.37; the latter was available for $19.99. This was an offer I couldn't refuse, so I bought 'em both. 

Because Fleet Defender is one of those "you better read the manual before you play this" games, I have only contented myself with watching the 1990s-era sim's main title screen and setting up my pilot's name on a "squadron roster." 

I have, however, tried out Cold Waters, which is an immersive and thrilling game that is a respectful and nicely done homage to Red Storm Rising.

© 2017 Killerfish Games

Per Killerfish Games' website:



After tracking a Soviet landing force bound for Iceland it is time to plan your attack. Do you silently close in to torpedo the landing ships and escape during the resulting chaos? Or strike with long-range missiles but risk counterattack from the enemy escorts? Have you detected them all, could another submarine be out there listening for you? Has the hunter become the hunted? Will you survive the Cold Waters?

Inspired by the 1988 classic “Red Storm Rising”, command a nuclear submarine in a desperate attempt to prevent “mutually assured destruction” when the Cold War gets hot and WWIII begins.

You will be tasked with intercepting convoys, amphibious landings, insertion missions and battling it out with enemy warships, submarines and aircraft. Thankfully, an arsenal of wire-guided torpedoes, anti-ship and cruise missiles and the occasional SEAL team are on board to keep the Iron Curtain at bay.

Actual gameplay screenshots. Here, a UGM-84 Harpoon missile flies toward its target. © 2017 Killerfish Games

Here, a Soviet auxiliary burns after being hit by a Harpoon missile. © 2017 Killerfish Games

I have only owned Cold Waters for a short time, so I have not even finished training yet. That having been said, I think Killerfish Games has done a fine job of taking the concept of Red Storm Rising and spinning it into an original gaming experience all its own.

Again, per Killerfish Games’ website:

Features

• Real-time naval combat
• Over 40 classes of ships and submarines all meticulously researched
• Dynamic Campaign where your performance matters
• Realistic sonar model
• Authentic Soviet combat tactics
• Actual world based terrain and depths
• Extensive modding support
• Aircraft, helicopters, dipping sonar, aerial torpedoes and depth bombs
• Historically based ships, aircraft and weapons
• Museum of ship, aircraft and weapon statistics
• Control wire-guided torpedoes
• Countermeasures: noisemaker, decoy, chaff, knuckle

 © 2017 Killerfish Games

So far, I have learned some of the basic submarine command techniques, including some that Red Storm Rising did not include back in the late 1980s. For instance, because some scenarios (and one campaign) are set in 1968, U.S. Navy subs don’t always have wire-guided Mk.48 torpedoes in their arsenal. So players have to start learning how to shoot Mk.16 torpedoes of World War II vintage that were still in the Navy’s inventory in the 1960s, as well as other basics, such as using the navigation map, the helm, the dive controls, and the weapons/countermeasures loadout.

Because I’m new to the game, I’m in no way ready to play any of the game’s three campaigns; I’ve only mastered the Basic Torpedoes, Wire-Guided Torpedoes, and Missiles tutorials, and I’ve completed one combat mission (One-on-One Duel), so that means I have much to learn before I can call myself a qualified “skipper” of a U.S. Navy nuclear fast attack boat.[1]

I do love the subtle visual references to MicroProse’s Red Storm Rising, and while – like most games – Cold Waters is not 100% realistic, its eye-popping graphics and nicely done sound design makes this a worthy successor to one of the best sub sims ever published.

Stay tuned to this space for a review of Cold Waters.  

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[1] In official U.S. Navy parlance, submarines are never referred to as “ships.” The term preferred by naval officers and sailors, especially those that wear submariners’ dolphins on their uniforms, is “boats.”