Recent reviews by SUBSIM

SeaWolf VR is a nostalgic underwater submarine wave shooter for VR which was inspired by Midway’s Sea Wolf from 1976. You basically hold a submarine in your right hand and a mine shield in your left hand. You can shoot torpedoes or missiles at the 3 enemy types: a slow tanker, a fast moving minesweeper, and underwater enemy subs. The game contains 10 levels with different difficulty, environments, attack formations, limited time and ammo and 3 lives for each level. SeaWolf VR is easy to operate, suitable for all ages and perfect for VR cafes. It's very light on the "sim" but fun and only $3.

https://www.subsim.com/seawolf-vr-whats-this-game-all-about/

Well, this ain't the German or the Ruskies, nor the Yanks, or the Chinese; this is a war that I do not recall ever being modeled in a naval sim before, and it's a very welcome addition. The early version does not have single missions (yet) and forces you into a very structured campaign. You cannot proceed until you complete the mission objective. The planes and helo controls are keyboard, but the devs say they will add joystick support, which will really improve the feel of controlling aircraft. The game environment is nice, with authentic sounding crew and radio messages, mist at night, and ship wakes -- all provide a good atmosphere.

The first four or five mission have a nice variety! First person control of scout and fighter planes, helos inspecting cargo ships for contraband, rescuing commandos, hunting a Tench class submarine. Very enjoyable so far, can't wait to see the devs add single missions, joystick support, and multiplayer. Pretty cool game!

I don't keep up with games like I did when I was a kid so I didn't know anything about this title until Dec 2022, when I came across it on Steam. Wow, this game is amazing. It runs super smooth on my 2020 PC. The design and mechanics are really good and the graphics are crazy good. Amazed, that's what I am. I totally love the NYC layout with so much details it's just mind boggling. Spidey looks and moves wonderfully. I'm only 16 hours or so in and love it, it's one of the best games I've ever seen.

Destroyer: U-Boat Hunter brings a whole other side of the Battle of the Atlantic to life. After years of attacking convoys in a U-Boat, now it's my job to protect them. And this game makes it very rewarding. The challenge of hunting down an elusive German submarine and not losing any of the vulnerable merchants is tense and enjoyable. You try to apply all your knowledge of U-Boat tactics keep them from getting into the convoy and wreaking havoc. Payback, Germany! While the game is not finished, it is completely playable and I have seen a lot of progress between builds.

The balance between historical accuracy and good gameplay is spot-on. This game bleeds realism. Between setting up and launching depth charges, working the sonar, plotting your course and not running into friendlies, directing your other escorts -- there's never a dull moment! If you have the skill to track and batter a U-boat with depth charges, they will have to surface and try to make a run for it -- then you can light them up with flares and hammer them with your 5-inch guns.

Destroyer: U-Boat Hunter is a smashing good game.

Here we have the sequel to the popular U-Boat game Crash Dive from 2014. This time you are playing as the U.S. skippers with their superior American fleet boat subs. Capable of longer ranges and equipped with more torpedoes than German boats, your mission is to find and sink all merchant and Imperial Japanese warships you come across. Crash Dive 2 features all the great playability interface features that made its predecessor so well loved. There's a ton of reality settings to get the kind of action you prefer, from Easy to Sim more. If you want you can turn on god-mode view where you can see all the enemy ships, or you can do it the hard way, where your visuals are more realistically encumbered.

Your sub is equipped with American radar which gave the US a real advantage of seeing the enemy before they can detect you. However, just as in real life, if you cruise too closely to enemy escorts, they can and will spot your periscope and launch an attack on you. So you will need to manage your periscope discipline carefully.

Aircraft are prominent in Crash Dive 2, they will come out of nowhere at times and make your like hell. You can stay on the surface and slug it out with your AA gun, and you can get results this way. However, you do run the risk of drawing additional aircraft as well and long-range patrols to your position.

One of the many bright spots of this game are the special missions and intel reports. From time to time you will get a radio message instructing you to a place on the map where a crippled Japanese battleship is limping undefended to home port - you are tasked with plotting an intercept course and taking him down. Also there are harbor intrusions which are really fun. The harbors are aggressively defended with shore batteries and sub chaser patrols, as well as minefields. Getting through the minefields takes carefully ship management, not to mention strong nerves. But getting into the enemy's sanctuary and feasting on the docked ships and supply depots is real thrill.

Enemy escorts can be really tenacious. If you take damage from their deck guns or depth charges, your sub can be hobbled, making escape a challenge. The game has random convoy encounters, random war patrols, and a great dynamic campaign mode. You also have the option to manage your crew or you can let the game handle it. Conditions range from still, clear summer days to misty nights and typhoon weather.

Overall, Crash Dive 2 is a deep, enjoyable subsim that manages to combine the best of simulation design with action game fun. It doesn't try to be a realistic as Wolfpack or Silent Hunter 5, but it doesn't need to be. Give it a try, I think you will find this a richly rewarding game.

Been one of my favorites for years. Good job, guys!

Works like real life, cough cough.

This is what vidoe games are meant to be, detailed, interesting, and well-designed. The Lara Croft series continues with excellence. This game is amazing.

Back in the good ol' days before the Internet (almost), Phatasmagoria rocked. Fun, campy, ambitious and at time scary when played in a dark room, this was a great game. Highly recommended.

I'm updating the screenshots in my orginal Crash Dive review and thought I would revisit some of the interesting aspects of this cool game.

Crash Dive so consistently brought back memories of Aces of the Deep, that I could not help but compare and refer to the older classic throughout this review. Crash Dive is the first title from Panic Ensues, a new development house from an experienced programmer, Scott Goffman. The game starts with a distinctly moody theme evocative of Grey Wolf (veteran subsimmers will know what I mean). It's short, but gets you started in the right frame of mind.

Crash Dive is very intuitive--I handed the Kindle to my daughter and without any introduction, she determined how to play, navigate, and change depth. You can use the touch screen or the controls in the interface, whichever you fancy. Even though the design is so clear, the game comes with some of the best tutorials I've seen. Each aspect of the game is spelled out, in game, with plenty of prompts and details. After 20 minutes, you know everything you need to enjoy the game and be successful. And now that it is available on the PC (where every true subsim belongs), the game is a whole lot more engaging and fun.

Crash Dive is a good-looking game. The ships are gems, each one crafted with decks, ladders, guns and smoke that screenshots do not do the game justice. The ocean and sky settings are on par with the last gen subsims, they look fine and do serve the game well. Your patrols will take place in day and night, clear and stormy, but no rain or towering whitecaps. Sound effects also earn mention. Crash Dive has a good array of ambient sounds, from gurgling water effects, to waves, ship's sirens, hull creaking, and metallic torpedo reloading sounds. One odd choice is the klaxon that erupts with diving orders. It sounds like a US sub, not the alarm bell of the U-boat. When the enemy is alerted, you can hear a distant sailor calling over the ship's loudspeaker that they are under attack. The engine sound increases proportionally with the speed of the motor or engines.

The enemy AI is pretty robust. Enemy ships will detect your periscope if you use it too closely, for too long, and at higher speeds. You will lower your scope, or you will die. You can prowl on the surface at night on the edge of a convoy, at the risk of being spotted and fired on. Exactly how close you can get is part of the fun. Likewise with torpedoes--launch them at a corvette or destroyer and they will see them and try to evade. The enemy will react to you when they see you or your scope, or your torpedo wakes, or when one of their number simply explodes. As a rule, escorts will correctly determine the source of the torpedoes and race to your vicinity.

In the easier levels of the game, there is an alert light by the time compression clock that will tell you when you are being hunted, complete with a timer that will tell you precisely when the enemy will give up. It's really helpful for new sub gamers. Thankfully, this can be turned off as an option in Sim mode. You can also opt not to see the visible sonar pings, even though there is no option to do the same with the ship icons and the range tag.

Crash Dive does not have crewmen, a captain's bunk, or planes, but then again, it costs a mere $6. If you ever played Aces, or if you read about the simple fun of the early subsims, how can you pass on Crash Dive? This is an excellent game that offers engaging U-boat gameplay built on a visually appealing base with solid AI and first-rate controls. Since the wave of mobile and iPad platform games, I've played more than a few naval titles, some of them quite good. Panic Ensues has crafted a game that satisfies the yearning for a good subsim and reestablishes the allure of North Atlantic convoy combat in a way that does Aces of the Deep, Silent Service, and Grey Wolf proud. Viewed within its scope, Crash Dive is only a few realism options and a gramophone short of perfection.


Full review can be found at Subsim.com