Silent Service

I bought this game. It is the oldest game on steam. I found out that submarines are a human equviant for dog whistles 10/10 would bleed from ears again

Worse game ever, how frustration and worthless. I own and play this on Nintendo. One of the best games ever. Posted to Steam really sucks. Controls (if you can call is that suck) , visual are nothing but dots on a screen where Nintendo Entertainment System puts this to shame. Do not buy this game. I got it cheap on G 2 A cheap and wish I could return the key for my money back. You can't even use steams normal F12 overlay to show how badly this game sucks. No intro music, game style layout sucks, if I could beat someone in the face for stealing, I would beat that bass ted that uploaded this game to steam. Do ..... Not ....... Purchase .......unless you want to waste your money. I'm really disappointed as I thought I was going to have fun as I did on NES. Grrrrrrr!

I was addicted to this game in 1985.

Old dos game. Often crashes on launch. It's almost impossible to play without a joystick. Abandonware, you can get it for free. Got this in a bundle.

[h1]Klassiker-Review[/h1] "Silent Service" ist Kriegs U-Boot Simulator aus dem Jahre 1985. Wir schreiben das Jahr 1985. Der C64 ist gerade mal drei Jahre auf dem Markt und in diesem Jahr wird der allererste Amiga verkauft werden und das erste Windows wird in diesem Jahr das Licht der Welt erblicken. Die Heimcomputer Historie befindet sich also noch in den ziemlich kleinen Kinderschuhen. Und da erscheint mit "Silent Service" eine U-Boot Simulation. Eine echte Simulation, deren Komplexität und Realismus für die damalige Zeit revolutionär war. Das Programm spielt im Jahre 1942 im Pazifik. Wir sind ein US-amerikanisches U-Boot, das gegen Kriegsfeinde agieren muß, möglichst Frachter versenken sollte und sich dabei nicht von den sichernden Zerstörern aufspüren lassen. Es gibt verschiedene Screens, eine Karte, eine Deckposition, eine Seerohrposition, eine Ansicht für die Torpedos. Und es gibt schon alle grundlegenden Funktionen, die eine U-Boot Simulation haben muß. Auf der Karte suchen wir uns Ziele, beschleunigen die Zeit, um diese zu erreichen. Dann versuchen wir uns möglichst unbemerkt in eine gute Schußposition zu begeben, feuern unsere Torpedos ab und sollten schleunigst abtauchen, denn spätestens jetzt hat uns garantiert ein Zerstörer bemerkt. Also fliehen und abtauchen, und dann möglichst alle Maschinen stoppen und hoffen, daß die Wasserbomben uns nicht unser feuchtes Grab schaufeln. Das sind eigentlich nur sehr grobe Pixel, bestenfalls Pixelhaufen und doch: damals und auch heute noch ist es ungemein spannend, wenn man versucht, sich auf offener See vor den Gegnern zu verstecken. Und die Gegner sind erstaunlich intelligent und hartnäckig. Schon damals konnten sie sinnvoll reagieren. Und wir müssen auf noch vielmehr achten. Der Sprit kann ausgehen, wir können auf Grund laufen oder wir können durch ein Leck nicht mehr auftauchen. Sicher, man braucht heutzutage bei derart veralteter Grafik viel Phantasie, und sicher, es gibt heutzutage einige U-Boot Simulationen, die noch komplexer sind und technisch deutlich weiter. Aber "Silent Service" war der Urvater, die Simulation, auf die sich alle späteren gestützt haben. Wer nur eine gute U-Boot Simulation spielen möchte, der ist mit einem heutigen Titel wahrscheinlich besser bedient, wen aber auch die Spielhistorie interessiert oder für wen Nostalgie kein Fremdwort ist, der findet in dem alten Titel eine immer noch spielbare wirkliche Simulation und einen Meilenstein der Spielegeschichte. [h1]Wertung:[/h1] (Klassiker-Wertungen reflektieren immer das technisch Mögliche des Erscheinungsjahres) 9/10 Atmosphäre 7/10 Story 8/10 Grafik 8/10 Sound 8/10 Spielmechanik 7/10 Balancing 8/10 Spielspass [h1]Fazit:[/h1] Nostalgie pur. [h1][b]8/10 Gesamtwertung

Wish I could properly enjoy this game, but this port is just bad. The controls are unclear at best and more often than not just unresponsive. Tried finding a manual for the game online but it's usefulness was marginal. Mashing buttons around I was able to sink two cargo ships (I think) by wildly flailing torpedoes at dots on the map. How I got to that map? I have no idea. How do you navigate the ship? I have no idea. How do you fire torpedoes? The T button How do you dive? I guess the up/down arrows

INTRO Silent Service is a nautical simulator set in the World War II where you have to shoot your way on different convoy and patrol missions on the Pacific Ocean, destroying all kinds of ships, cargo, destructors, tanks and others. IN-GAME You can first select the practice option where you have 3 still ships ready to be destroyed. I advise to read the manual and learn the basics and terminologies before going into the convoy missions option so you don't get frustrated the first time you launch it. CONTROLS The manual doesn't come with the keyboard controls for this version, IBM version is kinda like this one. I managed to find them pressing all the keys. That's why I'm saving you time and writing them here, because nobody did. When you launch practice or the convoy missions, you'll start on the conning tower menu, where you can choose between the various battle stations. BATTLE STATIONS KEYS: "F1": Map ("Z" Map zoom+ ,"X": Map zoom-), "F2": Bridge (Check visibility), "F3": Periscope, "F4": Instruments and gauges, "F5": Damage status, "F6": Ships sunk info, "F8": End the mission. CONNING TOWER SCREEN MENU: "SPACE": Brings you back to the Conning tower screen menu. Then, you can move your submarine with these ones: MOVEMENT KEYS: "1": 1/3 speed ahead, "2": 2/3 speed ahead, "3": full speed ahead, "4": flank speed ahead, "0": Engines stop - Run silent, "R": Reverse speed, "←": Left rudder, "←←": Full left rudder, "→": Right rudder, "→→": Full right rudder, "D": Diving, "ENTER": Stop diving/surfacing/turning "S": Surfacing. To look at enemy subs with info of their current status: PERISCOPE KEYS: "P": Periscope Up/Down (If Up, you can dive until 45 and still have vision around you), ",": +1 to the left, ".": +1 to the right, "I": Identify ships. To attack enemy boats: BATTLE KEYS: "T": Torpedoes, "G" Deck gun, "-": less gun deflection, "+": more gun deflection. Change time speed: TIME KEYS: "W": Waiting, "F": Time scale 1 - 4, "N": Normal time MY EXPERIENCE I've played the convoy missions. They're historically accurate and pretty fun overall. It feels rewarding when you've shot like 3 times an enemy boat and it finally sunks, then you realize you have like 5 enemy boats left and it gets a little stale you could say because you have to go full speed, catch on to them until a certain range, fire, wait for torpedoes to recharge and use the deck gun in the time between, but, its still fun nonetheless, the cat and mouse situation. Even if you become the mouse on harder difficulties. I've only played the easier ones because I've been experiencing some freezes these days with this version and I got really tired of playing. But, still, you can squeeze some fun if you like submarines and simulators or if you have the patience to read an old manual, play a game from 85' with all that comes with that, and take time to practice. Sadly, I couldn't get to work the "patrol missions", I don't know how to launch an attack, I could only move the sub, and when I got to the red dot, the screen went green/blue, alternating, but there was no way to attack. And it frezees sometimes too. PROS + Well crafted simulator for its time + Rewarding + Manual with very In-depth submarine info CONS - Bad PC version of Silent Service. Sometimes it freezes, works on DOSBox - Submarine engine sound is too loud - No theme music VERDICT Overall, I give it a thumbs up, because its a very important part of the gaming industry and even if it doesn't run great, it's nice to have the possibility to go back in time and try this game from the 80's.