have played (not really the right term for these sims) Sonalysts' outings since "688-Attack Sub". The follow-ups, "688i" released by Janes Simulations was close to perfection, and "Seawolf" was the crowning glory, though awful 'buggy'. The manuals (initially) by Janes wwere huge, like a Midshipman's text book at Annapolis. Put it together with the program and they made a great product all round. Then came "Sub Command". Oh, that was dreadful - full of bugs that made most missions impossible to complete.
What happened? The missions were far more difficult (and not by design for the player).There was crazy scripting from the first training mission... "Sail within 2 km of friendly cruiser and simulate torpedo attack without firing and without being detected". We had our compasses and rulers out, placed on the monitor to measure 2 km etc. Impossible. The graphics too began a downward slip. Now we have this monster. Nothing really new, except for the Orion aircraft which is just another ASW platform. Trying to be "Harpoon" in 3rd person mode and with graphics that make the 1st game look goooood! (If you own "Silent Hunter 3", or 2 for that matter don't even look at the screenshots of this, and SH4 leaves it for dead). The gaming experience is even more complicated by introducing 3 more platforms (chopper,plane etc) and ends up an exercise in confusion, and ugly looking at that. Hard-core definitely and I don't mind that at all, as "688i" was just as serious. But even "Fleet Commander" is more than this, and if that was given a graphics overhaul it would definitely be a "Harpoon"-beater.
Overall, very disappointing and bargain-bin only.