The Hunt for Red October

The Hunt for Red October description

This game was made on the novel by Tom Clancy before the release of the movie.

The story briefly is this: the Soviet captain, commander of the new submarine "Red October", has a silent-secret mover "Caterpillar", for several reasons, decides to run away with the boat in the US. For this he incites the officers, eliminates dissent and secret from the team during the campaign takes the boat to the West, and then contact the CIA and faking an accident of the reactor, evacuating an unsuspecting team at the American rescue ship, and he, along with like-minded people, "to keep the boat went to the capitalists", fakes drowning of the submarine with him. So it was the perfect plan, and deceived the Soviet leadership, perhaps even assigned to the "heroic officers" of the order posthumously - but it's Tom Clancy, and therefore, without a spoon of idiocy anywhere: our hero - a great mind, apparently - before departure leaves a message to his relative, who is also Admiral of the Soviet Navy and his direct superior, admitting that he wanted to steal a boat, and tells why he does it. And, of course, as soon as this message comes to the addressee, the Soviet Navy begins the hunt for the fugitive. Well, there is a lot going on parallel to this: it is a novel, and he really deserves to be read, even if you are very sensitive about everything anti-Soviet.

The game is a standard for its time, submarine simulator in the first person - that is, to see the outside world only through the periscope, and most of the time before my eyes will only cards, appliances and sonar and all sorts of menus. Noteworthy is that the presence of the boats of two types of propulsion - silent but slow the "same" top secret "Caterpillar" noisy, but a quick "traditional" screws, and two powerplants: diesel, noisy and require periodic recharging of batteries on the surface, and atomic, which is all good, but in the story "breaks" on 6th-game day (12 December). And in the game interface places involved in Russian letters (everywhere I instead of R, etc.) and the cursor in the form of a hammer and sickle.

Of weapons are bow and stern torpedo tubes, each of which has a very small supply of homing torpedoes, often passing the purpose, if they run at the wrong rate. From enemy fire save us about goal-lure, whose number is limited, and our speed - at maximum torpedo the enemy we are simply catching up.

In General, the office quickly becomes clear, but what is there to do and how everything works - it is possible to learn only from the manual. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to read it before the game, and then keep it handy.

Our task is to keep heading West, dodging meetings with Soviet ships, which we will try to drown, to meet with any American ship, and received from him the coordinates to arrive at the rendezvous point. All game is passed. About where the fleets of the USSR and the USA, tells us the intercept, which we can do, going to periscope depth. But the problem is that the Soviet fleet often rubbing up against us and try to swim to the Americans "without witnesses", or just GAME OVER. Plus there is the risk that the team's suspicions that something is not right, so that it can revolt and arrest you.

A little about the feelings of the process: playable, but very boring.
Technically, despite years of development, the game is made very high quality graphics even in CGA looks good, the controls and the interface is quite easy and intuitive, the sound is not a masterpiece, but, in General, is good, and if necessary, you can disable it.

But the gameplay content is clearly unfinished: 99% of game time will have just to sail across the Atlantic ocean. There is a time acceleration, but it is not enough, so as not to get bored. The ocean is completely empty: but three Soviet and three American fleets, and one trawler in the beginning of the game, vehicles no longer in it. To fight in the game don't need - even if you go to the bottom of the whole Soviet fleet, this "feat" anywhere, does not count and all thanks to the intercept Soviet ships you can go around at a safe distance. Even if you want to join the battle for entertainment purposes, then the enemy will have to run (unless you approach the us Navy in the presence of Soviet or just not shoot at the ship in the US, then you simply suddenly inevitably and immediately submerged "in the story").

The battle itself is quite complex. Some ships (and Krivak') do not approach - they throw bombs; others allowed torpedoes from afar. Plus all sorts of maneuvers and quiet stalk, apparently, do not work at all, "thermocline" in the game, the speed and, as a consequence, the noise of your boat only affects your ability to hear and locate the enemy at long range, but enemies themselves seem to see you always. Most, in my opinion, effective tactics of battle is passing at full speed through a gauntlet of opponents with a simultaneous deflation in them torpedoes.

Unfortunately, some of the atmosphere of the chase or something of the stress is not felt, and something somehow interesting and in the spirit of the original work only happens at the very end and the overall impression does not change. The game can be recommended, probably only fans of simulators for submarines, which set a goal to pass them all.

Supports two graphics adapter - CGA, and EGA; the picture in both looks relatively good, despite the release date. There are also versions for other platforms, in particular for the Atari ST, there graphics are sometimes better, and if you are friends with emulators of those systems, you can try them.

And Yes - that's probably the first time in the history of video games anthem of the Soviet Union.

Now, play The Hunt for Red October online for free on your browser and make your boring weekend fun and full of entertainment.

Source: Archive.org, Mobygames.com