Sub Command ( EA, PC )

By PETER ELEY

Imagine living for months on end in a cramped metal tube, seeing the same faces day in, day out. Most of the time you're hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean. And just to add to the paranoia, you're carrying enough nukes to blow up a continent.

Now imagine hearing the solid thump of depth charges going off near your vessel, knowing that if one finds its target you'll never see the sky again.

That's why submariners are carefully screened for psychological problems. It's not a job for someone who has a screaming fit if the office lift breaks down.

EA's Sub Command gives you a taste of what it's like to command a submarine. It puts you in charge of a hunter/killer sub, whose task is to destroy the big missile-carrying subs before they can discharge their apocalyptic payload. You get some heavy hardware, notable Tomahawk missiles which can deliver small nuclear warheads to inland targets.

There are three types of sub classes to control — the US Seawolf, 688 (l) and the Russian Akula.
Your quarry is what are known as "boomers" — subs carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles. Two Russian classes, the Delta and Typhoon, and the US Ohio class, are featured in the game.

Sub Command is a high-level simulation, but unlike flight sims, driving a sub is relatively straightforward, once you pick up the knack of dive planes and speed control.

Using the sonar is more difficult, as is the NavMap radar/gps and weaponry systems. But the same skillset serves for all three subs and a good tutorial system gets you up and running within an hour or so.

The tutorial is one of the best in a game of this sort, and gives a thorough overview of life aboard a modern sub.

Once past this stage, it's time to get under the water. Much of the game is centred around the NavMap and tracking, and identifying, objects.

Sub Command's graphics are more than adequate. After all, what's to see underwater anyway?

And the fact that they're not cutting edge means the game doesn't need a sophisticated processor of expensive graphics card. The minimum specs are a Pentium 233 with 64mb ram and an 8mb graphics card.

*peter_eley@nzherald.co.nz