Unfortunately, ALL of the missions including the campaign are "canned". Like most Jane's sims to date, there is no dynamic campaign. However, the canned missions are varied and interesting, since the AI allows for a lot of flexibility in each encounter. The training missions include basic submarine operations, mine warfare, Tomahawk strikes, anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and anti-surface unit warfare (ASUW). The single missions include: Combat Search and Rescue (SAR) missions, surgical strikes, special operations, harbor penetrations, battle group screen protections, and other ASW/ASUW operations.

The campaign missions are also varied with different theatres of operation including Cuba, the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Japan. In order to progress to the next mission in the campaign, you must successfully complete each mission.

A screen from the tactical planner. Click for a larger image.

Finally, for those who complete all the missions, there is a simple mission editor to create your own missions. The mission editor is relatively flexible and will allow you to choose an area of operation anywhere in the world (although I suppose it would be best to use an area with at least some water). Unfortunately, the mission editor seems rather simplistic and does not appear to allow for extremely complex scenarios.

Controls

First and foremost, let me say that this game is NOT for action junkies. 688 (I) is a good simulation of submarine warfare. This means that most of your time will be spent sneaking around, listening to your passive sonar, plotting Target Motion Analysis (TMA) solutions, and devising sneaky tactics . This doesn't mean you won't see action, of course, and in fact the tension can become unbearable once torpedos hit the water!

Control of the submarine is broken down into various stations; all accessible by clicking on the appropriate icon located at the right of the screen as seen above. The options are:

• + Ship Control (Helmsman)
• + Sonar
• + Radar
• + Radio
• + TMA
• + Fire Control
• + Periscope
• + Sound Speed Profile (SSP)
• + Ship's Books (operating & casualty procedures)
• + Jane's Information (naval vessel specifications and information)
• + Navigation
• + CO Stateroom (game options and status)
• + 3-D Control Room
• + Object Viewer

The ship control station allows you to display and/or change the state of the following: trim angle, keel depth, ship ventilation, emergency blow valve, HP air (current status and a charge button), towed array (for both port and starboard arrays you can stream, retrieve, or shut off the winch), course, high frequency sonar, stern angle, bow angle, rudder, engine speed, and MBT vents.

2. Sonar Station

The central sonar console...

The sonar station is further broken down into five parts. The Active sonar allows both continuous and single pinging with range and bearing indicators. The True Bearing indicator provides information on the bearing, frequency, strength, interval, and age of intercepted active sonar. This allows you to determine who is looking for you and where they are. You will soon learn to dread seeing a 15kHz signal pinging away at you (Helix helicopters). The DEMON (Demodulated Noise) waterfall is used to determine a contact's speed and the number of blades on the propeller. The broadband sonar is a waterfall display that is used to track and detect targets. Finally, the Narrowband is used to classify a target's type.

3. Radar

The radar station can be used while surfaced, and has controls to raise/lower the radar mast as well as a range/bearing indicator. The radio station allows you to control the deployment of the floating wire antenna as well as raise or lower the main radio antenna and ESM mast. You will receive all of your orders by radio and occasionally you may receive updated mission information. The ESM (Electronic Surveillance Measures) antenna provides information on bearing and source type of surface radar and radio transmissions and is often a VITAL tool for stealthy detection.

4. TMA

The Target Motion Analysis Station.

The Target Motion Analysis station is where you will try to establish firing solutions. By aligning a vectored ruler over contact plots, you will try to determine a contact's speed, bearing, course, and other information. If you determine some of these factors by other means, you can plug that info into the plot. This will be where you spend a lot of your time, and it can be one of the most difficult parts of the job - especially when the contact is employing stealthy tactics and changing course and speed often.

5. Fire Control

The Fire control board gives you control of what type of weapons are loaded into which tubes, weapon presets, as well as the tube state: flooded, equalized, and the state of the muffle doors. You will launch your weapons and countermeasures from this station. Additionally, you have basic controls over wire guided weapons after they have been launched.

6. Periscope

You also have the fundamental operations of the periscope with both low light and zoom options. If you spot a surface contact, you can take a photo of it. This allows you to quickly lower your periscope to avoid detection. Then you can take your time analyzing the photo to determine target type, bearing, course and distance.

The sound speed profile provides information about thermal layers. This can be extremely valuable in detecting others and in avoiding detection yourself as the thermal conditions of the water will affect how sound is carried. If you are unhappy with your current profile information, you can launch another probe to update the SSP.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in 688(I) are quite good. The instrument panels give the impression of worn military controls and the user interface menus have the typical colorful and polished appearance of most Jane's sims. Looking through the periscope you will see bubbles and hazy water wash across the view as the mast is raised or lowered. Additionally, the waves move in a convincing swelling effect, sometimes even obscuring a distant target from view.

The sonar and fire control stations are very well implemented. The sonar displays are convincingly realistic and easy to read. I love the fire control station's appearance, with controls arranged for all the weapon tubes and even safety covers over the launch buttons that must be raised before firing. Obviously most of the displays are 2D instrument panels - this is a submarine simulation after all. So you will be spending most of your time cramped inside a small area with no view of the outside world.

However, 688(I) does provide a 3D object viewer. This allows you to watch your submarine and weapons from an external view. This way you can watch as your torpedoes hit enemy targets. Although the 3D object graphics have a simplistic dithered polygon look to them, there are some nice touches. For example, you can watch as an enemy ship breaks up after being struck by your weapons. Often a damaged ship will list convincingly as it sinks, and it may even break in half. The whale above has an articulated tail and if you have sonar turned on at the same time you might think you are in Sea World!

There is even an option for a 3D control room, but this is just a simple 3D perspective of the stations and reverts back to the normal 2D display when you click on any particular station. Personally, I find the 3D control room useless. Unfortunately, there is no external deck view while surfaced. You will have to rely on the periscope view for the few occasions that you surface your vessel.

The sound is superb. The sonar noises are especially well done. You can hear convincingly realistic water-flow, biologic noises (whales and shrimp), as well as propeller noises. The hull will also groan as you approach crush depths. Furthermore, commands are repeated by various crewmen in appropriate tones and different voices. The most satisfying sound in the game is the very realistic sound of a hull imploding after you sink your target.

Game play

The missions are all objective oriented. That objective could be anything from the successful deployment of a SEAL team to the destruction of a "boomer". In some cases, like the Special Ops deployments or Tomahawk strikes, you have a defined time-table. However, many missions may last a number of hours. There is an option to compress time, but I rarely used it as I liked to keep the feel of immersion - besides you can sometimes miss a brief propeller noise from enemy subs if you aren't real careful.

You have various cheat options to decrease the difficulty of the game, like invulnerability or unlimited weapons. However, to be successful in the highest difficulty settings (no cheats), you will need to learn how to function in all the station roles like sonar and TMA. You have an option to allow your "crew" to perform these functions for you. However, when you start your campaign, they are usually quite green and ineffective - often undoing a task that you did correctly. The "crew" will increase their skills over time, but by the time that they are effective, you will find that you do not want them anyway. I turned off the crew assistance by the middle of my first mission and never turned it back on.

I found the game play to be solid and more immersive than most sub sims I have played. 688 (I) gives you a nice feel for the actual capabilities of the Los Angeles class subs, and forces you to use tactics that are more realistic than other sub sims. It is hard to judge the AI because you don't normally have the opportunity to watch them except through your instruments. However, from what I have seen, the enemy acts intelligently; although sometimes the Helix's can get a little too aggressive and may end up sinking their own ships with torpedoes that went errant.

The sim also presents realistic difficulty in acquiring and tracking targets. In some scenarios, I found myself foolishly tracking and firing at biologics because they were very close to a stealthy sub. At other times, I would track an enemy SSN for HOURS attempting to develop a decent firing solution only to discover that it would change course and speed at a critical moment in my TMA, rendering my solution almost worthless.

As for multiplayer, it seems that JANES have some surprises for us, but what those are remain unclear, perhaps to be revealed at E3. The standard suite of connection options will be present, including two to eight players over a network using SPX/TCP settings. In order to use a custom built mission for multiplayer engagements, all players must have a copy of the mission in order to play. I have a feeling that a number of web sites will be collecting custom missions for 688(I)! If you haven't seen it yet, check out Necrom's 688I Hunter/Killer Page

The biggest gripe that I had with 688 (I) were the seemingly unrealistic turn rates and torpedo load times. I know that the crew of U.S. subs are supposed to be very good, but 30 seconds to unload/reload a tube? Fortunately for us die-hards, Jane's/EA has released a "realism patch" that addresses these issues.

The Bottom Line

Jane's 688 (I) Hunter/Killer is a fantastic simulation. It has a very polished user interface, good graphics, great sound, a realistic physics model, multi-player ability, and a mission editor. Not only that, but if you complete the entire campaign, EA will send you a spiffy looking Jane's Combat Simulations pin in the shape of submariner's "dolphins" for free. What more can you ask for?

How about a multi-level debrief feature. When you pull into the dock later, or when you are thinking about your mission from beyond the pearly gates, you can check out the debrief. The debrief has a log and multiple levels including an insider perspective (as if intelligence from both sides was available) that constitutes a CHEAT feature. Nicely done!

Finally, you also have the resources of Janes on-line at your fingertips. But the HELP files are just as detailed. You want to land that SEAL team, and its your first outing? No problem, call up the Ops Manual, PAUSE the sim (another concession to reality and the learning curve), read up on the procedure, and away you go. This attention to detail and ability to give even novice players access to a "DEEP" simulation is becoming a hallmark at Janes. What are you waiting for? Blow your tanks and get underway!