S.C.S. Dangerous Waters

Flight Journal, Aug 2005 by Marks, Bob

WHILE I STAND by my tortuous preamble, make no mistake: S.C.5. Dangerous Waters from developer Sonalyst Combat Simulations and Battlefront Games is far from "just" a submarine simulation. This is quite possibly the most complex naval simulation ever coded. Complexity can be a very good thing to the initiated and patient, a rare gamer, indeed, in these days of the Xbox and PlayStation Portable. If you aren't ready to at least thumb through a well-thought-out, yet very intimidatinglooking 500-plus pages in a manual and then sit through more than an hour of instructional how-to videos, you are in for a very aggravating gaming experience indeed. The patient, button-pushing gamer, however, will be rewarded with a tense and immersive simulation experience that is as close to the real thing as possible without the strain of actually having to swab decks or worry about the longterm effects of some ill-advised activity performed during shore leave in Thailand.

Covering a large cross-section of modern naval firepower to an exacting degree is what makes this sim unique. Dangerous Waters also allows the patient war-gamer to control and crew a pretty decent spectrum of a modern Navy's area of responsibility, from submarines to surface ships to, yes, aircraft. The SH-60 Seahawk ASW helicopter and P-3 Orion patrol aircraft are a flyable, crewable part of this simulation, but before visions of using your velvet arm to attempt landing a Sikorsky on the pitching deck of a frigate come into your head, drop it. hot dogs need not apply. This is more of a procedures trainer type of sim than an actual flying simulation. The pilot's function is to keep the aircraft near the dropped sonobuoys, ready to put the aircraft in position to kill the quarry. This being the case, the aircraft are best left on autopilot. The real action lies in the crew stations, where detecting, confirming, jamming and destroying the target are the tasks at hand. In Dangerous Waters, the player can jump from station to station or just man one console. It behooves the erstwhile console operator to learn what the sometimes bewildering displays mean, as familiarity with these high-tech detection devices is the only sure way to victory. Adjusting difficulty levels doesn't make the enemy dumber or easier to kill but instead varies the artificial intelligence and autonomy of the stations under computer control in the player's absence.

Of course, flying over the surface is only one platform in Dangerous Waters. Cruising the surface in a frigate or prowling below in an attack submarine are other ways to wreak havoc, and each ship has multiple stations on which to play. Russian and Chinese submarines are also modeled and can be manned by the player, which gives him interesting insights into the strengths, weaknesses and general philosophies of his respective nation's submarine forces. The ability to play multiplayer games is offered and pits your vessel or aircraft against the computer- or opposing player-controlled platforms. The option to work cooperatively with a buddy is also offered. Air, land, or sea, the complexity and fidelity to realism makes Dangerous Waters a high-priority target for the serious simulation fan.

-Bob Marks