Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    
    Ah!  688 Attack Sub...  That just happens to be one of my favorite
    games.  I think that over all, it's about the best submarine warfare
    game that I've played.  It certainly satisfies one of my long time
    desires in a game, a _Modern_ submarine warfare type game with modern
    equiptment.  
     
    The game also does well at capturing one of the best elements of
    submarine warfare...  Expect the unexpected.  One mission, you're
    supposed to sink the attacking surface ships.  Uh............
    Possible spoiler follows!!
    
    
    
    The docs don't say anything about a Russian Sub in the area!  But he's
    there, using the noise from the two surface ships to mask his sonar
    signal.  Unless you're very alert, the first you'll know about his
    presence is when he locks on to you with a few torps!  Unless you're
    good, you won't catch him then...
     
    Over all, 688 won't satisfy the people who like the arcade type of
    shoot em up games.  However, if you are looking for a game which will
    require you to use modern equiptment, as well as think like a Captain
    on a Nuke boat, then I'd recommend 688 highly!
     
    JK
    

    Tell me more!Is it available in the U.K?
    
    TYRONE
    

    I have this game. Its in the UK, I got it from John Menzies for
    20 quid ( maybe 25 cant remember ). It is a great game, as said
    before definitely not like any shoot em up game, in fact its the
    desire to watch your success ( ie surfacing to see a kill ) that
    usually causes your downfall.
    
    Regards,
        Chris ( who keeps forgetting to level out in emergency dives
    and has torn more hulls than a .... hull tearer ?!? )

    The only thing that really bugs me about this game is when you are
    firing a Harpoon missile at a ship, if you take the scope off the
    target before the missile reaches the target %50 of the time the
    missile just disapears before impacting...  The only way that I've
    found around this, is to leave the scope UP and locked on target unitl
    the missile hits...  Unfortunately, this gives them a dang good bearing
    on your location! 
     
    JK
    

It's an okay game, but has a few drawbacks which are troublesome:

There is no "pause". At least none that I've noticed in the documentation
nor found by accident or intent. If anyone has paused this game, let me 
know how... No  "pause" can be very irritating, because...

Each scenario goes on for some usually unspecified time, and you can't
walk away from it, even if nothing is going on. Further, there's no clear
indication of what you have to do to terminate a scenario (without reboot).

There are no saved statistics, so you have no computer record of your
progress as sub driver.

There is no end-of-game statistics indicating your performance. For example,
if you slam into the bottom, it tells you you're dead, but not how many
enemy ships were sunk before this happened. Some scenarios are simply "evade"
games, so success is essentially getting from point A to point B uneventfully.
Except you're never really shown where point B is. You get an elaborate
"success" or "failure" message, but no statistical information.

At the end of game, it would be nice to see some indication of what actually
happened that you're not aware of, such as a ship you were supposed to sink
but never located. This would be a good learning tool.

The scenarios become predictable over time. Enemy movement is not as random
as it might be, so you learn when/where to expect things.

In general, the graphics are quite good. The controls are a bit clumsy, and
you spend a lot of time moving between various controls. But the game is
slow-moving (most of the time), so you can actually be over-controlling the
sub. A devious nature is useful.

Just a few caveats.

    I had the same trouble trying to pause the game at first.  Finally, I
    happened to leave the game on the screen which shows the men at their
    different post in the CON for a few seconds while I looked for the
    pause button in the manual, when I looked back at the screen, the game
    was paused.  It has a timeout feature, and will pause the game
    automatically when left on that screen. 
     
    JK
    

    I could be wrong but I think the manual states that pressing F9 will
    pause the game.
    
    Has any one tried playing this head to head? Can it be played with
    differant machines (ie IBM connected to Amiga, as I believe, Populous
    can?)
    
    <GNA>
    

    Are you quite sure you looked through the docs fully?
    I read in them somewhere that time ceases to pass while you are at the
    con. This takes the place of a 'pause' button or something.
    
    bob pomeroy
    refine::pomeroy
    
    

    re: -.1
    
    The PC version has the ability to use modem (two players), but the
    Amiga version doesn't have that option, which is quite sad thing, cause
    it would be fun to outrun other in submergeg warfare.
    
    Regards,
    
    	Kari
    

    re: .7
>    Has any one tried playing this head to head? Can it be played with
>    differant machines (ie IBM connected to Amiga, as I believe, Populous
>    can?)
    
    Alas, the Amiga version does not support modem play.  8-(