Tom Clancy's SSN
| Tom Clancy's SSN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Clancy Interactive Entertainment | ||
| Publisher | Virgin Interactive / Jowood | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
November 1996 | ||
| platform | Microsoft Windows | ||
| genre | Submarine - Simulation | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | keyboard | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | 2 CD-ROMs | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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Tom Clancy's SSN is a submarine - Simulation from the year 1996. The game was developed by Clancy Interactive Entertainment , a precursor of Red Storm Entertainment developed. The game 's backstory was Tom Clancy's novel SSN , which was not published in Germany, and was told in the form of TV news.
SSN was also the first submarine simulation that said goodbye to bitmap control panels and was completely controlled from an external 3D perspective.
Backstory
The present: Oil deposits are discovered near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea . China lays claim to the archipelago lying in international waters. The Chinese government's inadequate assertiveness in the dispute over the islands provoked a military coup, so that a junta overthrown the government and initiated a military occupation of the islands. The US intervened against this open provocation and sent an aircraft carrier combat group alongside the USS Cheyenne (SSN-773) .
Game content
SSN offers a campaign mode , which continuously tells the background story of the game, and instant missions , in which the player can determine various parameters such as the number and type of enemies. In addition, a database of all ships, submarines and weapons contained in the game is included.
In terms of play, SSN is rather conservative. The player completes his missions, which usually consist of driving through waypoints and sinking enemy ships. The player can only control the Cheyenne , a Los Angeles-class submarine . The only weapon available against enemy targets is Mk-48 torpedoes.
The specialty is the way the game is presented and controlled. The player does not see the submarine from the inside as usual, but always from a perspective from outside the boat. Accordingly, the control does not take place via display and instrument panels, but similar to a flight simulation via direct keyboard commands. The realism content is correspondingly much lower than in contemporary simulations such as 688 (i) Hunter / Killer or 688 Attack Sub , which require the player to proceed more tactically based on the information obtained with the help of sonar devices .
Measured against the conditions at the time, the graphic looks contemporary. All 3D objects are shown in great detail using textured polygons , only explosions and water fountains consist of bitmaps . Voxel graphics are used to represent the sea floor .
After PC games such as Command & Conquer or Wing Commander increasingly told the background story in professionally filmed feature film sequences from 1994 , SSN also picked up on this trend. The story was told through television reports on the fictional broadcaster Total Cable Network ( TCN ). While the news itself was mostly filmed using the blue screen method , “more complicated” scenes such as explosions or images of naval units came from the archives of the US Navy.
reception
While simulation purists criticized the lack of complexity, “normal” critics quickly found pleasure in SSN . The trade magazines gave the game consistently positive marks and were particularly impressed by the novel way of presentation.