Running Silent, Running Deep Back in the late Eighties and even into the early 1990s – even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I loved to spend much of my downtime playing Cold War era military-themed computer games. At the time, I had two different computers: an Apple IIe, which was a gift fromContinue reading “Into the Deep in Steel Coffins: ‘Red Storm Rising’ & ‘Cold Waters’”
Category Archives: Computer and Video Games
‘Cold Waters’: Striving to Be a Good Sub Skipper!
Hi, Constant Reader! It’s morning here in my little corner of Florida on Wednesday, July 8, 2020; it’s the middle of the regular work week, and so far it looks like it’s going to be a hot and even rainy day. Right now it’s hot outside; the official temperature is 89˚F (32˚C), but the heatContinue reading “‘Cold Waters’: Striving to Be a Good Sub Skipper!”
Retro Review: ‘Silent Service II’ by MicroProse
In 1987, sometime after my uncle Sixto Diaz-Granados – my dad’s older brother – bought me my first home computer, I bought my first submarine simulation game, MicroProse Software’s Silent Service. This was a game designed by the legendary Sid Meier, who had (along with Lt. Col. William “Wild Bill” Stealey) co-founded MicroProse in 1982Continue reading “Retro Review: ‘Silent Service II’ by MicroProse”
Diving Deep Into ‘Cold Waters’: First Combat Missions!
As I continue to explore the many features of Cold Waters, the 2017 submarine simulation developed by the Australian game developer Killerfish Games, I have finally gone beyond Training and moved on to Single Mission combat mode. After three days of trying out most of the tutorial missions in the game – which its designersContinue reading “Diving Deep Into ‘Cold Waters’: First Combat Missions!”
Retro Review: ‘Red Storm Rising’ by MicroProse
If you’re a regular visitor to A Certain Point of View, Too, you might have read my posts about a new computer game that I’ve been playing over the past few days. It’s called Cold Waters, a game that puts you in command of a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered fast attack sub during a hypothetical ThirdContinue reading “Retro Review: ‘Red Storm Rising’ by MicroProse”
‘Cold Waters’: First Impressions
Although Cold Waters boasts sophisticated graphics and an immersive sound design that blends music, sound effects, and voice acting that is light-years beyond anything that Sid Meier and his design team at the old MicroProse could achieve in the late 1980s, there is a lot of Red Storm Rising in its cyber-DNA. They both put you in command of fast attack boats in a Third World War that can take place in different time settings. They are designed in such a way that you go from Training to Single Battle to Campaign in incremental levels of difficulty and complexity. Lastly, both Cold Waters and Red Storm Rising try to strike a balance between realism and playability.
Old Gamers Never Die: From ‘Red Storm Rising’ to ‘Cold Waters’
Back in the 1990s, when I first bought my first MS-DOS-based personal computer, I used to play many military-themed simulations and strategy games. Most of them were designed and published by MicroProse Software of Hunt Valley, MD, which was founded by Sid Meier and William “Wild Bill” Stealey in 1982. Although Sid Meier’s Civilization isContinue reading “Old Gamers Never Die: From ‘Red Storm Rising’ to ‘Cold Waters’”
Random Thoughts & Musings for July 2, 2020, or: Finding Bits of Bliss in Troubled Times
Well, here we are on July 2, 2020, a few short days before the Fourth of July weekend and the fifth – or is it sixth?- month of the global pandemic caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. And because we live in a troubled and extremely divisive period exacerbated byContinue reading “Random Thoughts & Musings for July 2, 2020, or: Finding Bits of Bliss in Troubled Times”
Computer Game Review: ‘Strategic Command WWII: World at War’
The Challenge of Command As we enter the sixth month of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the third month of living with social distancing and an economic lockdown, I have found ways to keep myself occupied and not go “stir crazy.” As a writer and blogger, I usually spend my waking hours at my desk,Continue reading “Computer Game Review: ‘Strategic Command WWII: World at War’”
A Certain Point of View, Too 