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Silent Service is a 1985 submarine simulator video game. It was designed by Sid Meier and published by MicroProse for various 8-bit home computers, and in 1987 for 16-bit systems like the Amiga. A NES port of Silent Service developed by Rare was released in 1989 by Konami in Europe and by Ultra Games in North America. The follow-up game, Silent Service II, was released in 1990.

Tommo Inc. purchased the rights to this game and digitally publishes it through its Retroism brand in 2015.

Gameplay

Silent Service is set in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, with the player assuming control of a United States submarine for various war patrols against Japanese shipping ("Silent Service" was a nickname for the US Navy's submarine force in the Pacific during World War II).

The game allows the player to choose when to attack and a whole range of realistic tactics are available, including the End Around as well as near invisibility at night (if the sub's profile is kept to a minimum). The game's realism was hampered by the simulation's inability to handle more than four projectiles at a time. This was particularly troublesome when battling multiple destroyers, since the submarine would not be able to fire if four torpedoes were already in the water.

The game accelerates real time when not in combat. Sid Meier described a number of key factors that influenced the design of the game: The size of the theater, the variety of tactical situations, and evolving technology, such as the use of surface radar and torpedoes that did or did not leave trails of bubbles on the surface—only simulations set after their real-life introduction had access to them. Tasks such as navigation, damage repair, and firing were compartmentalized into different screens to allow players access to a great deal of information, but also focus on the task at hand.

Reception

Silent Service was MicroProse's second best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Compute! wrote in 1986 that "like F-15 Strike Eagle, Silent Service is both intriguing and addicting ... a superior product". Computer Gaming World that year called Silent Service "easily the best [submarine simulator] for its simplicity of use and execution". It praised the game's realism and only criticized the lack of a save game feature. A 1987 overview of World War II simulations in the magazine rated the gave five out of five points, praising its "superb graphics coupled with detailed rules, historical accuracy and layers of complexity". In 1993 a survey of wargames gave the game two stars out of five, stating that "it has been rendered obsolete by time and superseded by Silent Service II". In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it as the 86th best game of all time for having "introduced the control-room interface for submarine games on variety of platforms."

In Silent Service you are in control of a US submarine operating in the Pacific during World War II. Like all of Microprose's games, it is an absorbing and well-research simulation and does its best to recreate the tense world of the submariner. Bizarrely, it was also a best seller in Japan.

Dive! Dive! Dive! Here's a game to play in the bath! This submarine simulation is a great war game but for serious gamers only. If you're the sort to be put off by a suggestion to read one or two books on submarine warfare, then the game isn't for you either, as this is just what Microprose warns you to do. Silent Service comes with two huge sheets of information to drown you in facts though the actual game is fairly simple. You must navigate your American sub across the Pacific, find a Japanese convoy, single out and sink your target, then beat a hasty retreat.
What gives the game its subtlety is the huge number of game options and variations to choose from. There are four skill levels - ranging from hard to totally impossible on my rating - and there are seven reality options so that you can make each game totally different. These include limited visibility, manoeuvrability of the enemy or dud torpedoes on your sub. Finally, you can choose between three game scenarios - torpedo or gun practise, convoy actions and war patrol.
Multiple screens aid your attacks. Map, visual, sonar and radar locations appear on one, while others give you periscope/binocular views, the conning tower, bridge, instruments and damage control. You can suffer from overkill on the information front, but it does seem like the real thing.
Whether you think Silent Service is subnormal or sublime depends on you. Like a good book, it takes a while to get into, but once you're there you'll be pleased you made the effort.

Graphics: 6
Playability: 8
Value for Money: 9
Addictiveness: 8
OVERALL: 8

Review by Rick Robson