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Ad Text
"As submarine commander you are in charge of sinking and destroying all enemy ships... destroyers, freighters and P.T. boats... an explosive Bally/Midway 'arcade classic'. Fast action fun!!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", Spring 1983, page 104)
Trivia
The original coin-op was a 1975 game by Midway. The ad text above is refering to older arcade games Commodore was converting over. When Commodore switched over (from the Vic20 to the C64) later, some of these games were re-converted. The simpler games, like Sea Wolf, are probably closer translations on the Vic20 than C64. Perhaps they felt that with more time having passed, the games needed to be updated? And also, to better show off the new C64.
Trivia
"Next Generation" magazine, issue 24, makes reference to a game that may be the direct ancestor of both this game and its video arcade parent. See article on Sega's co-founder, for some more info on the electro-mechanical (non-video) game "Periscope".
Trivia
The original game's cabinet made the game much more convincing and fun. A realistic metal periscope came down from the top of the cabinet. You looked through the periscope at the game screen. When you turned the periscope to the left or right, your torpedos' aiming mechanism would move with it... much like Space Invaders' moving base at the bottom of the screen. They added a visually interesting twist, however. You had four torpedos at a time. Then you had to wait momentarily for the game to reload you. Inside the periscope's eyepiece was an optical illusion similar to a "heads up" see-through display in aircraft. To know how many torpedos you had available, you had to be looking through the eyepiece. You saw a little red symbol lit up for each remaining torpedo. You fired, then one of them would turn off. When all four were gone you had to wait until they all lit up again. Meanwhile, ships were going by and you were helpless to do anything about it until they reloaded. The effect helped to make the game more immersive. It added to the game, through suspense and pace. "Come on, come on, oh finally" you would think, then blast your next four torpedos away... Did I mention that you fired them using a thumb button, also on the periscope assembly? Sigh... a joystick does this game no justice! BTW, the original Battlezone also had a periscope controller.
Trivia
This game got lots of space here (A) because I just happen to like the game, (B) because I had lots of reference materials on it, and (C) because it is a link in an evolutionary process. Think of this as a different way to play Space Invaders, basically. (Which in a sense was similar to the earlier, mechanical shooting games found at carnivals.) The concept remains pretty much the same, even if the details changed over time. And they are all fun, too!

"Playable but nothing to get excited about."

Sea Wolf is loosely based off of the 1976 Midway arcade game and those of you that have played Air-Sea Battle for the Atari 2600 will know exactly how this plays as it's essentially just a cut down and simplified version of that game and its arcade parent. The game is a timed two player only game where you have to either choose a one, two or three minute timer and simply shoot as many ships as possible before the time runs out. The players take control of either a red or a green submarine and use a set of paddle controllers to move back and forth trying to beat their opponent's score. There is a row of debris at the bottom that rewards no points if you shoot it. The next row of ships are worth 20 points and are easy to hit; the top row is worth 50 points and is a bit harder to hit. There are also very fast moving small ships that will occasionally go by that are worth 100 points and basically make or break your score.

The game does try to make you use some strategy and rewards you for not being trigger happy. Each player gets four missiles and you can only fire again once the current one has hit a target or left the screen. When you run out of missiles you have to wait three seconds for your submarine to reload so slow and accurate is the way to go.

Unfortunately the game just moves and plays too slowly and never creates a sense of urgency and just isn't that fun to play for very long. Other than the red and green used in the players' submarines the rest of the colors are blues and grays and are pretty drab and the game doesn't look any better that the early games released for the Atari 2600. The sound effects are also pretty minimal and don't help the pace of the game much.

As it stands Sea Wolf is far from a bad game and it it's techincally serviceable and there's really nothing really that wrong with it. It's just that it's not that fun for very long. Still if you own a Vic-20 and you are looking for games to play this is a game that can be popped in and played for fifteen or twenty minutes and can actually be fun in short bursts but there's many better games out there that have competitive multi-player than this one so you're probably better off investing your time in one of those.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/12

Game Release: Sea Wolf (US, 1981)