Atlantic Fleet

This game could have been great. Instead, it is just OK. Really only for hardcore genre fans. The graphics were good for the time. The level of detail is great. The concept is good. Combat overall is good when it is not being tedious. But there are too many things holding it back that have me wondering what might have been: -Fighters are virtually useless. Their only real value is as CAP against land based air assets, which are nearly always expended by the time CAP is available. -The lack of even a rudimentary bombsight is a terrible design decision. I know the devs have said they thought it was "too easy" with a sight (which is the point...), but without it, especially with different mechanics for each bomber, air power becomes too much of a crap shoot. I shouldn't need a stopwatch and timetable to handle accuracy for each bomber. -The rangefinder estimation is broken. Officially, the idea is to use the tactical map and chart of previous shots to adjust your range. In practice, that system is broken. The tactical map regularly falsely reports hits that never happened. The relative ranges of ships make no sense (hint for the devs on future games, it is NOT actually possible for two ships heading straight at each other to have their range INCREASE after moving...), and even if the numbers were consistent, the accuracy is suspect. Maintaining the same distance from one turn to the next, the same angle shot may hit, or drastically over/undershoot, which draws out battles way longer than they need to be. Movement is inconsistent as well, as for example my sub move straight at the broadside of a ship at flank speed ahead has resulted in moving anywhere from ~700m closer to 1500m FARTHER away from the target (again, neither physics nor geometry allow for this...) -Damage is uneven. I hit the Bismark with no fewer than 5 BB gun barrages and a torpedo ... still going. It hits the Washington once ... sunk. Another time I hit a CA with 7 torpedoes at various spots ... still afloat. I understand hit placement, but there are limits. -And worst of all, the Battle of the Atlantic campaign design. It obviously favors the Germans, which isn't really surprising, but the lack of any real scouting or intelligence assets means it devolves into a grind fest way too quickly. All of these, and a few other minor quibbles, hold the game back from being worth recommending. It's a shame too, because they are all fixable, especially when porting to the PC.