textfiles/games/REVIEWS/pt-109.rev

 PT-109

 PT-109 by Spectrum HoloByte is a torpedo boat simulation in which you man the
helm of a PT boat and undertake missions to the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific
Ocean, Solomon Islands, and New Guinea. This review is based on the IBM version
of the game.

 Forty-five different patrols are included, representing the four theaters of
operation. You can select patrols individually or choose a campaign consisting
of up to ten patrols. Your orders on the various patrols will instruct you to
sink enemy ships, pick up downed fliers, drop off/pick up commando teams, and
drop off island watchers.

 The enemy comes in many flavors: cruisers, destroyers, escorts, patrol boats,
flak tankers, barges, submarines, freighters, fishing boats, troop carriers,
tankers, cargo, and enemy aircraft. The instruction booklet lists all the enemy
types, maximum speeds, and armaments. They game adds another nasty little
feature to watch for: mines! Included in the game package is a booklet about PT
boat tactics.

 The view from the cockpit of your boat is divided into four 90-degree segments:
front (bow); left (port); rear (aft); and right (starboard). Your weapons
consist of torpedoes (of course); rockets; 20mm bow cannon; 50mm forward and
port machine guns; 40mm aft cannon; and depth charges. I found the most
effective weapons to be the rockets and the torpedoes. The 50mm does a decent
job, but the 40mm and 20mm cannons aren't good for much more than enemy
aircraft. The depth charges are almost worthless, because there's only a small
chance that you'll hit anything. Machine guns can be fired in both modes, manual
and automatic.

 The cockpit view fills the upper portion of the screen, while the lower half
displays your operational and tactical control panels. Your operational panel
includes: gauges for temperature, fuel, direction, speed, and rate of play
(which changes your position relative to real-time play); a status indicator;
the map toggle (cockpit vs. map view); and throttle and rudder controls.

 Your tactical panel controls your ship's weapons and flares (most of your
fighting is at night); smoke (the enemy can't hit you if they can't see you)
muffler (reduces both the engine's sound and speed); and binoculars (standard 7X
power). Your tactical panel also includes a radar display with ranges from 2 to
32 miles in diameter. This comes in very handy because most of your operations
occur at night; it's hard to see in the dark. All options -- both control and
tactical -- can be controlled from either the mouse or keyboard. I prefer a
combination of the two: I like controlling the rudder with the right and left
arrow keys, and selecting weapons using the mouse.

 In addition to the cockpit detail, you can display a map view of the area,
which includes islands and other land masses. The map has two different display
sizes (30 miles and 600 miles) and indicates your patrol route.

 Your craft comes equipped with a radio. If you get in over your head, you can
radio for additional PT boats or air support. If they are available, they will
be dispatched and will contact you when they are within range. Be careful not to
fire at your own ships or planes! It's also good to keep your base informed of
your progress. That way, if you sustain heavy damage and need to abandon ship,
you'll have a much better chance of being rescued. Additional messages that you
can send include SOS, enemy spotted, enemy engaged, request additional
instructions, arrived at rendezvous, and returning to base.

 The game includes two nifty time-saving features: Autopilot lets the executive
officer take the helm and begins tracing the patrol route that is indicated on
your map; Rapid Deploy speeds up by a factor of eight the time it takes you to
travel somewhere (it can get pretty boring just watching the oc for hours at
night). Anytime the enemy is within range, the program will disengage the
Autopilot. Autopilot and Rapid Deploy can be used in combination, but you can't
use either when general quarters is in effect, or while in Cockpit View.

 In addition to the various patrols and campaigns, you have four levels of
difficulty from which to choose, "1" being the easiest and "4" being the
hardest. Those levels affect several aspects of the game: damage from enemy
gunfire; time to perform repairs; distance to the enemy before they spot you;
reliability of your torpedoes; chances of being hit by the enemy; amount of
damage that can be repaired, etc. A game can be saved in progress as long as you
are not at battle stations. When you are playing a campaign and have completed a
patrol, you'll be assigned another. After you have successfully finished a tour
of duty, you'll be assigned to another campaign. Once you have completed 35
patrols, your name will be placed in the Top Skipper's Roster. The game ends if
you and your crew are killed.

 PT-109 supports both CGA and EGA modes (VGA works fine, but only produces EG
resolution). The EGA graphics are pretty good -- medium level resolution for
displays control panels (16 colors), and lower resolution for all other screens.
The enemy vessels are detailed enough so that you can distinguish the various
types of ships. Hits by rockets and torpedoes are graphically depicted (little
explosions), as are misses. Daytime, night, dusk, and dawn are also indicated --
from white, to gray, to very dark gray. The later and darker it is, the harder
it is to spot enemy ships. You can, of course, use flares to light the place up,
but remember: If you can see them, they can probably see you! There are limited
sound effects on the IBM; however, they're not bad, considering the hardware's
limitations.

 The machine requirements for the CGA version are an IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible;
DOS 2.0 or later; 384K of memory; and an RGB monitor. The EGA version requires
an IBM AT or close clone, IBM PS/2 Model 50 or above, or 386 clone; DOS 2.0 or
later; 512K of memory; a 1.2 megabyte 5-1/4" disk drive; and an EGA card and
monitor. In both versions, a mouse is optional.

 I did run into several bugs and problems while playing PT-109 over a period of
two weeks. The program crashed a few times with a "divide by zero" error; it
also froze the computer whenever I used the Rapid Deploy and Autopilot functions
together during enemy vessel encounters. (Spectrum HoloByte has released an
updated version that supposedly corrects these bugs.) The animated sequence of
attacking planes is somewhat choppy -- as if enough frames weren't included in
the animation sequence. The animated sequences for the enemy ships looked
somewhat better. My only other major complaint is that the game slows down a lot
when you encounter a large number of enemy vessels: Your commands back up in the
type-ahead buffer.

 PT-109 is not copy-protected at all; it doesn't even require you to enter a
designated word from the manual. The program can be run from a hard or RAM drive
without worrying about a keydisk. Spectrum deserves a lot of credit for this and
earns a big round of applause from me. I wish more game companies would drop
protection altogether.

 Overall, I like the game, but the program slowdowns I mentioned are quite
annoying. Therefore, I rate PT-109 as only fair.

 PT-109 is published and distributed by Spectrum HoloByte.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253