Publisher: Alliance Interactive Software, Inc. (305/423-4289)
Retail Price: $49.95
Street Price: $30.00
Requires: Color Macintosh, 68020 or better processor, System 7.0 or better, 4 MB of System RAM, CD-ROM Drive
Protection: None
 
It’s a clear bright morning, your dress whites are laid out on a smartly made bed. You’ve put in a great deal of hard work over the last four years and graduation morning has finally arrived. Suddenly a letter arrives from the Commandant. You open it and your heart sinks as you read............
“Cadet, this letter is to inform you that due to your low scores in Harpoon, you’re being held back another year!”
Well, while chances of this happening are slim, Harpoon is by far one of the best naval simulation strategy games available to the public. The only games more detailed are classified.
Harpoon started with Larry Bond who designed the original board game in 1980. In 1989 it was developed into a computer simulation and published by Three-Sixty Pacific, Inc. Many battlesets followed and Harpoon soon became the most popular computer naval simulation ever released.
Back from the Dead. Alliance Interactive Software acquired the rights to Harpoon from Three-Sixty Pacific, Inc. and spent over four months updating the game, releasing it first to the Macintosh community and later to PC users. They have combined everything ever produced for Harpoon, including all 4 battlesets, all 3 Designer Series and the Harpoon Scenario Editor. Along with this, they updated the Harpoon interface, added important new features such as Air to Air refueling and included 50 new scenarios to create the Harpoon Classic CD.
Harpoon Classic CD requires a color Macintosh with a 68020 processor or better and System 7.0 or higher. 4 MB of system RAM is needed and a minimum of 2 MB of hard disk space. The simulation supports 512x384, 640x480, and 800x600 or larger monitors and will automatically adapt itself to best fit the monitor you are using.
You have the two options of a small or large installation when installing Harpoon Classic CD. The small installation requires less than 2 MB of hard drive space and the larger installation will require less than 20 MB of hard drive space. The small installation basically installs the Color Harpoon 1.5 application and the Harpoon Scenario Editor 1.5 application, leaving the BattelSets and Scenarios on the CD-ROM. The large installation installs everything. I found no difference in how well the game runs or its speed, using either the large or small installation. And unless you have a lot of extra disk space or need the CD ROM Drive for something else while playing Harpoon, I see no good reason for loading the whole thing.
Harpoon Classic is not an arcade game. It is a simulation designed to reproduce actual real-world tactics, weapons, sensor technology and more under modern warfare conditions. Modern navel battle groups carry with them a tremendous amount of power. With Harpoon Classic you will quickly understand not only the power a battle group has, but also its real- world, real-time limitations.
Upon game startup, you have many choices to make. You must first choose the area of the world in which you wish to play a scenario. Harpoon Classic is a study of NATO, Warsaw Pact, SEATO and Soviet aligned countries prior to 1991. The Battlesets cover the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean/Persian Gulf. A description of each battleset is given with your choice in a manor that sets the mood for the scenarios you might choose within that set. The choices that follow let you tailor the game to your liking and expertise.
You choose which side you wish to play, either Red or Blue. Most scenarios allow you to play from either side while only some of them are designed to be played from one side only. Other YES or NO choices include: Possible Nuclear Release, Snorkeling Submarines, Realistic Weather, Normal Maintenance Failures, Start with Full Ordinance and Auto Formation of Air Cover.
 
Next you choose from the scenarios available for that battleset. This is where the Harpoon Classic CD really shines. There are over 200 scenarios to choose from. Each scenario contains a specific set of orders outlining your mission. Included in this “just off the teletype” message is an outline of the situation: Your orders, an intelligent briefing, rules of engagement, and the possibility of the use of special weapons.
Game play starts with the screen divided into three primary areas: Command and Control Bar, Maps and a Report Window. The Main Group Map makes up the largest portion of the screen. Here icons of the various navel and air groups appear. The lower part of the screen is made up of the Unit Window which allows a close-up of individual units and a report window which displays information for any group that has been selected. As the game progresses, other windows automatically open to offer pertinent information or to show animations of missile launches or hits.
In Harpoon Classic you assume the role of a Side Commander, commanding all naval and air units for one side of a scenario. The scenarios can vary from a single ship group to many ship groups, air groups, and bases. Because of this your role can vary greatly. Your job is to direct all the groups on your side to achieve the orders set out in the scenario you’ve chosen.
The data base included in Harpoon Classic is simply amazing! Once a scenario is started, a display of all the platforms available in that scenario can be viewed. Platforms include Ships, Aircraft and Subs. Each includes a picture with a description giving various information such as tonnage, max. speed, weapons, sensors, advantages, drawbacks and cost. (Remember, this is the taxpayer’s money your playing with!) Information on weapons includes type, quantity, target type, range, hit percentage, and maximum damage points this weapon can inflict when it hits a target.
The simulation operates in real time and can be sped up through time compression up to a factor of 30 minutes for every one second. You have a staff assistant that will appear and inform you of new enemy contacts and group problems such as maintenance failures and the fuel status on air patrols. You have control over group speed, course, action, sensors and everything requiring the decision of a Commander. Depending on the scenario, a multitude of various weapons, aircraft, ships and bases will be available at your fingertips. It’s up to you to determine if you should be running with your radar on, making you more visible to the enemy or send that patrol out with an anti-sub loadout or one capable of making a first strike on an opposing ship! There is no built-in play balance. Each time you play a scenario it will be different. Whether you win or not depends on how the scenario is presented by the computer and how well you meet the challenges presented to you.
There are simple animations of missile launches and hits on ships. They are not as elaborate as some other games but offer a good idea of how accurate your missiles were at the target. Game status can be checked at any time to see how you’re doing and each scenario is allotted a certain amount of time in which it should be completed. Don’t worry, if time runs out and you’re not on the ocean floor, you can continue play! The depth of the game is phenomenal and you’ll soon find that running the game in real time isn’t slow enough! Games can also be saved at any time to allow you time with the family or that greatly needed sleep you’ve been putting off for hours!
As you look at the Harpoon Classic interface it’s obvious that it also has a counterpart in the IBM world. Many of the buttons can be operated by using different key strokes shown in brackets. Also, any function surrounded by <> is activated by the “esc” key. Even so, I found the overall operation of the game very “mouse able” and easy to run. Actually, using keystrokes at times seemed easier than running the mouse around. Also, on faster machines, using the up or down arrow makes choosing various scenarios easier than scrolling with the mouse. Using the latter makes them fly by so fast you can’t read them.
Color Harpoon version 1.5 on the CD seemed very buggy on my Centris 650. It would hang up or crash just as the scenario got hot and heavy. An update to version 1.56c has been released by Alliance Interactive. I’ve run several scenarios with this version and find no problems at all. I’ve also run the game in PPC mode and find it to run just as well and it seems just as fast as in 68040 mode.
If that’s not enough to keep you busy, Harpoon Classic also includes the Harpoon Scenario Editor version 1.5. In the Scenario Editor you make up your own battle. You supply the mission objectives that the computer is to carry out. Make it as simple or elaborate as you wish and supply every detail down to the ship’s name and percentage possibility that it will actually appear in the scenario. Choose aircraft and bases, then see how well you fare against your own design.
To get the most out of the game I recommend you do something not normally done in the Mac World.........read the manual! Well, at least browse through the first 75 pages. This is an intricate simulation and finding out how best to use your resources will bring its rewards!
The manual is fairly well laid out and easy to understand. It has many references to IBM keystrokes but that can easily be overlooked. Also, Descriptions of each scenario are included with the designers notes, tactics, and equipment updates.
Alliance Interactive Software, Inc. offers support for Harpoon Classic CD directly from them or through America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, or other Internet connections. They are helpful and supportive of their product and are planning to release a New Designer Series BattleSet with new platforms and scenarios in the near future. Look for other plans from the company to include the release of War Patrol, a submarine simulation for the Macintosh.
Along with the disks and manuals that come with the purchase of Harpoon Classic CD is a flyer advertising Harpoon Online through Delphi. This is only for PC users of Harpoon and is operated by Kesmai. At this time there are no plans for Harpoon Online to be supported on the Macintosh.
A Must Have. If you want a realistic in depth naval simulation, Harpoon Classic CD is a must have! If these battlesets were purchased separately, they would have cost over $300. Don’t let your wife see this! Harpoon Classic CD - a great product offering literally thousands of hours of game play.
Pros
• Elaborate database
• Intricate simulation
• Over 200 Scenarios
• Same scenario plays differently each time
Cons
• Units sometimes hard to select
• Difficult to play out of the box without reading manual
• Many circles and boxes on map are difficult to identify at first
