U Boats Demo

U Boats, a nice little submarine shooter that takes a casual approach to water combat. The game offers several missions, multiple submarines to unlock and a lot of shooting.

U Boats uses a handful of controls that are very intuitive, making the gameplay equally so. Steering the submarine is a cinch but shooting the torpedoes is a different story. While it’s easy to sprint next to the enemy or dive and sneak up on them, aiming with the torpedoes takes a bit of practice.

You don’t have an infinite amount of ammo, which is a good thing, but on the other hand, it wears out quite fast. Missing one or two torpedo shots might cost you greatly as you approach the end of a mission. At times, when you destroy an enemy ship you are rewarded with loot for fuel and ammo but it’s a random event. In a lot of cases, running out of torpedoes forces you to retreat to base, resupply and afterward head on out again.

U Boats features a simple GUI with straightforward gameplay mechanics, but the game itself isn’t as easy as you would expect it to be. Picking the best times to strike, figuring out the optimum torpedo trajectory, and managing your ammo are vital.

You could choose to run in guns blazing into the enemy, use up all the ammo, and then resupply; or, you can stalk your targets and take them down in a more efficient manner. The game is not complex in any way but it does put up a fight from time to time.

To wrap it up, U Boats is a decent indie game. It looks OK, the controls are intuitive, and the gameplay follows the latter aspect. With a little bit more work, and maybe the freedom to customize your subs, U Boats might end up to be a pretty good game.