Gunboat: River Combat Simulation
| Developer: Black Hole | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Accolade | Sound: |
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| Year: 1991 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Simulation | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
7/10 | |
This naval simulation puts you in command (or behind the machine gun) of an RPB (River Patrol Boat), a fast, maneuverable, and heavily armed American patrol boat designed for reconnaissance missions in the shallow rivers of Vietnam. It was famously featured in Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now (1979).
You’ll undertake missions across three regions: starting in Vietnam, then facing Colombian cartels, before being deployed to battle Soviet forces near the Panama Canal.
The game leans heavily on action, though reading the manual is essential—if only to familiarize yourself with the numerous keyboard shortcuts. At any time, you can switch roles within your four-person crew: either piloting as the captain or manning one of the three heavy machine guns (or grenade launchers, if equipped). Meanwhile, the computer modestly assists in unoccupied roles, provided you assign it orders.
Gunboat suffers from a major drawback on a standard setup: a pervasive and pronounced sluggishness. Not only is the animation choppy (despite the game confining the playable area to just a third of the screen), but there’s a frustratingly long input delay. You’ll find yourself constantly overcorrecting turns (or gun turret rotations) and helplessly watching as salvos of gunfire continue for five seconds after you’ve released the trigger. And wouldn’t you know it—this lag and unresponsiveness clash spectacularly with the need to navigate narrow rivers at full throttle while under enemy fire!
Thankfully, there’s a simple modern fix: set your emulator to simulate an Amiga 1200 (no extra memory required) or, if you’re lucky enough, play on a real Amiga 1200. The game becomes much faster and far more enjoyable.
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