688 Attack Sub is a classic modern submarine simulation which puts you in command of either the American Los Angeles or the Soviet Alfa class nuclear-powered submarines. Most of the systems you would expect such as sonar and periscope are featured and nicely presented in VGA. The game offers ten missions for both the Soviet and American side in a Cold War scenario, that grows progressively hotter. Nice to see that the two sides' submarines have their own graphic sets in the game, even with some pseudo-cyrillic labels on the Russian side.
Overall, 688 Attack Sub is an interesting early subsim and certainly a classic in the genre-- arguably the best subsim for PC until Dynamix' Aces of The Deep years later. Especially the modem-play option was outstanding for its time. Be sure to download the manual, although the game is well laid-out and can be controlled completely with the mouse.
Note: This is the full game and not the cut-down "Maxell" version found on some abandonware sites.
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
Let's go and Kicks some Ass !
Dos version hangs the computer (even ctrl-alt-delete doesn't work) after typing either 688.bat or game.exe 4 on real 386sx hardware without a sound card. Will try again on a real 486 with a covex speech thing, which is specifically mentioned in the manual and should be supported.
I was playing this when it first came out. It taught me a lot of technical issues such as how to use the “ Loran” and about thermo clines. A few years after playing I had my own boat living in the Florida keys and my next door neighbor was an officer on the Florida marine patrol. He asked how I learned to use a loran, if I was ex military or such. I told him through a video game. He laughed his butt off as he said I knew more about it than he did. lol
I still have the 688 patch that came in the box. Many a long night/weekends playing this.
I did finally beat Hit and Run back in the day, but it was a nightmare. I remember I was constantly changing depth, speed and direction to avoid the Soviet ASW. I jumped for joy when I escaped. BTW, the followup title SSN-21 Seawolf was also a lot of fun.
Wow, I think this may have been the very 1st "boxed" game that I played on PC. Loved it also. Like "The Commondore", I never beat "Hit & Run" mission either, and Lord knows that I tried hundreds of times, using multiple strategies. Waiting for those missiles to be ready for firing consumed valuable escape time!
HUEY IROQUOIS - Yes, there is an excellent, free and regularly updated Emulator which covers all Amiga versions - It's called WinUAE and can be found at winuae.net/download
CoVox sound is the best sound for the DOS version, but the Amiga version has better sound and gfx. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a freeware Amiga emulator.
Hit and Run. Have to pull out dead slow staying along the coast for a bit, then move to deeper water. Continue as far south as you can before turning into to deeper water. Then pull away at no faster than 1/3.
This version of the game downloadable here works in single player mode but not in multiplayer mode. A full manual on how to get it to work in multiplayer mode is at the following link, including the right Dos version that works in multiplayer mode:
https://subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=245921
When my dad bought a pair of old Tandy computers, the Tandy 1000 had this already on it. Of course without the manual there wasn't any chance of getting into the game play, but I did spend a few weeks playing with the telegraph system and it's censorship before I decided it was time to finally just get rid of it.
does anyone know how to turn on the SONAR? it doesn't seem to work. it certainly never identifies anything. in fact it cant even find and identify a rattly old surface ship. i'm definitely missing something here and i think that it is the on button for the sonar and its operator
Bought it and was 100% sold onto it 1986. Still have it and the old Lucky 286 it was running on. It runs equally well using DFend Reloaded on Win 10 using a modern 64 bit screamer. It is still as playable and entertaining as it was 33 years ago. Playability has nothing to do with graphics or other bells and whistles of todays boring shooters.
I love this game!!
@TheCommodore:
I have beat Hit and Run a few times. The trick is not to remain silent. Full or flank speed only. Change depths often. Find thermal layers and hide under them.
When you have torpedoes after you, hit the decoy and change depths and directions immediately.
Good luck!!
Man, I played this game for HOURS as a kid. I could never beat "Hit and Run" then, and I still can't beat it. Anyone ever completed that mission?
Loved this game back in the day. How I wish I could get for my ipad pro.
Loved this game, it's one of the best there is of it's kind. I sure do wish they would make games like this again.
The best modern sub game out there, even these days we don't have something as realistic as this. Highly recommended :)
One if the best and still better thank the crap they produce now!
Enjoyed this so much on PC that it was one of the first games I bought for the Sega Megadrive. Only ever managed to do the first mission successfully but it was lots of fun firing missiles and torpedos at ships and seeing them blow up (before some other sub sunk me)....
i have original old manual :)
Spent many late nights playing this game with a friend over the modem. Memories of playing phone tag trying to get the connection to sync and epic sub battles!
This must be too hard for "WHAT?" and his small brain. I'd stick with marbles What.
Very good! One of my favourite sub simulators!!! Easy to play and realistic.
Should have been in the Navy during the Cold War instead of playing video games I was doing the real thing!
How can there be all these positive comments?
"The best game"? That a joke?
It's CLART, FAECES, TURD, KACK. Ugly graphics, horrid SFX and totally undecipherable gameplay.
the best game
DosBox 0.74 - Win7 - Works Great
I chose ADLIB sound and VGA display.
I can tell you how great this is because I only played it long enough to make sure it was working for me. It will work for you too!
Ahh, the cold war, such a simple time .... This reminds me of 1989 and spending entire nights in front of a brand-new VGA monitor chasing down Ivan.
688 Attack Sub is truly one of my top-five favorite games, of any type, of all time. Even though some other sub sims are a little more sophisticated and flashy, this one still ranks as one of the bests. If I recall it would run on a 286 (although the more I think about it It was probably a 386, but still!)
The only caveat is that it is a sim built around fun and ease of play, and has less emphasis on being a spot-on realistic simulator. But that has never hurt this game.
This game I played for HOURS, its the best fun I have had on a computer 9/10 game!
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.