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Germany, 1941. A sleek black submarine pulls away from the dock before slipping under the icy waters and making its way towards the Atlantic. Another of the feared U-Boats has entered World War II with you at the helm... but, wait a minute? You're on the wrong side, surely?

If you hadn't guessed already, Das Boot puts you in charge of a German U-Boat, and if you can put up with this affront to British patriotism then you get to engage in various missions of destruction throughout World War II.

The difference between Das Boot and other submarine simulators is that it's easy to jump right in and start playing, thanks to the easy control method. Everything is laid out on the screen and it's all self-explanatory.

Navigational controls are simple and the external views prove to be really useful when trying to steer along a narrow fjord or through a minefield. There is a slight problem with mines in that the collision detection between the submarine and the mine is slightly off - unfortunate, when you consider what's at stake. Even passing nearby will set it off - usually just when you think you're at a safe distance. And what's worse, if you leave the external view for a moment then return later, the mines appear to have moved into different positions.

Other areas work perfectly, in particular the sending of coded transmissions is a nice touch and the all-action aircraft shooting is great fun. The most favourable compliment you can pay Das Boot is to say that it's got all the involvement of a submarine simulator, combined with the playability of an arcade-style game such as Carrier Command - it certainly conveys the same feeling of overall control and involvement as the ageing Real-time 3D extravaganza. Make no mistake though, this is far more than just a 3D shoot-'em-up: Das Boot is to submarine games what Red Baron is to WWI flight sims.