Sub Culture is an awesome undersea simulation game that was developed by Criterion Studios and published by well-known gaming artist, Ubisoft. It amazingly had slow sales in the standard market, despite being the best submarine game of the nineties. The uniqueness of Sub Culture begins immediately with the interesting storyline. A soup can that was discarded from an ocean liner comes crashing through the home of some tiny, human-like sentient beings who live under the sea. There is only one survivor of the crash, and the user will play that submarine captain and will begin a series of open-ended missions in an effort to rise to the top of the competitive undersea kingdoms.
He will have to buy, sell and trade goods, and similar to Pirates! or Privateer, he can also commit acts of piracy or theft in order to advance his cause.
There are many missions that will allow the freelance captain to make money. There is a war going on in the underwater kingdom between two races, the Bohines and the Prochas. There will be many salvage operations for the captain to undertake, recycling the leftovers of this violence. He will also profit immensely from various mining missions. Remembering that this is a very tiny race of creature, the user will not be surprised to be elated at the discovery of a bottle cap to be salvaged or the ability to mine pearls or cigarette butts
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to sell in markets at various cities. Without conflict, there would be no story, and there is definitely conflict within Sub Culture. You are not the only pirate captain in the waters, and other competitors will likely present dangers to you. There are also renegade fish and other under water or sub culture factions who will try to hamper progress. The user may also choose to invest in an underwater stock market style of commodity trading, if he has enough cash to do so. This is a risk and an adventure, just like real life.
The greatest thing about Sub Culture is its open-ended design. Because of this non-linear plot, the game has potential to be different every time it is played. The user may choose to explore endlessly, picking up quick cash here as he sees fit. On the other hand, he may choose to become employed by one of the powerful factions in the Sub Culture and perform certain acts for compensation. It is entirely up to the user. There is no road map or handbook for how to proceed.
Sub Culture is a fun underwater simulation and strategy combination that probably didn’t get the credit it deserved. It is a fun play and comes highly recommended for strategically minded gamers of all ages.
