Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Name: Air●Land●Sea
Item: Air●Land●Sea
Author: Retro Replay

Air ● Land ● Sea offers an eclectic trio of simulations, each delivering a distinct flavor of military command. In the maritime arena, 688 Attack Sub challenges you to stalk enemy vessels beneath the waves. The sonar pings, torpedo solutions and depth‐charge evasion mechanics are surprisingly deep for its era, demanding patience and tactical foresight. Missions range from cold‐war cat‐and‐mouse exercises to hostile‐waters patrols, and each plays out at a deliberate pace that rewards careful planning over button‐mashing reflexes.

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The land simulation shifts gears entirely with Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Here you trade silent underwater suspense for hair‐trigger reflexes around the Brickyard. The car physics deliver notable weight transfer and tire grip variation that still hold up compared to contemporaries. You’ll spend hours fine‐tuning your line through Turn 1, wrestling with understeer or hoping the draft gives you that last‐lap victory. Pit strategy is simplified but meaningful, forcing you to balance fresh rubber against track position.

For the air component, you get to choose between two classic jets: the F/A‐18 Interceptor on Amiga or Stormovik: SU-25 Soviet Attack Fighter on DOS. Both simulate supersonic dogfights and ground‐strike sorties with an arcade‐tinged edge. You’ll juggle radar locks, missile salvos and afterburner bursts, all while nursing limited fuel and ordinance. Although neither achieves modern realism, the thrill of a well‐timed missile shot or a low‐level strafing run still packs a punch.

Across all three modules, the user interface feels very late-’80s/early-’90s—keyboard commands, nested menu screens, and pixelated instrument gauges. There’s a learning curve in mastering each title’s controls, but the manual provides solid reference charts and mission briefings. If you relish deciphering control grids and calibrating altimeters by hand, Air ● Land ● Sea delivers a satisfying dose of old‐school simulation charm.

Graphics

Considering its release era, Air ● Land ● Sea offers a respectable visual package. 688 Attack Sub uses bitmap sonar scopes and low-poly ship models to evoke a claustrophobic submarine interior. The splashy periscope view modes lack texture detail by today’s standards, but the minimalist palette and blinking indicators effectively convey the tension of undersea warfare.

Indianapolis 500’s track graphics are deceptively simple: flat‐shaded polygons, sparse crowd backdrops, and a limited color palette. Yet it nails the sensation of speed through clever use of scaling trackside billboards and horizon scrolling. Your cockpit view, with its rudimentary steering wheel sprite and basic instrument readouts, still communicates every flick of the wheel and every shift in RPM.

The two air modules show more divergence. F/A-18 Interceptor’s Amiga hardware delivers chunky, colorful cockpits and relatively smooth frame rates—though ground textures can appear blocky at distance. Stormovik’s DOS implementation leans into gray, drab Eastern Front aesthetics: concrete runways, Soviet‐era airbases, and barren landscapes rendered with modest VGA resolution. Both deliver a clear, if dated, view through the canopy, making aerial combat feel immediate.

Overall, none of the titles in Air ● Land ● Sea push pixel counts or advanced lighting techniques, but they share a consistent retro charm. The low‐resolution HUD elements, static instrument sounds, and occasional flicker of sprites all contribute to an authentic early simulator experience that will resonate with nostalgia buffs and historical gamers alike.

Story

As a compilation of standalone simulations, Air ● Land ● Sea doesn’t present an overarching narrative. Instead, each module offers mission briefings that set objective‐based scenarios: intercept hostile aircraft, outrun a pack of Indy racers, or sneak past enemy destroyers under sonar cover. These briefs provide enough context to frame each sortie or race, but you won’t find characters or plot twists woven through the pack as a whole.

That said, the manual ties the three simulations together with a loose “joint‐operations” theme. It introduces you as a multi‐domain ace pilot/commander, tasked by a fictional global defense council to master sea, land and air theaters. This framing device rarely interferes with actual gameplay, but it does give you a modest sense of purpose as you flip from one disc to the next.

If you’re hoping for cutscenes, voiced dialogue or a branching campaign, you’ll be disappointed. The narrative is confined to text briefings and debriefings at mission start and end. However, the scenarios are varied enough—from Cold War skirmishes to high-stakes racing—that imaginative players can fill in the gaps, spinning yarns of geopolitical intrigue or personal glory as they see fit.

Ultimately, story is secondary here. Air ● Land ● Sea caters to players who value mechanical depth over cinematic flair. If you can embrace each sim’s isolated world and craft your own behind-the-scenes drama, you’ll find a concealed well of satisfaction in completing every mission across all three domains.

Overall Experience

Air ● Land ● Sea is not for the faint of heart or the casual gamer seeking immediate thrills. It’s a retro simulation bundle that demands time and patience to unlock its best qualities. Once you’ve cracked the steep learning curve of menus and control mappings, however, you’ll discover three tightly designed experiences that showcase varied aspects of military simulation from the late ’80s and early ’90s.

The compilation’s greatest strength is its breadth: submarine tactics, open-wheel racing, and jet dogfighting all in one package. This variety keeps monotony at bay and invites you to switch playstyles whenever one discipline begins to feel stale. While modern titles might integrate multiple domains in a single engine, Air ● Land ● Sea juggles three separate engines, each with its unique quirks—an approach that feels refreshing in an age of homogenized AAA design.

Installation and configuration can be a hurdle on contemporary systems, especially for the Amiga and DOS modules. Fans of classic hardware or emulation will find community guides to ease the process, but newcomers may need to invest extra effort to get everything running smoothly. Once configured, though, you’ll be rewarded with authentic soundtracks, period‐correct interfaces, and the occasional loading‐screen tip that doubles as history lesson.

In the end, Air ● Land ● Sea is a love letter to simulation enthusiasts. It preserves three landmark titles in a single, nostalgia-soaked package that offers depth, challenge and undeniable retro flair. If you’re intrigued by Cold War naval cat‐and‐mouse, the raw intensity of IndyCar racing, or the thunderous roar of jet afterburners, this compilation is a worthy addition to your library.