Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Land Sea and Air! delivers three distinct simulation experiences in one package, each with its own pace and style. In M-1 Tank Platoon, you take command of a modern armored unit, coordinating multiple vehicles in fast-paced combat drills and realistic battlefield scenarios. The granular control over each tank and its crew offers a deep tactical layer, challenging you to manage line of sight, firepower, and fuel in a way few tank sims of its era could match.

Switching to Silent Service II, the tempo slows as you slip beneath the waves in a World War II submarine. Pleasure-seekers of stealth and patience will relish plotting torpedo runs and monitoring sonar pings, while the game’s branching mission structure creates tension as you decide when to attack and when to dive for safety. The crew management elements—balancing oxygen levels, battery power, and hull integrity—add depth to each patrol, turning every sonar blip into a pulse-quickening decision.

Finally, F-19 Stealth Fighter thrusts you into the skies with a sleek jet that thrives on evasion and precision strikes. Missions vary from reconnaissance to air superiority, and the flight model strikes a fine balance between arcade accessibility and realistic avionics. Juggling radar modes, fuel tanks, and missile loads introduces resource-management stakes that tie into how you approach contested airspace.

Graphics

Given its early-’90s origins, Land Sea and Air! presents a utilitarian visual style that focuses on clarity over flash. M-1 Tank Platoon’s top-down maps and simple polygonal tank sprites may look dated by modern standards, but the iconography is clear, and the map overlays do an excellent job of conveying terrain types—forests, rivers, and roads—at a glance.

Silent Service II’s presentation leans heavily on text-based interfaces and monochrome radar screens, punctuated by occasional photographic cut-ins for mission briefings. While it lacks the dramatic 3D periscope views of later subsims, it compensates with crisp typography and intuitive gauge layouts that make tracking depth, speed, and damage status straightforward.

F-19 Stealth Fighter rounds out the package with colorful cockpit instrumentation and simple wireframe landscapes. The horizon line and runway visuals for takeoffs and landings remain satisfying to this day, and despite the low resolution, enemy aircraft are identifiable at practical distances. The minimalist HUD ensures you’re not overwhelmed by data, while still feeling the West’s finest imaginary stealth jet at your fingertips.

Story

As a compilation of simulations rather than a narrative-driven title, Land Sea and Air! relies on mission briefs and operational context to provide story hooks. In M-1 Tank Platoon, you’re thrust into hypothetical Cold War confrontations in Europe, with briefings that outline enemy troop movements and strategic objectives. The sense of an unfolding campaign adds urgency to each tactical deployment.

Silent Service II uses archival photographs and text to evoke the drama of submarine warfare in the Pacific. Each mission note—while concise—paints a vivid picture of island-hopping campaigns, escorted convoys, and high-stakes stealth runs. The absence of a central protagonist may disappoint story-focused players, but the historical framing keeps you invested in avoiding depth charges and sinking capital ships.

In F-19 Stealth Fighter, the narrative is woven into mission briefings against a backdrop of Cold War tensions. Although the game doesn’t feature in-engine cutscenes or voiced dialogue, the scenario descriptions—ranging from border skirmishes to high-profile reconnaissance over heavily defended territory—lend a cinematic feel to your flight logs. The implied cat-and-mouse games with radar operators create their own tension.

Overall Experience

Land Sea and Air! is best enjoyed by simulation enthusiasts and players with a taste for methodical, scenario-based challenges. Its compilation format means you get three fully fleshed-out titles at a budget-friendly price, each showcasing MicroProse’s signature attention to tactical detail. Jumping between land, sea, and air routes keeps monotony at bay, and mastery of one domain often informs your tactics in the others.

While modern players accustomed to high-fidelity graphics and seamless tutorials might find parts of the package daunting, the manuals and in-game help systems do an admirable job of easing you into each experience. The steep learning curves reward patience with a genuine sense of accomplishment whenever you execute a perfect ambush, evade a destroyer’s depth charge pattern, or slip past enemy radar undetected.

Ultimately, Land Sea and Air! stands as a testament to the golden era of MicroProse simulation design. Whether you’re revisiting these classics for nostalgia or exploring them for the first time, the compilation offers a rich tripartite journey through three theaters of war. It’s a worthy addition to any collection and a solid way to sample historical military simulations in a single package.