Admiral Graf Spee

Admiral Graf Spee Developer Temptation Software Company Publisher Amsoft Musician None Release 1984 Platform(s) CPC, C64, ZX Spectrum Genre Simulation (Marine) / Strategy (War) OS Game Modes 1 Player Controls Media Language Information

Mildly controversial in its day (but only mildly...), Admiral Graf Spee required you to take charge of one of the most infamous German pocket battleships of the Second World War and chart a course around the treachorous waters of the Atlantic.

A game based on historically accurate records of the Graf Spee's killer expedition in the North and South Atlantic.

An intermittent flashing pixel on your chart denotes the presence of an enemy ship in the Atlantic. They year is 1940, as Captain of the Admiral Graf Spee your task is to sink all enemy shipping in these waters using your six 11" guns and torpedoes. Search the area, locate the ship and using your instrumental display, which includes variable speed, compass headings, fuel, target distance, compass bearings, ammunition and torpedo state, manoevre into visual range ready for the kill BUT the enemy can take evasive action - refuelling makes your position vulnerable and British cruisers and battleships are seeking to destroy you. To make your search and pursuit a constant challenge the enemy ships are relocated whilst you take on fuel. 7 levels of difficulty from EASY to PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. Initially the display shows a map of the South Atlantic for you to locate targets. Once a target is located then by pressing "S = SEARCH" the display will show the local area and the target vessel when in visual range. When you are within firing range the display will show the target being destroyed if successfully hit, and conversely your own damaged state when the target returns fire.

Loading Screen

The Main Map

In Dock

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Going down like a lead balloon, the game was universally panned from all and sundry:

What did Amstrad Action think of the game? Put it this way: the best thing they could find about the game was that it was preferrable to drowning... instead concentrating on the negatives - the relative shallowness to the game and poor graphics and sound.

Amtix were no happier, their opinion being that the game was quite boring but admitting it might be of some, albeit limited, appeal to strategists.

Unusually showing litte tact (for this period of the magazine anyway), ACU opened its review with the unequivocal statement that this was "Altogether a dull game unless your bag happens to include naval manoueveres and wargames."

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• Released in Spain on the Amsoft label and distributed by Indescomp as Almirante Graf Spee

• The game is based on the records of one of the most devestating boats to sail the Atlantic during the Second World War. From 1939 she sank nine Allied merchant ships, with a total tonnage of 50,089. Numerous British hunting groups were assigned to find her, with three British, New Zealand and Australian cruisers finally tracking her down in December 1939. The Battle of the River Plate ensued, during which the Graf Spee was damaged. She docked for repairs in the neutral port of Montevideo, but was forced by international law to leave within 72 hours. Faced with what he believed to be overwhelming odds, the captain scuttled his ship rather than risk the lives of his crew. Second only to 'The Bismarck' in terms of notoriety, the Graf Spee was actually more successful than her more famous sister and her sinking, helped keep vital links between Europe and the United States open, without which there would have been a much earlier end to the Western European war, with a far different outcome.

• Admiral Grafe Spee
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  Cover (UK)

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  Cover (Es)

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  Instructions

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  Tape Side A

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  Tape Side B

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  ACU Review

• Admiral Graf Spee at CPC-Power
• Admiral Graf Spee at The Amstrad CPC Games Resource