It is May 1941 and the Bismarck, the most powerful German battleship, is sailing the Atlantic Ocean in order to attack British warships and let its sister vessel Prinz Eugen destroy Allied convoys. You can play either for Germany, and in this case you only control the Bismarck itself, or for the UK, which will let you manage several British ships in order to discover and hopefully sink the Bismarck, as it happened in real history.
The game is an icon-driven strategy/simulation hybrid with some arcade elements thrown in for good measure. For instance, in battles between ships you must raise or lower your guns accordingly to the distance of your enemy, a là Beach Head; or if you take the British side, you will have the chance to bombard the Bismarck with Swordfish naval bomber airplanes in a pseudo-3D sequence.
The fact that gameplay changes considerably according to the battling side you choose, and the presence of some interesting features, like the weather conditions, adding further depth to the action, manage to conceal the underlying fault of Bismarck - its hybrid nature, which makes it neither a strategy nor an arcade title, thus never reaching a true identity. "Light simulation" could be more appropriated. However, it is competently done and should appeal to beginners as well as to experienced players.
