The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
Destroyer puts the player in the role of captain of a Fletcher-class destroyer in the Pacific theatre during World War II. The player can undertake a number of naval warfare operations, including hunting submarines, torpedoing enemy ships, fighting off airplane attacks, bombarding island installations, rescuing stranded allies, and escorting cargo vessels through enemy waters.
The game uses both joystick and keyboard controls. The keyboard switches between several different screens, each representing a section of the ship:
Reception
Computer Gaming World in 1987 called Destroyer "an excellent naval simulation [that] doesn't require a vast background in war games ... anyone who has ever played computer games and won at chess should have a ball". A 1991 survey of strategy and war games was less positive, however, giving it two and a half stars out of five, stating that "the documentation and scenarios are underdeveloped". A 1993 survey in the magazine of wargames gave the game two stars out of five.
Compute! stated that the game successfully combined strategy and arcade elements with excellent graphics.
