Captain! Enemy Destroyer bearing 090. Seventy three meters and closing fast sir!
I purchased
Silent Hunter III about three weeks a go. I am very happy with the new, updated
Silent Hunter III. The game is fun and interesting to play. It took me several hours to learn how to play the game. You have a U-Boat naval academy that you can go through. I opted to go through the training before baling into the career mode. Unless you are familiar with the hot keys, keyboard controls and the game in general, it’s advisable to go through the training mode first. The game also comes with a handy little reference guide the all the hot keys. It can be places next to your keyboard when you’re first learning for a reference guide. It also comes with a map if the oceans that you will be patrolling. This map shows the player the major convoy routes used by enemy and neutral nations. It also illustrates and areas covered by patrols of enemy aircraft.
After going through the training mode (academy). I went right into career mode where I was assigned my first U-Boat command. I recruited the personnel that I needed for my first humble U-Boat, command and mission. The first few missions were tough because I was still learning the controls and tactics. I learned fast to dive instead of attacking enemy warships. My job is to sink tonnage, not engage warships. It’s hard not to man the deck guns and try and sink a warship. I found out it takes considerable skill to sink a warship with torpedoes and near imposable with a deck gun. After you get yourself, your ship, and crew killed a few times, you’ll learn to steer clear of the warships and aircraft, unless your just “gunnin for fun”. Then just when you seem to be doing well you’ll run across an enemy destroyer who will taunt and relentlessly depth-charge you. It can really test your command abilities and patience. There is nothing quite like getting depth charged by a determined foe! During one encounter it seemed I could not escape no matter how deep or quiet I ran. I couldn’t help but think of the film,
The Enemy Below. Sometimes they’re very difficult to shake. I've been interested in submarine warfare for years. I've studied them form the Civil War submarine, C.S.S. Hunley to todays boomers and hunter killers. As such, I have written a list of the
ten best submarine films. The attention to detail in the game is excellent. It looks very much like a scene right out of Das Boat. I still watch the introduction to the game because of the outstanding recreation of submarine warfare in the foggy, deadly Atlantic during World War II. This is the first demonstration of the quality of graphics that are used in the game.
The learning curve is slow at first but once you get the basics down the game gets interesting and enjoyable petty quick. Until you learn the ropes, you’ll be playing the game a bit slower. It has a time compression that you’ll have to use in order to get anywhere. If you don’t use this it’s real time. You may end up sitting for days waiting to get to your patrol area. Or compress time up to 1042 times, where hours and days fly by in just minutes. There’s quite a bit that you will have to learn. Like your different gages and controls for depth and speed. You’ll also learn how to set torpedo depths, angles and spreads. You’ll learn to assign what crews to where and when to rest them. After every successful missions you will return to base. If you are lucky and you’ve sank several enemy ships, you and your crew may be awarded medals, and promotions. You will also get to qualify one of your men after every mission. There is about ten different qualifications but you only get to qualify one man in one area per mission. Some of the areas are as follows; sonar, medic, machinist, torpedoes, helm, flack Gunner, deck gunner and watchman. Officers can be qualified in three different areas. It fun to build your crew up with qualifications, promotions and awards as the game progresses. Crew members that survive a wound are even awarded a German wound badge. All of the German awards are authentic as well.
Game Features
¤ Academy
¤ Single Player
¤ Campaign
¤ History
¤ Multi Player
Game Screens
∀ Bridge
∀ Command
∀ Deck Gun
∀ Flack Gun
∀ Map
∀ Internal Crew assignments
∀ Weapons management
∀ Binoculars
∀ Periscope
∀ Free view
My Ratings
Graphics
[9]
Sound
[9]
Learning Curve
[7]
User Interface
[7]
Over All
[8]
Conclusion
Silent Hunter III is a fun game that offers the players many hours of fun. The game comes with an in-depth campaign mode that makes every game very different and challenging. Although most of the tonnage that you will sink will come from mastering the art of torpedo attacks, there are other weapons. There is a flak gun as well as a deck gun. The flack guns are fun to use when engaging enemy aircraft. You’ll learn after awhile it’s much better to dive than try and take on planes. If the seas are calm you can use you deck gun to sink ships and save your torpedoes for the rough seas. This can also be challenging because most of the ships carry guns of their own. When engaging a convoy, they are always escorted by enemy destroyers, warships! You’ll also learn to save before going up against a warship. Thus far I have not been able to complete a campaign without using a save because I had been sunk.
The game is quite challenging and enjoyable. The replay value is what I like the most. After a month I have still not been able to complete a campaign with out loading a save. I also like way you build your crew up mission after mission. You promote and award your crew medals after every successful mission. Furthermore you get re-own (funds) for enemy tonnage that you have sank. If you are a good U-Boat captain, you’ll get funds for every mission. After some time you’ll be able to upgrade your weapons and even get bigger and better U-Boats. The graphics in this game are just outstanding. The seas, the battles, the aircraft even your crew are realistic and detailed right down to the last award you’ve pinned on them. When engaging aircraft or ships a second window pops up giving you another unique view of the action. The work that went into the graphics and sound in this game is obvious and high quality. I really can’t think of much of a down side to the game. It does take some practice to get efficient at the many complex submarine commands, gages, crew assignments and effective submarine tactics. But once you learn the seemingly complex operations of the boat, you can appreciate it for its realism. It would also be cool if you could play as a Allied U-Boat commander. Other than these issues it’s good fun. If you’re ready to hear the sound of a six inch British round whistle over your head and feel the rush, check out
Silent Hunter III. I would recommend
Silent Hunter III to any action / strategy gamer. I give Silent Hunter III four of five stars. A job well done Ubisoft.
Designed & Manufactured by
Ubisoft
More War Games
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Thanks for the read,
© 2005 Joe McMaster
