Sunk at Start (Silent Hunter 2 (PC))

Member Name: JEStevens

Product:	Silent Hunter 2 (PC)
Date:	23/08/04 (321 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A sense of atmosphere

Disadvantages: Slow, very Slow, hard to navigate round

This has to be a game for the NOT faint hearted, Seeing as you spend your time sailing a submarine at low speeds with the aim of setting ambushes and avoiding straight fights with anything it is by nature a slow, long and generally uneventful game.

The Description of the game is pretty simple;
To hunt down, ambush and destroy allied shipping (be it naval or merchant) while attempting to avoid destruction by avoiding marauding RN Units. You spend the game in a Campaign format in which you have to complete a mission to move onto the next one. Each mission has several objectives (Primary and secondary) and there are varying degrees of success you can have in a mission (i.e. if you go beyond the call of duty and exceed the mission objectives (Such as for example; Sink the royal oak and patrol ships) you are more likely to get a medal and promotion than if u barely complete the mission)

The basic structure of a mission goes as follows:
Briefing: You get told what you have to do to complete the mission ad continue on your career
Mission: (I thought this was self explanatory)
Debriefing: this shows you what you?ve done so far in your career and past mission, How many ships you?ve sunk and what type of ship etc)


The Change in technology over the time period is represented; you go from short-range subs to Long-range late war subs over a campaign (assuming you stay alive to finish it).
Visual Graphics is OK, its nothing special but then again there?s nothing to really compare it to, I find the most thrilling action sequences are when you are viewing the Sub from outside, under water and under attack from allied naval craft.
Sound is Average to Poor really, explosions are explosions after all and I find the atmosphere under water is ruined by inadequate sound effects, On the surface they are slightly better and I find the speech effects are by far the worst I?ve experienced.
Interface(is driven by the mouse) the basis

of the interface is several screens (Weapons, Navigation, Radio, Sonar, Above deck weapons etc) and under heavy action navigating these can be a hell of a handful.

As with most games there are many short cuts (if u learn them off bye heart u r insane) but in this case I think you would be referring to the manual at every turn.


One potential winner here could be the possibility to play Online games Against owners of DESTROYER COMMAND, as we all know online gaming is usually the most interesting part of a game but as i havent experienced this experiance i feel i cannot comment deeply on this but thought it worth mentioning as it COULD be very very good for the game.

I would recommend this to gamers who are prepared to put in hours of work for little action or to those who really really REALLY want to recreate a submarine in WW2

Summary: