Product Description
Experience
the thrill of the hunt and live the dramatic life of a submarine
captain like never before. Help to write a riveting chapter of World War
II history by commanding accurately recreated German submarines in the
Atlantic theatre of operations. (Includes the exclusive PBS documentary:
“LOST & FOUND Legacy of the USS Lagarto.”)
Product Details
- Amazon Sales
Rank: #2693 in Video Games
- Brand: UBI Soft
- Model:
68579
- Released on: 2010-03-02
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platforms:
Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Dimensions:
.25 pounds
Features
- Make history by achieving
objectives in a dynamic campaign and play through historical based
scenarios. Every action of the player will have an impact on the
following missions and the overall scenario development.
- Silent
Hunter returns to the Atlantic to give the player the chance to control
accurately recreated German submarines, and satisfies the wish of the
large simulation community!
- Interact with the submarine crew
and command the officers onboard, watch them perform their daily jobs
and experience the tension & fear inside the U-boat. For the first
time, walk through highly detailed submarines in FPS fashion.
- New
level accessibility will cater to more casual simulation fans. New
users will be able to play Silent Hunter: Battle of the Atlantic in
?easy mode? and prowl the waters free of confusion or complication.
- Cinematic experience with improved environment graphics and highly
detailed submarine models increases the level of realism & immersion
in the game.
Customer
Reviews
Disappointing
I have an internet connection
set up to where my computer plugs directly in to a cable modem. From
the wireless network I have set up, I am able to stream HD movies onto
my xbox360 with no problems. Even with a stable internet, I have had one
crash to dekstop. Immedtiately after the CTD I reloaded the game and
was able to play for about 3 minutes before I was kicked off due to
conncetion problems. Since I was still able to get online immediately
after being kicked off, one can draw the conclusion that either Ubi's
servers were down for a time or that the DRM is extremely unforgiving
regarding how long it waits for internet connection to resume. From
this, one an draw the conclusion that even with a steady internet, you
will still have problems playing the game. To be fair, it only happened
those two times during my 5 hours of gameplay, however it was enough for
me to be pretty annoyed with it. I can only imagine what it would be
like for people who travel or who have DSL and can only play when the
weather is nice. I understand the need to protect intellectual property,
but as has been stated a number of times already, all this does is hurt
the law abiding consumer. I personally have a hard time understanding
this decision as it will probably cause Ubisoft to lose a significant
amount of money for PC sales (although I am sure it will be compensated
for by console sales but why not try to maximize your profit?). People
who pirate games are still going to find a way to crack this and even if
they don't, they are just going to wait until the game comes down in
price to the point where no profit will be made from it. The only people
being driven away are the people who would have otherwise legally
bought the game.
DRM aside, This game has also been a huge let
down in gameplay. I have already found a number of bugs such as not
being able to return to course after you perform a manuever, not being
able to flood multiple tubes at once, or not being able to use the deck
gun (if there is a way it isnt explicitely stated in the manual which is
painfully short on details for a game with so many changes over
previous versions). A number of features have been also dumbed down.
There do not apppear to be any thermal layers, ways to release counter
measures such as debris, and targeting for torpedoes is done through an
unrealistic tactical map which does not make things easier. Manual
targeting is not explained in the manual and there is not tutorial for
it. Also many of the orders you give have to be done by walking around
the sub. While being able to walk around the sub is a nice feature, I
much prefer having the option of being one-click away from any given
station like the previous SH's. Basically this game plays almost like a
first person shooter, however people who play FPS's will probably not
get much enjoyment from a game where it takes minutes of real time to go
from port to patrol area to actually sinking a ship (in other words it
still tries to be a sim so it will not be fast paced enough for people
who enjoy FPS's). The goal of trying to make this into an FPS/arcade
game becomes apparent when you see the gaudy explosions and leaderboards
which have been hacked by people on day 1 and show some people with a
billion tons for their score.
On the plus side, the dynamic
campaign is a nice feature and objectives are more well defined than
previous silent hunters. Graphics for things other than explosions are
also visually stunning. These are the only improvements I can think of
and it's truly a shame as they show just how much promise this game had.
Just like a hot blond, this game is great on looks but with very little
substance and will leave you the second you lose that high paying job
(internet conncetion).
Last call for the
U Boats.
Having been a games player
since the early 80's, I have seldom been so disappoint in such an
eagerly awaited title. Having played all the Silent Hunter series, I
find this newest release to most disappointing. Of course the obvious is
the extremely stupid DRM system they have chosen to institute requring a
constant internet connection. I would have thought they would have
learned after shooting themselves in the foot with the Starforce
protection.
Equally as disappointing is the "dumbing" down of the
overall simulation itself.There are ways to not use the aids, but the
genral overall feeling is this is for the very casual player or the
point and shoot set. Nothing wrong with that, but not in a supposedly
serious simulator.
It has tons of eye candy,big explosions, and well
rendered ship models. Very "Hollywood" in presentation, but after the
gloss wears off you're left with a sim thats really Silent Hunter 3 with
a few gimmmicks and a lot of heavy makeup.
A beautiful but broken simulation - do not buy
A beautiful but broken
simulation. This is a review of the game WITH the 1.1 patch applied.
It
is a terrible shame when the new reviled Ubisoft online DRM actually
works better than the game itself. Sadly after the somewhat brilliant
Silent Hunter III and Silent Hunter IV, Silent Hunter V is a terrible
let down. SH5 has been shipped in an incomplete state. It is very
obvious the game has not been finished and missed a number of
development milestones and was forced to market by the Ubisoft parent.
The
graphics and sound can not be faulted. The look of the game is
absolutely beautiful. But the intended audience of this simulation
requires more than that. The engine that drives this game does not work.
Some examples:
- In the port of Kiel ships regularly run aground
with no ability to pathfind or avoid obstacles.
- Enemy destroyers
will ram your sub and then jump out of the ocean.
- The ingame map
screen - the most important part of the game - is missing vital features
and information. When setting a plotted course if you deviate from the
course there is no way to return to the plot without having to replot
the entire course.
- There is no way to order urgent commands in the
heat of battle. Simple commands like setting a course via a visual
compass do not even exist in the game. In battle you need to go to the
terrible map screen to order a course change using a new plot.
-
Elements of the UI simply do not work and in some cases buttons lose
their functionality requiring the simulation to be exited and restarted.
-
The documentation that is supplied with SH5 is atrocious. There is no
detail on how to set manual TDC actions. For anyone that has not played
the earlier SH releases they will be totally confused.
- It is
glaringly obvious no QA testing was performed when ships are running
aground in the opening tutorial mission.
There are many more bugs
and omissions but I feel there is no point in listing them. The icing
on the cake is the dynamic campaign simply does not work. I feel Ubisoft
should be punished for forcing the game to be released before it was
finished and not even performing the most basic Quality Assurance on
this title.
My final recommendation is: DO NOT buy this game
until Ubisoft gives evidence they will actually completely finish
development of this title.
No comments:
Post a Comment