Some inventive players have also found voice-activation software works a treat with this game and have configured it so they don’t need to touch a key to give orders. The control of the submarine is done via a fairly intuitive interface and of course there are the numerous keys and keyboard shortcuts, if giving orders via the GUI isn’t your thing. There’s also nothing to stop you using the LAN function of the game to set up your own generated missions just for you against any number of enemies and their escorts – one word of warning – the game will fill the oceans with ships based on the time period and the state of the war, so even if you think there’s only merchants out there ripe for the plucking, you might still catch the attention of a destroyer or troop ship.
You’re given radio messages from HQ as the war goes on and that’s about it regarding the story, you’re given free reign to sink as much of the enemies war machine as possible and cripple their supply lines – the more you do means the more toys you get.Īlongside the career mode there’s a single mission mode and the cooperative multiplayer where you can team up in wolf-packs, to sink enemy ships and wreak havoc in either single missions or generated ones. Successful missions and patrols add up to more Renown and better equipment, U-boats and so on as the campaign progresses. (1000 points are added if you pass the Naval Academy exams in the tutorial section).
So there isn’t a cut and dried story flowing to guide you, you’re given orders from HQ and it’s up to you how you fulfil those particular patrol criteria.Ĭareer mode is where it’s at in SH III and after selecting a few criteria, such as the year you begin your career in and the flotilla plus type of U-boat, you’re taken to an office and given the choice of accepting a mission from the map screen or tailoring your crew and U-boat with your 500 points of Renown. The story in Silent Hunter III is what you make of it the player creates their own personal war journal and story as the dynamic campaign progresses against a historically near-accurate model of WWII raging on in the background. Silent Hunter III is the name of the game and it fuses cutting-edge graphics with solid gameplay and controls. Ubisoft’s latest simulation to grace our PCs is set in World War II and follows the career of a promising U-Boat captain (you) as the war progresses. It’s been quite a while coming but I have found a game that really caught my interest and provided a nice mix between historical realism and out and out fun. This is all well and good but in the day and age of cutting-edge graphics and affordable personal computers, I have been itching for something to fill this void for a long time, ever since I played Subwar 2050 on my old 486. By GenTom | Review Date: DecemI’ve always been interested in outer space and underwater, with books and films like 2001 and 20,000 Leagues but there have been very few decent simulations that delve into my second area of interest, they’re usually based on traditional and realistic methods for the navigation and control of a submarine.