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Silent Hunter 2

Silent Hunter 2

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pre-orderer beware
Review: This game has been due out for two years, but has met with many delays during development. Also, I believe the software company producing it has been bought out (possibly twice) during the past two years. The current date may say Sept, but don't hold your breath. With due respect to Amazon, do not order this game until it has been released. Hopefully, the developers have used the extra time well and we'll have a really great game when it finally comes out. The 3D graphics are supposed to be excellent. Patience is a virtue.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Same as the first?
Review: WOW! What great timing... this game comes out on my birthday. If it is ANYTHING like the first i just have to buy it. The first sh was awesome and stands the test of time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A BIG Fan of the first...
Review: If this is as good as the first game, it will be terrific. I have been a big fan of submarines since a young age when I read "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Many a Saturday, I will launch the game on my PC, go do some work around the house and come back when my crew signals there is an enemy contact.

However, if you do not like hearing the sound of the propellers of enemy destroying coming overhead as you are trying to dive deep enough to get under the coming depth charges, struggle to keep you depth when you forward compartments are flooding and you are low on battery power, hear the creeking of the hull when you are deeper than you should be to get under the enemy attack, sneak through shallows barely deep enough to submerge in while an enemy patrol is overhead as you head for a large naval base rich with targets, or put 7 or 8 torpedoes into the Yamato sending her down and then having to run and evade like hell while her 10 or so escorts are after you in anger for what you have done, I guess you will be bored.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If its anything like the first one.
Review: If its anything like the first one this game ought to be great! I used to play the first one for hours. Just sitting there lerking out in the deep water for a fleet to come by. I'm hoping they fixed a few bugs and gave it a great enhancement. This game should be good. Lets just hope that its worth the wait....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Raised from the Ocean Floor.
Review: I remember this game from the days of DOS. If you like war simulation games, you will love this one. After playing this game, you have to give credit to the guys that served on these boats! You truly feel like you are there!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Should have been released 2 years ago...and it shows.
Review: I've enjoyed sub simming since first playing "Sub Hunt" on my Intellivision and have bought practically every sub sim since. Needless to say, I've highly anticipated Silent Hunter 2's release since I first heard of it 2 years ago. (Honestly, it's been so long I can't remember exactly when it was first announced.) Release dates were pushed forward so many times I can only assume that the game had severe production and finance problems. Well, it's finally here and it seems obvious that the extra time taken in releasing the product was not spent on improving the program. I wanted so much to really love this game. I feel for the small teams of software developers that don't have the big $$$ that companies like Microsoft do and I like to support them in their efforts with my purchases - but this program lacks some key elements and took way to long to arrive.

The graphics, or lack thereof, betray the game's age. I was hoping for a look comparable to "Sea Dogs", but no such luck. The highest resolution the game supports is 800x600, and on a 17" monitor that just doesn't cut it. As mentioned in earlier reviews, the title screens are poorly done, as well. The sim does have wave and sky effects along with decent 3d models, but they just don't match up to the graphics of today's games. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are much better than the original Silent Hunter and there simply aren't any other WW2 submarine simulations on the market to compare, but after 2 years of waiting, I expected more.

Aside from the graphics, the game has two other GLARING flaws: no multiplayer available yet and no free-roving campaign. I guess the folks at Ubi soft figured we wouldn't need multiplayer yet, since their upcoming destroyer sim (meant to be played with Silent Hunter 2) won't be out for a couple of months. They're promising a patch, but this is still an obviously incomplete product. The game also comes with predisigned missions that can be edited, but I loved the option in previous sims to spend the whole war roaming freely around the ocean, looking for prey. The lack of this limits the sim big time, in my eyes.

On the positive side, the sim, itself, is acutally pretty good. I thought the overall AI was impressive and enemy destroyers were none to easy to evade. The sound room (something I hadn't seen in a sub sim before.) added an eerie touch of realism. For dedicated sub simmers, you'll find all the bells and whistles of earlier sims, including advanced realism settings to let you control as much or as little as you want. The waves and weather do add an extra layer of variability that has been lacking in sub sims until now. The subpar graphics also have a positive side as far as performance on lower-end machines is concerned and the game has been very stable on my computer, so far.

The bottom line is, beggars can't be choosers and, as Silent Hunter 2 is the only WW2 sub sim to come out in a LONG time, we sub lovers can't be too picky. I guess the market simply isn't out there to encourage companies to do a top-notch job on a submarine simulation, so SH2 will have to do.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Silent Hunter 2 Is AWESOME!!!!!!
Review: I've been playing SH2 For a few months and I have to say It is really great. You can fight a custom mission and choose your submarine map and encounter (sub,convoy,or warship). You can also fight any one of the missions at any time or you can do a campaighn filled with challenging missions. You can choose from an array of submarines including The type 21, (my perssonal favorite)The true silent hunter. The controlls are easy to use (I would Know I'm Only 12) and gameplay is simple. Enjoy this pimped game

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good continuation of an excellent series
Review: The original "Silent Hunter" was released in 1997 and put the player in command of several different types of US submarines battling the Japanese in WW2. It also took its history lessons seriously and included a narrated video of a tour around an American fleet submarine and a short pamphlet about US submarine tactics and history during WW2. It quickly became the benchmark of WW2 submarine sims - the symbol by which all other sub sims were measured. Three expansion disks followed with additional terrain, missions, and a scenario editor. Although the software was written for DOS, the faithful sub captains learned how to set up "desktop shortcuts" to play the game with Windows 95, 98, and ME and the game continued to live on the harddrives of players around the world.

"Silent Hunter II" continues this tradition and puts the player in command of several different types of German submarines in WW2, and is designed to run under Windows 95, 98, and ME (so no more editing the properties of shortcut icons). The game is very stable on these Operating Systems and is quickly surpassing the benchmark set by the original game, particularly in graphics, sound, and gameplay (the training missions can be quite enjoyable). Unlike the industry trend to put the game manual on the cd, SH2 includes a full printed manual (always a good idea). The controls are very intuitive, particularly if you've played a submarine game before and know the difference between a periscope and a sonar head. If you prefer to learn by doing instead of reading, there are training missions to help you along. For extra fun during the navigation training, you can try to dock the boat yourself (ahead 1/3, back 2/3, all stop, aye!).

The only detractions to the sim are (a) lack of multiplayer capability and (b) lack of a scenario editor, both of which are scheduled to be corrected with the release of the second half of this sim pairing - "Destroyer Command" - which will place the player in command of a US destroyer that will (ta-daa!) hunt the German u-boats of "Silent Hunter II".

As a stand-alone sim, "Silent Hunter II" is a good start but comes up short without the multiplayer and scenario builder tools. Once these two features are added, SH2 will be the crowning achievement in submarine simulations (and a whole lot of fun to play, too!).

I would highly recommend this game to my friends and family, and anyone else that enjoys action, strategy, and history in one very entertaining package. Buy it for your kids and they may actually start paying attention to school history lessons. And to really drive home the lessons, take them to visit the u-boat on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology (or the SS Clamagore in Charleston, SC or the SS Cavalla in Galveston, TX, or any of the other handful of vintage WW2 submarines - visit them while you can because they're rusting away).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Realistic, Sneaky-like, yet difficult
Review: This is a great realistic submarine perspective. When you sit at your computer you feel like a true German sub commander. I always liked games where stealth is involved. I like patience too. If you have patience and if you like difficulty, you will most likely really like this game. I must admit, it is very difficult, and takes some time to finally understand the simple basics of this game. I had to read through the manual a number of times to get everything to where I understood. But when that is all worked out, you will have yourself a blast. I give it 4 stars, the difficulty involved to start out with is its only downfall.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Overrated
Review: Silent Hunter 2 is a realistic and challenging game that uses
actual World War II sea battles. The options allow the player to
control the amount of difficulty making it an excellent game for
players of all caliber. Other options allow players to hear
commands in English or German. Stirring background music and
sound affects so real that you can almost feel the impact of
the "wasserbombs," not to mention the dreaded pinging of the
destroyers. Excellent interview with Ace Erich Topp who states
that "I was never afraid at any time" is included.


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