Rating: 
Summary: Incredible replacement for Command: Aces of the Deep
Review: Being a fan of the Sierra game "Command: Aces of the Deep", I have been patiently waiting for this game to be released for the past two years. I can tell you that the wait has been (mostly) worth it!While this game isn't a true "replacement" for C:AoD, this game does fill in its shoes better than I had hoped. The sea animation is better, the realism is better, and the fun value is better. While there are a few minor things I would have changed/added, for the most part I find this a great WWII sub sim. As for bugs, there were only a few minor issues I've found while running it under Win2k. The first problem (which might just be hardware related) was that I had to copy the entire contents of the CD to the HD and install from that copied data (I later deleted those files). Secondly, a bug occurs when I'm in the damage control room, and with a certain key combination the game displays a blank screen and causes the game to crash. Also, I've noticed that when I crash dive, sometimes I decend to 50m in only a few seconds. Other than these 3, though, I've found it to be more stable than C:AoD. Overall, this sim is great and really gives you an appreciation for what WWII submariners went through (both the allies and axis powers). While some may say the graphics aren't that great, frankly I don't understand what they're talking about. Seeing how much time is spent underwater, overly complex graphics would just be a detriment to the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Not prefect, but still entertaining.
Review: If you like subsims or the WWII naval genre, you'll probably find several points about this game that you'll like, and a few that you don't. For the most part, I found this game was worth the purchase for the entertainment value. The scenarios were historically accurate, thorough in command and control complexities, and challenging in terms of developing an attack strategy and successfully pulling off disengagement and escape. The menu pages were simple and stylishly rendered in German art-decco propaganda. The sound effects were pretty good, as well. The graphics were reasonably good, but you can definately tell that this is a game that has been in a time capsule for two years or more. If this game is the only thing you've been looking forward to for a while, you may be a little disappointed. I was hoping for more interesting land and ocean bottom features, which make the game more fully realistic. To its credit, I thought the deck officer propulsion and steering controls, as well as the conning perspectives, were the best I've seen in just about any WWII+ naval sim. Adding a better near-shore piloting and docking element to the already cool anti-aircraft and surface action opportunities would have been real icing for this cake. We'll have to wait and see what "Destroyer Command" comes up with. A reliable saving option for exiting a mission was lacking as was the time compression feature a little tedious at times. Having spent plenty of time staring at the water while in transit to points over the horizon in real life, I found doing it in near realtime on the computer really isn't any more fun. If you have an older machine then you shouldn't have many problems running SH2. The simple graphics makes the game pretty stable, though I did experience the "XP" glitch (blanker screen shutdown after switching to the DC view) but understand there is a patch available to remedy it. Still, given few other choices in this very interesting game genre, SH2 is good fun and is worth owning.
Rating:
Summary: Silent Hunter 2
Review: I found the game quite challenging. I have found numerious enhancments to increase the screen resolution, improved torpedo wakes, oil slicks, and better secondary explosions. I joined the Wolfpack league and there are a multitude of enhancements that out there to improve the game and game play. I find it quite a "sweating" experince. Nothing like being "pinged" by a DD or DE that is really out to get you. There are also a multitude of add on single player missions, and multiplayer missions out there, and they keep the action level up. I also have modded the rain and storm problem with another add on all long with improved scenery. I am having a blast with the game. I bought it at the same time I got Destroyer Command, and I enjoy them both. Marvin
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but with some drawbacks
Review: I've been waiting for a good sub sim realease for a long time. The sims I enjoyed the most have been long forgoten: Silent Service, Red Storm Rising, Aces of the Deep. While SH2 is no match for any of the above titles, it is a decent substitute. The game play is fun, u-boat stations are done very well providing atmoshere of operating the boat, and the missions are quite interesting. The game comes with a few drawbacks, however. The AI is to say the least quite peculiar. In the first mission, I successfully destroyed 2 of the 3 Polish destroyers (I scorred a direct hit on the 3rd one after the reload but the torpedo, my last one, was a dud). The 3rd destroyer attempted to locate me and started firing depth charges like it should. I was able to disengage and surface at a safe distance while maintaning a good fix on the contact. Here comes the sily part: the ship remained motionless for 2 days of game time while the German surface groups (having the Polish destroyers as primary target also) returned to the base without engaging the "sitting duck." Guess nobody wanted to read my contact reports. Latter in the game, I saw an enemy destroyers stopping next to a sinking ship while rest of the convoy moved on unescorted. This action definetely improved my score as the mission progressed. The graphics are quite dated so don't expect any bells and whistles here. Scripted campaign is a major drawback providing no surprized when replaying any of the missions. Also, the end-mission screen is quite anti-climactic. A player is provided with dry mission statistics (excel style) and sent back to the office for mission replay or new mission brieffing. Personally, I prefer a nice animation of returning home or death at the bottom of the see followed by a de-brief maintaining some role-playing elements. There are some technical bugs. I did not experienced any of the problems indicated by the XP users -- maybe I got lucky. I was able to run the game on both XP Pro and 2000 Pro. 2000 Pro has a minor intermitent screen flashing problem. I think it's a display driver compatibility issue but it does not interfere significantly with the gameplay. During the installation I encountered critical error informing me that a link to some .dll file could not be established. To my surprize, the installation proceeded and completed succesfully. Over all, it is a decent product. I love the dud-torpedo feature (especially if this is my last torpedo). Similarly, the missions are well designed and provide a fair insight into submarine warfare WWII style -- to bad all of them are scripted. Finally, this game is a lot of fun to play and provides oportunity for long, sleepless nights of planning a stealthy approaches, firing torpedoes, diving away and counting second until the impact (hoping it won't be a dud this time) while pursuing destroyers lay depth-charges around your fragile iron coffin.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: Silent Hunter 2 is an excellent sequel to Silent Hunter. It doesn't have that polish-perfect design of the original one, but it's still great. Before you buy this game, note the you will be the GERMANS. Many people haven't bought this game becasue of what the Germans did in WWII. But, the war is over, and it is just a game. This is a game for submarine fanatics who like stalking their prey and finding the perfect moment to strike. An average summary of a mission would be leaving port, steaming out to see and proceeding to the convoy you've been assigned to attack. When the perfect moment comes, unleash your torps, and run for it. The destroyers will start depth-bombing in all the wrong places as you watch through your periscope the ship you have just hit sinking. Then, evading aircraft and maybe firing your main guns at a destroyer, you head back for port. Sound like fun? You won't be bored. However, note that you may have to play many missions over and over again.
Rating:
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: 
Summary: Unseaworthy
Review: Ah...the WWII U-Boat; it instantly conjures up memories of classic movies such as Das Boot. Imagine the terror of a depth charge attack, the thrill of a successful torpedo attack, and the repugnant stench of forty-four sweating sailors stuck inside a steel cylinder no wider than a city bus... Well there's none of that here. If Ultimation and Ubi Soft were aiming to create a highly realistic and enjoyable simulation of WWII submarine warfare, they missed. If they intended to create a poorly-coded, antiquated and historically inaccurate pile of unstable hacks, then congratulations. Without a doubt, this was one of the most disappointing games I have ever played, with glaring faults and bugs that should have easily caught by QA. The graphics are mediocre at best, a fact made worse by SH2's maximum resolution of 800x600. Remember the famous storm scene in Das Boot? Well, in SH2, there are two types of weather: sunny and cloudy. There is no rain, no sleet, no spray in your face, nothing. To SH2's credit, the ship and aircraft models are nicely done, but the pyrotechnical effects are severely underwhelming. While the ship's control stations look decent, there is no control view room. Admitedly this is a quibbling point, but a control room would have made you feel as if you were inside a real U-boat, not just gazing at static displays. Which wouldn't be so bad if those stations were actually USEFUL. Everything, navigation, rangefinding, attacking, it can all be done from the map view. This is rarely, if ever, any reason to visit the other stations. Particularly useless is the sound station, in which the game automatically marks down contacts, their bearing, and the type of vessel, so all you get to down is simply turn the dial and listen to the sounds of their engines. Speaking of sound, the game's audio is severely lacking. When I hit an oil tanker with a torpedo, I want it to sound as if I am bringing about the end of humanity itself, not a tinny, stock "boom" that I have heard in countless games before. I have never captained a naval vessel in my life, but I am sure such a vocation includes concepts like "do not run into other ships" and "do not run into ground." Unfortunately, the AI of Silent Hunter 2 seems to have not taken notice of these basic martime rules. In one mission, I was tasked with sinking two British battlecruisers, so I quietly slid into their midst and unleased all my torpedoes against the lead battlecruiser. Shortly afterwards, the trailing battlecruisers gleefully rammed into the flaming hulk of the first battlecruiser, allowing me to pick it off with ease. The nearby destroyers would have been a threat to me had they NOT ALSO RAMMED EACH OTHER AND SUNK coming to attack me! Another time I avoided the H.M.S Ark Royal's destroyer escorts when they ran themselves aground on nearby islands. To add insult to injury, the beached vessels were sticking out of the ground at a 90 degree angle like giant lawn darts. While the AI can be monumentally stupid, it can also pinpoint your exact location 100 meters under the water WITHOUT THE AID OF SONAR and drop depth charges upon your hapless submarine with unerring accuracy. With the possible exception of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000, this has to be one of the most poorly coded simulations I have experienced. While I was successful in running the game under Windows XP, I could rarely complete a mission without a crash to desktop. Other bugs are numerous; sometimes I would lay one waypoint on the map, and the game would lay down 100 waypoints right on top of each other. The pitch of the engines would often remain unchanged, even when I increased speed to flank from a near crawl. It is impossible to play through SH2 without wondering if the developers flunked all their computer science classes. For example, for reasons beyond my explanation, Silent Hunter 2 and vehicle viewer are two seperate programs, so to keep the user from (heaven forbid!) seeing his desktop when switching between the programs, the game actually has a "SH2 Screen Blanker" to blank your screen! Such inexplicable programming practices points to a lack of experience on the developer's part. Even if the game were eventually patched up, I still could not recommend this game. Don't let the current dearth of submarine simulations part you from your hard-earned money. Go play a real WWII submarine sim, like the original Silent Hunter or Aces of the Deep.
Rating:
Summary: Play dual boot
Review: This is a very good sub simulation game for me. For those of you who have Win XP problems, install a dual boot system on a seperate partition. I play games on Win ME at C and do my work on Win XP at D.
Rating:
Summary: Best sim ever
Review: I started off about 3 years ago playing silent hunter and it blew me away it was so good. On silent hunter the graphics were pretty bad but the gameplay was amazing. Silent hunter 2 has fixed all the problems of silent hunter. This game is amazing the gameplay is great and the missions are pretty hard so it wont take 2 dyas to beat. I have been playing about 2-5 times a week now for 2 months and i am not bored of it. The graphics in silent hunter 2 are better than silent hunter but are still not amazing but even with that the game is awsome. The missions range from recon to sinking enemy troop transports. I always enjoy playing the game. To sum it up: amazing game with better graphics than silent hunter.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Review: Ubisoft boasts about how realistic Silent Hunter II is, balony! Silent Service II, which was released in the early '90s is much more so.
Having to meet requirements on a submarine patrol? It was'nt uncommon for a submarine to spend weeks on patrol and never sight an enemy ship. you searched until you found something and even then you wer'nt guarenteed a kill. You'd just as likely as not come home empty handed. If SH2 was "realistic" this would/could be the case. And how do you start a patrol out in midocean with full fuel tanks? How is it that thermal layers dont reflect active sonar in SH2? That was/is why submariners look for thermal layers. Without them you hav'nt got a chance to evade detection/attack, which is denied you in SH2. How about single destroyers that dump hundreds of depth charges on you when no destroyer class even carried as many as 100 of them? I could write a book on the gross inaccuracies/unrealism of this game but this I'm sure, will do. Just so you know that I have a good idea of what I'm talking about my uncle was a submariner in WWII. The graphics and playabilty are the only redeeming features in the game.
| 
