Trying to use Google translate and then correct it...
Here at GameSector we have for many years faithfully been fans of the Silent Hunter serie - we have previously reported (and praised) a number of these excellent and detailed submarine simulations which just got better and better with each release. Right up until now. For the Silent Hunter 5 developers at UbiSoft Romania dive too soon and the result is that they smack to the bottom with a bang. In other words, the bottom of the Silent Hunter series has now been reached. To honor their memory, we have thrown a potted plant in the ferry port.
What went wrong?
The Silent Hunter serie has always been one of the very best submarine simulations - okay competition has gradually been restricted, but it does not change the level of the series so far as being fantastic. Each release has brought forward new features to the functioning and especially the long trip where you could upgrade the submarine and its crew, and command it through several missions during the war has really impressed us. The intensity of chasing an enemy convoy and to navigate the submarine silently into a favorable angle shot or to zigzag beneath the surface of the Atlantic to sneak away from the destroyers, attack with depth charges, is simply unmatched in Silent Hunter series. So what has gone wrong?
In principle, Silent Hunter 5 ought to be another edge from the same piece as the previous games. The game features for a number of campaign opportunities (yes real campaigns - not just a big sandbox) from 1939 to the end of the war. There are missions underway in the form of patrols against targets in high seas, "blockade" tasks of UK ports and free patrols. There are also a number of individual missions, which can be fun if you do not have the energy for the protracted campaign trips and just want "here and now" action or a good challenge. You choose when to start your campaign so you can jump right into the early "Happy Days" before the Allied dominance and presence was too much or you can try out the last days of the war, which really makes you struggling with the back against the wall against the overwhelming number of escort vessels, patrolling aircraft and a large presence of ASDIC-equipped destroyers.
As a new feature in Silent Hunter 5, you have full freedom of movement around your submarine (almost). You can climb up the ladder to the tower, walk around on deck or crawl through the narrow areas in the boat and say hello to your crew who man their posts, relax or sleep. You can even strut around in the dock when your submarine is in port to get supplies after a trip. You can gossip with your crew, which should have an impact on their morale - but this is never really explained as the game has no tutorial and you might have guessed, it's boring ass pounding, running around and talk with bland gastric number 23 about his wife every other day. Freedom of movement may sound fantastic, but in reality it is a filler for most of the game still managed from your navigation map - this can even be combined with that you look through periscopes, so you can always correct the submarine's course and set waypoints to achieve a favorable angle shot on a freighter.
Last but not least, Silent Hunter 5 offers multiplayer missions where multiple players can collaborate online to attack Allied convoys. In theory at least - because we have not gotten this feature to work yet.
So why does it fail?
It sounds good - and in many ways, Silent Hunter 5 is also a good game. But there are just so many errors, problems, and not least a complete retarded copy protection system to the gaming experience ruined by a direct hit by a depth bomb. The game's bugs, as there are so many that I can not manage to list them, are obviously something that probably will be rectified on the go with patches. But as the game is now, it is close to be unplayable. It CTDs for example from time to time and mission goals, realism settings and other essential information "disappear" on a regular basis when you reload the game. But it is far from being the only problems.
Another design error makes it nearly impossible to use weapons - for example the deck gun, there seems to be under water most of the time, even when the submarine sailing on the surface. And most urgent - why can my crew not figure out how to attack a ship with the deck gun without that I should both aim and shoot for them? Actually, I had a long time trouble whatsoever using the deck gun. I could order the gun manned, but nothing happend (except for a few crew members being located at the deck gun - at least they don't shoot with it). Then I tried to find a hotkey for themselves to operate the gun - without success. So I searched for 10 minutes after stepping down from the control tower so I could come down on the deck and use the gun myself - only after the 10 minutes I accidently discovered to back down the ladder and therefore discovered how well hidden it was. When I finally got the gun crew to operate on the Polish freighter, the Polish crew probably already died of old age (or even died of old age at the time it took the cannon to send the ship to the bottom) and I still could not get the crew to operate gun without my direct involvement. I am impressed that the developers do not even ask me to sweep the floors in the galley and laundry for all the crew for leaving everyone to be completely helpless.
Silent Hunter 5 is close to having the world's worst tutorial - only marginally surpassed by games that do not have a tutorial. You throw into the role of a young first officer who helps a captain of a submarine during an attack on three Polish stationary cargo ships. Then manages both to return to Kiel - and congratulations! - Then you're captain in command of your own boat - no explanation on anything. Beautiful. Whether it's because the torpedo firing and target finding / tracking is so idiotically simple that it destroys a large part of the realism I had expected in the game, I can not manage to answer.
The worst thing about Silent Hunter 5 is boredom, which emerges far too early on the surface. Emissions during the campaign is too monotonous and lack of automation (for example, by the deck gun) get some attacks on ships to take an eternity. If it takes a few minutes or three to lower a cargo ship with the deck gun and you attack a convoy of 10 vessels of course you can easily figure out how long you have to have "fun" with the gun. The game is too sad and monotonous - the AI is so miserable that you can often get away from the entire fleet of warships completely unharmed, just by sailing away in a straight line and torpedoes is simplistic to a level that the game resembles a shooting frenzy at sea, crew morale seems to jump up and down without any impact on anything (or means I can affect in any way). It is simply something design-wise botch.
In addition, the game receives a serious punch when it comes to system requirements. Silent Hunter 5's favorite food is RAM and ingested in large mouthful of several gigabytes. At the highest graphical setting, even a proper giant of a new PC is forced to its knees, and attempted to get the time to accelerate (when you have to sail long distances on the chart) will have the game run like a slideshow. When that is said, the game is actually quite nice on the highest graphic settings - that is if your PC can handle the task.
Last but not least, Ubisoft's new copy protection - what a stink they have committed here. The concept is simple: Players must constantly be connected to the Internet and a server that can verify that you now have done nothing illegal. Okay then - at first glance it is a shame for people without internet. But in reality it is more sad for the rest of us, the servers, which must approve the game to work, may be down - and which happens even very often or they are overloaded and throw you off in the middle of a game (whereafter the game think you are doing something illegal and shuts down). It is simply embarrassing to introduce a copy protection system such as this, which actually prevents paying customers from playing.
Silent Hunter 5 should never have been released in the form it is now. Out of the woodwork, the bugs, problems, or just stupid design error keep on appearing. There are a number of patches that will attempt to rectify any errors - but it does unfortunately still not prevent that Silent Hunter 5 in its present form is close to be unplayable - at least if you want something close to the gaming experience that is intended.
Unfortunately - because there are some things that promises some potential - the graphics are nice (although it uses most power out of most PCs) and the ability to train and develop its crew with new skills seems quite promising. But as things are now Silent Hunter 5 is not recommended - rather purchase something cheaper like Silent Hunter 4 or wait half a year until UbiSoft have put so many patches on this game that it can again hold water. We give Silent Hunter 5 a rating in the deep end of the ocean and hope that UbiSoft will get back on top soon again.
