Silent Hunter III war game

Silent Hunter III (2005)

Categories: naval simulatorssubmarine simulators

Third game of the Silent Hunter series was again simulating German U-Boat operating on North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, but actually it was a huge step forward comparing to Silent Hunter II. The not so successful missions system was switched into open-world game, where the player receives orders f.e. to patrol specific zone, but apart from that he has full freedom to do whatever he wants and wherever he wants. The strong point of the game was also the huge area available - Atlantic Ocean wasn’t limited just to Europe, if the submarine had enough fuel you could go as far as South Africa, United States or South American ports. The AI of enemies was improved, as well as graphics and in effect we had quite good game. New thing was the crew management system, which gave you the chance to recruit new crew members to replace the injured ones or killed during the patrol, but also you could transfer them between sections of the boat to set the best men on current watch or replace those, who are injured. Another new option was assignment of the player and his boat to specific fleet, which influenced the bases you are using and the missions you are receiving. During the career you could even request transfer to another fleet, f.e. from North Atlantic to Mediterranean Sea.

One of the very few glitches was the time compression system - while on route to United States or Africa you really needed a lot of patience. The other one was anti-aircraft guns efficiency - on some patrols you could shot down even 15 or 20 planes while getting only minor damages. Third small error was not keeping the game in touch with real historical events, f.e. if you would be around Normandy on 6th June 1944 you will see... actually nothing. No warships, no planes, no D-Day landing, but after later you will learn that submarine bases in France are no longer available. And same story is with other events from World War 2 - they take place, but you can’t see them.

Overall very good submarine simulator with few revolutionary elements that actually worked perfectly. With only few tiny problems the game was one of the best.

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