Big fan of the SH hunter series. Although this isn't there greatest title out it still ranks a 5 IMO. The ability to select your crew give awards etc is awesome. the graphics aren't exactly the greatest but its not bad. the only problem that i see with this game is the ability to allow the computer to do the calculations for your firing solution was not implemented into the game like the previous titles. There is still some work needing to be done on the part of the boat commander(you) however that should not deter you from playing this wonderful game. with a little practice you'll be doing it the hard way with out any computer help!

It is a bit buggy, small flaws like the deck gun crew is left on deck when diving and big ones like not leaving accelerated time before running aground or being spotted by escorts.

I think it is made for a broader audience which makes it a bit boring for us that are hardcore sim fans.

It works, but not much more, needs a patch or two.

All complaints made below are fair and express my very own opinion about SH5. Maybe, if the developer is listening to the community (mainly 'subsim') a patch will put this game in its tracks, in the future. So far the game is VERY flawed, not only in terms of bugs, but also the cumbersome controls sistem.

New players in the sub simulation field are advised to go instead directly to silent hunter 3 or 4, all sold here in gamersgate as well.

When compared to other boat sims (especially prequals to this one), theres not much difference. Same basics of hunting, torpedoing, and returning to base. A cool new feature is the fact that you can now walk around on the sub and interact with your shipmates. But i prefered the older version where I could alter shifts and place men into different locations. Still waiting for a drastic change though in the Silent Hutner series.

Warning: Graphics can slow down a lot of basic computers so make sure your computer can handle it. The better your specs, the more youll enjoy this game.

While the stock game is full of bugs, of missing features (planes dont even attack you at sea) of so much arcade stuff (you can even see ennemy detection radius on map !!!!!), of unfriendly UI (while i find it more realistic than before, the missing hotkeys can be a pain sometime) the game once modded is just like SH4 or SH3.

Crew management is nothing like before, you dont have to manage each crew members, now instead you just manage your officers (cannot recruit new ones) and their abilities. Your performances at sea and the level of your officers will determine the moral level of crew, which is important to do things better. SH3 crew management was a pain imho, SH4 did better at it, SH5 is radically different, while a mix of what it is and what SH4 was would have been better (ability to recruit ie)

If you dont mod it you will be diseapointed if you are a SH veteran. Just have to see the review under to see how the stock game is rated.

You wont even notice the changes as a newcomer to the franchise so i urge you to download those two mods :

this one for a better UI of the game :

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1332669&postcount=1

and this one to finally get the AI to work properly (stock game being plain stupid)

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=171973

Once modded this game it what it should have been from the beginning.

About save games, it is very true the ubisoft servers where having problems, but it seem fixed now, and plus you can play on your local machine without saving on their internet server, just click the upper right icon on the launching window for the option to save on your computer. But i think you still need to be connected to launch the game (i'm always connected so cant say)

There are a lots of other mods for SH5, but those two will be enough to make the game close to SH3/4 experience, fix all bugs not fix by official patches (developpers still work on the games, but modders are better than them^^)

Decoman wrot a very precise review and i can only back what he wrote 100%.

I have nothing to add but my 1 star.

Silent Hunter 5 and the improvements are just not thee ... Come on - Give us more and fix the game!

Pros:

• Game works nicely with my Radeon 5850 card, with maximum settings, even anti-alising.

• Good looking graphics in general.

Cons:

• Bugs, and half finished content.

• New ill conveived concept for crew management, compared to SH3.

• Little or no feedback on official forums about future patches.

• Not having played through the game, it seems to me that there are no other interesting innovations to gameplay other than the addition of a first person view, where you can walk throughout the uboat and all along the deck of the uboat.

• No third person view of captain/kaleun/you when using external camera.

• Lacking in gameplay functionality and immersion, and I am not thinking about a missing swastika symbol here.

• Not possible to save map chart plotting with a save game. (This was not possible with earlier games either).

Players ought to visit the Subsim forums. The forums are probably the best modding community for the Silent Hunter games.

I have chosen to not continue playing the game until certain issues are either fixed, finished, improved or modded.

I will be polite here and give the game a score of; 2 of 5 stars.

The game is outstanding and very nice. The graphics are wonderful and you can interact with the crew. Fire at ships and give orders to crew. You can interact with the officers. Its nice and fun if u like naval warefare and submareing managment.

I agree to the above review from Piddyx. Its a shame you have to be connected and use ubisofts security system it save your game online but quite often the online saving make the game crash.. Actually i have nothing positive to say about the security system and the save game feature it truly is terrible.

The game feel kind of arcade and i do not really recommend it. So if you have Silent hunter 4 and the addon named U-boat missions then you should not buy silent hunter 5... The only real good difference is that you can walk inside the sub and talk to people. Ofcourse the map and other things like game menus ect. have been made worse and the menu map system that you use in your submarine is not really good, it was better in sh4 and not so frustrating to use.

Actually the first 2 houres i play the game i thought it was terrible and annoying, but now after 2 - 5 houres play its okay but in no way better than sh4.

sh5 does not really feel like a new game its just sh4 with some graphic changes and a few new features.

So i you want to buy silent hunter i recommend silent hunter 4 and the addon u-boat missions instead of silent hunter 5 its not good.... I gave it 3 stars

There are several problem with this game.

1) You must be connected to ubisoft to play. This means if your connection goes down or if their servers loose contact for even a second, your game will stop and you will be unable to play until corrected. I was stopped 3 times in 2 hours with a cable connection.

2)Not very realistic. It plays like an arcade.

3)Graphics are smooth, but SH4 seemed more dramatic.

I do not recommend this game. One Star out of Five.