User Reviews (11 - 21 of 29)

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Skip this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: March 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Everything I have heard about this game is true - the good and bad. Right out of the box there was an immediate problem with Bugs. I have downloaded the patch, but there are still some serious gliches. Ubisoft is known for bugs, but they really out did themselves. It seems that they forgot to do any quality control testing. The game itself is fun - if you get past the low quality programming.

Do Not Buy This Product

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game directly from Ubisoft. I installed and it on a Win XP pro system with 2GB of Ram and 250GB hard disk space. It crashed every time I tried to play it. I contacted Ubisoft and they provided help on "tweaks and fixes" none of which worked. They asked me to uninstall and re-install. I did and still the game would not work. After 3 or 4 hours of trying their fixes I had had enough and asked for my money back. I was told that because I registered the software and used the game they could not provide a refund. I responded by saying yes I had registered the game, but how could I have used the game if it crashed every time I try to run it? They basically said no refund. If you search their user forums you see similar complaints to mine. I wish I had access to their user forums before I bought the game. Anyone considering buying this game should consider my story as a warning.

Great premise, buggy delivery

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The Silent Hunter series has been a great series, to date. I own II and III and still play them. I was thrilled when I heard of Silent Hunter IV. I missed the days of Silent Service on the C64, cruising around the warm and Sunny Pacific.

The submarine simulator genre is always plagued by technical junkies, history buffs, and detail nit-pickers, but, out of the box, SH4 is a bomb in all aspects. There are numerous crash-to-desktop scenarios, one of them is by pressing the "a" key (normally used in the game). The dials and instruments used to manually compute a firing solution don't work and torpedoes don't run at the right speed, so getting a kill by torpedoes is pure luck, even with the automatic setting. How did *that* pass quality control?

Graphics are good, as long as you have a Cray or two to provide processing power. Even if you do have a top of the line rig there are numerous graphical glitches and errors (e.g., a 2001-like monolith rectangle that sucks FPS) that simply kill the game. The interiors of the subs have graphical issues, as well, including periscopes that don't move, lights that flicker that shouldn't, and dials and wheels that either move the wrong way, or don't move at all.

The game shipped with a copy-protection scheme that apparently caused a lot of problems, even with legit users. I never experienced this, and it may be that the legit users weren't so legit.

Even if you learn how to work around the broken targeting system and set the graphics settings to their absolute lowest, the enemy AI is terrible. Often all it takes to sink a convoy is to look at it. I watched a fleet of cruisers and destroyers bash into each other until they exploded and sunk without firing a single shot or even surfacing. Sometimes convoys seem to be sailing along normally until the first torpedo hits, then they come to a complete stop.

There are patches available and a dedicated submarine simulation community (www.subsim.com) that have fixes and workarounds to most of the problems in SH4, but, in this reviewer's humble opinion, it's simply not worth the money or effort. Go buy Silent Hunter 3, download the patches and a mod package or two, and the experience will be much more enjoyable.

The best of its type.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It you like real time strategy games and have the patience to get through a relatively long learning curve then this is your game. Just be sure to make sure you have lots of power. The minimum video card I recommend for this game is a GForce 256K. Anthing less and you will find a jumpy screen and inevitable disappointment.

I spent 8 years in the submarine service and still enjoy the feeling I get from playing this game. I have a relatively large screen and it is easy to lose myself at times when the action gets hot. Very realistic. Of course there are lots of details that aren't available, but that has to be expected. Maybe in the future.....

Good hunting!!

Great game! Fantastic graphics!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game has the best detailed graphics I have ever seem on a simulator game period, and I have seen a lot of them....especially the water,....my only problem with the game is that the boats in the japanese ports are few and they all seem to be the same type of boats, no matter what port you go to.....if they could come up with a patch that could place more boats of diverse types in and around the ports, I would have absoloutly no complaints with this game.

Great game, but it feels unfinished.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had the grand opportunity of testing the game. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.

Graphically, it is one of the finer sims out there. However, numerous bugs run in the game, of which, only 15 are fixed in the 1.2 patch. I wouldn't recommend paying the full FIFTY BUCKS for the special version. It only has 6 videos of actual US naval films, the rest is advertising for manuals and DVD's, not to mention the narration by a guy who sounds like he's 15.

It also doesn't include the full guide to the enemy vessels you will be facing. Not a whole lot of bang for your buck. It's a real shame that I can't give this game 5 stars, but it just doesn't feel done. I really wished that Ubisoft would of held off until all the bugs could be worked out. I even e-mailed them on it, but they just didn't listen.

It's not a horrible game. In fact, I'd suggest you go out and get it, that is if your PC can handle it. Again, I don't think you should buy the unfinished special edition version. With their promised future patches, I'd say this will be a 5 star game... but that will be told in time.

I'm very excited to know now that Ubisoft will be releasing a NEW patch/addon come mid-2008 that will add a U-boat campaign to the game. It will be taking place in the Indian Ocean, and it promises to do some MAJOR improvements to the game. One thing that doesn't make any sense, on this news, is that a Japanese campaign will not be available. Wait, SH4 was first released with the Americans vs. the Japanese navy. Isn't it kind of odd that they don't even include Japanese submarines as playable vessels?

Well, until 2008 comes around and the patch comes out, This review shall remain unchanged.

The best once patched to 1.3

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have played them all from Microprose Silent Service through all the Silent Hunters and this is easily the best. Make sure you have the patch and a rig that is about 3.0mghz with a high end video card that is no older than two years old. The view cameras, action, AI are amazing. Unlike many Silent Hunters this has a free-form type of campaign that is not scenario driven and allows you freedom to continue or return to port at will. Probably the best graphical warsim I have ever seen, you can even pick out crew on opposing ships with your binoculors with facial features. You can use the cam to watch the ships sink, they have holes in their sides, gun shots will topple the big smoke stacks on ships. Wow.

Down Periscope

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 11
Date: July 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is so buggy it will barely run. When you add an unhelpful manual and tutorials that don't show you how to do anything, the beautiful graphics just wind up cheesing you off more. I'd give anything for the old Silent Hunter Commander's Edition - take a look at the Amazon ratings for it - 5 stars. But who runs Windows 98 anymore?

Not worth the effort

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: April 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Have used other UBISOFT products in the past and was very disappointed in their efforts here and the product they have put on the street. This game is new to the market, is not very computer compatible with more bugs than worth the effort, and should have been released as a beta version. After a few sessions it has been uninstalled.

Wolves

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A great game, once the patches are installed, but, visually stunning. If you like War, and Sims, and fire, and explosions.....this game is for you! I love it despite the bugs initially, and system requirements are steep.

Tucky

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