Now, this works the other way- if Ubisoft's authentication servers are down, you can't play your game. Without internet access the game won't begin, and if your internet connection drops while you're playing then it saves your game and quits itself. In case you're not aware (or at least not actively part of the PC gaming community that's been frothing with rage about this), Silent Hunter 5 requires you to be connected to the internet at all times so that Ubisoft's launcher program can stay connected to the game's authentication servers. And finally, as one of the first games to receive Ubisoft's new copy protection, it's an embarrassment. As a product, it's just overwhelming disrespectful to this long running series' fans. As a simulation, it fails because the bugs and UI render it ridiculous and incomplete. Why on earth was this game rushed? Were they trying to hit the shelves before all those high-profile submarine simulators under development at BioWare and Infinity Ward came out or something? And I'm playing version 1.1.5! What was SH5 like before they patched it several times?Īs a game, Silent Hunter 5 fails because the bugs and UI render it a chore.

It couldn't have given up the fight quicker if my sub had sprouted legs and wriggled onshore like a caterpillar. Today I sank a tanker that a Destroyer was escorting and was denied the breathtaking chase I've come to expect from the series when the warship slunk off dejectedly. On my first day with Silent Hunter 5 I spent 40 minutes trying to figure out how to get my crew to man a deck gun and never got further than making an officer scream 'MAN THE DECK GUN' with no result. What are the blue health bars? What does this button do? Why is nobody chasing me?Īs was the case with Silent Hunter 3 and 4, it's likely that between Ubisoft and the boys at (who've already released a glut of mods which, among other things, disable Silent Hunter 5's currently broken morale system) Silent Hunter 5 will be patched from the leaking, barnacle-coated wreck that it is now to comparative perfection by autumn, but right here and now it's simply not good enough. Why will no-one man the deck gun? Why do I have to man the deck gun? Why can I man and fire the deck gun in waves so fierce that I'm underwater most of the time? Realism options revert to defaults each time you start the game?! Changing resolution causes game to run in window on monitor. Hull integrity dropped to 81 per cent while I was circumnavigating Denmark.

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