I can't say I'm the biggest fan of war sims. Trying to really simulate war is often a futile attempt, and the video game that eventually does achieve it may fail miserably due to the fact that war isn't fun. However,
Silent Hunter II comes close to that thin line between fun and realism without blatantly treading over it.
The basic premise of the game is that you take control of a German U-Boat during World War 2. The Campaign Mode will take you through three stages of the war from beginning, middle to end, testing your ability to take a sub into the North Atlantic and bring it back in one piece. The missions will pit you against mainly British enemies, with a few Americans and French thrown in for spice. Mostly you'll be attacking other ships, but on occasion you'll get to take out some planes with your deck mounted AA guns.
As the captain of the ship, it is your job to tell your crew what to do and when to do it. This is done from 11 different areas of the boat. Most of the areas have something to do with specific ship capabilities, i.e. the navigation charts, radar, engine room, etc.
One possible drawback to Silent Hunter II is its sim nature. You'll be conducting most of your activities from the navigation charts, with maybe an occasional hop over to your periscope for some visual confirmation. The elation you feel when you see your target go up on flames through your periscope is one unmatched by many other games. There are also some views that will let you take a gander at the outside of the ship, looking out of the bridge or through the sights on your deck gun, but watching the little blue dot that is supposed to be you moving around the map for too long might turn some off.
Though Silent Hunter II has few problems, it lacks the options and replay value that make a great game. It does not have multiplayer capabilities per se, but you can play against other people online who own Ubi Soft's Destroyer Command. Here you get to pit your sub skills against their fleet command skills. An interesting twist to the whole Multiplayer scheme, although it would have been nice if a few friends and I could have fought it out sub to sub.
Another fault to be found is the lack of a map editor. 'How can you edit the sea?' you may ask. True, there wouldn't be much customization here, and they do already have a Custom Mission option where you can pretty much decide who and where you are going to fight. Yet I'm sure some people could come up with some pretty interesting sea floor schemes. Not much of an argument, I know, but then again there's not that much to argue about.
