Silent Hunter 4 is the latest instalment in the Silent Hunter series that started with Silent Service on the C64 in 1985.
The series changed developer hands and the 2005 release of Silent Hunter 3 was an instant hit.
SH4 is a true simulator a heart that aims at placing you in the role of a US submarine commander during WWII.
Those familiar with SH3 will find SH4 very similar but you get to move away from the freezing waters of the Atlantic to the sunny pacific.
The initial release of SH4 was not without controversy as the status in which the game made it to the shelves was so bad that I did not even bother playing it until the 1.2 patch was released last week. Given that the SH4 development would probably not have enjoyed the spoils of the multi million-dollar budgets that are thrown towards the more popular genres as simulators regretfully are somewhat of a niche market, their response in fixing these issues has been excellent.
I am not going to waste your time by informing you of the issues that are no longer relevant, I can say that since this latest patch SH4 has taken up quite a few hours of my time.
SH4 although being a simulator has a wide variety of “realism” settings that will appeal to both the hardcore simulator fan as well as those whom want to start things a bit more casually.
Newcomers will certainly want to start at the easier setting until comfortable with all the options at which stage you have to choice to crank up the realism.
Why let the computer make the torpedo attack calculations for you if you can do them yourself, we all loved math at school right?
There are the options l want to have realistic loading times, limited fuel and battery life, no problem.
And if you really want to make your life hard you can disable all external views while submerged, you miss out on the immersion of looking around the world but the fear factor makes well up for it as you have to rely purely on your sonar to find out from which direction that destroyer dropping those nasty depth charges is sailing towards you.
Higher difficulties do offer higher rewards in the form of renown which allows you to choose better subs, equipment and skilled sailors over time.
As a beginner you can go through a variety of tutorials familiarising you with your submarine’s operations and weaponry. There is also a wide variety of play modes to choose from that will allow you participate in some historical naval battles or go through to a preset series of war missions. These ones are certainly interesting to go through and typically put you in the thick of the action very quickly. Finally there is the dynamic career in which you take your sub to water with a general direction and simply hunt down whatever enemy vessel crossing your path or quite frequently become the hunted yourself.
The start of you career also forces you to make a decision as to what year you want to start your military career and from which base you want to start, the Philippines or Pearl Harbour, these decisions will influence the type of submarines that are available to you and how close you will be to dangerous waters.
The manual explains certain aspects very well while others it strangely enough doesn’t explain at all, the best knowledgebase for some essential information related to SH4 will be the subsim.com forums and off course we have some experienced simmers on the respective TOG forum as well.
SH4 is a game of patience, precision and careful planning, it’s all about the hunt for prey which this time is the Japanese fleet. But unlike the animal kingdom, here you are not on top of the food chain as the enemy’s war machine is more then capable of sending you to a watery grave once they are aware of your presence. But you do have the advantage of stealth and surprise on your side, it is how well you use these elements that will determine what vessel will rest at the bottom of the ocean.
If your gaming style is one in which you want to get as many kills as you can get in the shortest possible time then SH4 is probably not your thing but if you enjoy the thrill of the preparation required to make that fatal strike, the reward is extremely satisfying
if you enjoy the thrill of the preparation required to make that fatal strike, the reward is extremely satisfying
, and trust me once that ship gets spotted you cannot help but get swept up in the excitement of getting ready for the kill!
For those of you who have read this far and have played SH3 might think that there isn’t really all that much new to SH4. The answer is somewhere in the middle, from a gameplay point of view SH3 is an improvement but the fundamental mechanics obviously remain the same and equally solid.
We finally have the needed features like the ability to go refuel in a friendly harbour, some meaningful radio communications etc.
Graphically SH4 is a nice makeover from SH3, with the 1.2 patch we have support for widescreen resolutions and full scene AntiAliasing. Regretfully the user interface does get somewhat too small at higher resolutions, hopefully a mod or patch will fix this.
The ocean looks better the before and we get some nice underwater effects, no marine life yet but in shallow waters we at least see plantlife and rocks and you see rays of the sun breaking through the water, the place certainly manages to feel tropical.
Ships are very well textured and feel more lifelike then before, watching a full scale battle is an exciting sight to behold as firing and explosive effects are extremely well done and also reflect in the water. The graphics overall do have a slight fuzziness about them which apparently is done to give the environment a slight oil painting effect, some people like it, some don’t.
The harbors and cities feel a lot more lifelike and ships are no longer ghostships as they now have an active crew moving around the deck.
The harbors and cities feel a lot more lifelike and ships are no longer ghostships as they now have an active crew moving around the deck.
, off course being a sim there is the inevitable repetition of some of the surrounding scenery but that is hardly an issue.
Sound effects are what you would expect them to be and certainly match the visual firepower. Although there is a musical score to accompany you on your travels I typically turn the background music off. You can upload your own music as well to play through the gramophone but unless you have a lot of songs from the Andrew Sisters your personal collection might be an unlikely candidate towards suiting the WWII setting.
One thing that does disappoint is the inability to move through all the compartments of your submarine, you can move to the bridge and the sonar stations but I really wanted to go into the engine room and see where the torpedoes get loaded etc.
From an immersion point of view it would have been a great addition, hopefully next time!
SH4 also comes with a multiplayer component, allow you to get together with a few fellow skippers and in co-operation mode attack large convoys of enemy ships.
MP mode in this game is off course a lot slower but if you enjoy the SP campaigns then MP can certainly provide ample entertainment with the right group of people.
SH4 at the end of the day delivers a great experience to anyone who enjoyed the previous games and newcomers to the genre alike.
Although SH4 doesn’t meet each and every one of my expectations that I had for this sequel to SH3, it does still manage to provide an extremely satisfying experience and I expect myself to be at periscope depth until SH5 comes along.
if you enjoy the thrill of the preparation required to make that fatal strike, the reward is extremely satisfying 
