1. Silent Hunter 4

Other than Microsoft's Flight Simulator, what other simulation series can match the legacy of Ubisoft's Silent Hunter franchise? None. With a move back to the original theater, US subs in the Pacific, Silent Hunter 4 broke the surface in March 2007. Dubbed by many as Silent Hunter 4: Bugs of the Pacific, SH4 was released in a very unpolished state with a number of key glitches, flaws, and missing features but eager subsim skippers bought the game in good faith. The core game was sound and the critically acclaimed Romanian dev team applied lessons learned from SH3 to improve the interface, crew management, improved harbor activity, and added new features reminiscent of the original Silent Hunter (pilot rescue). To top it off, the graphics were of the highest caliber ever, simply stunning visuals that lived up to the "Hollywood blockbuster" hype. By the autumn, Silent Hunter 4 received its fourth patch and has turned into the equal of Silent Hunter III; a premiere subsim that adds considerable credential to Ubisoft's game portfolio.

Subsim's Silent Hunter 4 review