pythos
12-17-07, 11:40 PM
After reading some of the views and reviews of this game, I went ahead and got it, cause the idea of submarine warfare before asdic, and even hydrophones sounded intriguing.
I installed the game, and after reading the manual, began my first foray into this new genre of subsims.
In short, this experience was a blast from the past. It was like SH2 in almost every respect. The exceptions being the lousy and limited external view camera.
The sounds were quite nice sounding, especially the diesle start up and low speeds. The first mission I did was the first training mission. I cruised along and messed with the directional controls. I found the water effect to be nice looking, if a bit blocky. Then my first dissapointment, I went to the external view, and discovered not only can I not zoom, but also I a limited to looking at the side of my boat. No movement whatsoever. This to me struck me as damned ridiculous. Flight sim 3 had a movable external view, and this game had polygon graphics, so why did the devs of the first ever wwI subsim decide to make their external camera a one trick horse?
Following this I decided to check out the underwater part of the sim. Took the boat down to 10 meters, and was greeted by the sound of the diesles shutting down, and the electric motors whining up. Then ever so faint sounds of hull creaking was heard. Nicely done. This however was followed by my next dissapointment. When the boat is under the water, the external cam is a no go. What gives? Following this was a "Huh?" moment. I popped the scope up and noticed a complete lack of any range markers, or crosshairs. Then the most disturbing discovery...no bearing marker. Nothing. I did later notice the view point direction on the compass (?), on the lower right. The electric motor sound needs quite a bit of work. Not only is it loud, it has a very repetive sound to it.
I fininshed this test mission, and moved on to the torpedo training mission. It saddend me when I looked at my boat from the outside, and seeing that the models of the boats are quite nice, but due to this stupid camera there was no way to really look at its details. Putting that aside it was time to see what the other part of the sim was like. Combat.
I discovered the torpedo solution set up in the game is disgustingly easy. Just tap the l key and everything else is done for you. After locking on the target, a british merchant, I let a torpedo go. Noticed an icon for the torpedo on the little map to the upper left. The torpedo hit, nice little plume of water fromt the side, followed by...no sound. No thud or boom or bang, nothing.
When it comes to the lack of 3d interior I am quite forgiving. To my knowledge there are really no detailed images of the interior of these boats, and the fact this is a small company that put this game out, it is quite understandable.
When it comes to the lack of versitility of the external camera, I am quite condeming. This kind of thing in a game of this day and age is simply stupid, and a sign that some suits just wanted to make some money.
This game has so much un-realized promise. It could be a nice departure from WWII, but unfortunately it is executed in an abysmal way.
If there is a way of fixing the camera so that one can view their boat from any angle, and at whatever zoom they choose, this game would have a little more hope.
The user interface also needs some help. All 3d views should be manipulated by clicking one or the other mouse buttons to make the mouse cursor disapear, and the view direction changed by mouse movement, I noticed this was not the case of the periscope view. Your control of this view was limited to the button below the pericsope view. This combersome method is also used for the raising and lowering of the scope. No "up scope" or "down scope" keys.
After the two missions, I removed the game.
But due to its small size, I think I'll reinstall it. It is most likely I am spoilt or used to Sh3 and 4.
I see there are some mods for this game, so I will look at those.
I installed the game, and after reading the manual, began my first foray into this new genre of subsims.
In short, this experience was a blast from the past. It was like SH2 in almost every respect. The exceptions being the lousy and limited external view camera.
The sounds were quite nice sounding, especially the diesle start up and low speeds. The first mission I did was the first training mission. I cruised along and messed with the directional controls. I found the water effect to be nice looking, if a bit blocky. Then my first dissapointment, I went to the external view, and discovered not only can I not zoom, but also I a limited to looking at the side of my boat. No movement whatsoever. This to me struck me as damned ridiculous. Flight sim 3 had a movable external view, and this game had polygon graphics, so why did the devs of the first ever wwI subsim decide to make their external camera a one trick horse?
Following this I decided to check out the underwater part of the sim. Took the boat down to 10 meters, and was greeted by the sound of the diesles shutting down, and the electric motors whining up. Then ever so faint sounds of hull creaking was heard. Nicely done. This however was followed by my next dissapointment. When the boat is under the water, the external cam is a no go. What gives? Following this was a "Huh?" moment. I popped the scope up and noticed a complete lack of any range markers, or crosshairs. Then the most disturbing discovery...no bearing marker. Nothing. I did later notice the view point direction on the compass (?), on the lower right. The electric motor sound needs quite a bit of work. Not only is it loud, it has a very repetive sound to it.
I fininshed this test mission, and moved on to the torpedo training mission. It saddend me when I looked at my boat from the outside, and seeing that the models of the boats are quite nice, but due to this stupid camera there was no way to really look at its details. Putting that aside it was time to see what the other part of the sim was like. Combat.
I discovered the torpedo solution set up in the game is disgustingly easy. Just tap the l key and everything else is done for you. After locking on the target, a british merchant, I let a torpedo go. Noticed an icon for the torpedo on the little map to the upper left. The torpedo hit, nice little plume of water fromt the side, followed by...no sound. No thud or boom or bang, nothing.
When it comes to the lack of 3d interior I am quite forgiving. To my knowledge there are really no detailed images of the interior of these boats, and the fact this is a small company that put this game out, it is quite understandable.
When it comes to the lack of versitility of the external camera, I am quite condeming. This kind of thing in a game of this day and age is simply stupid, and a sign that some suits just wanted to make some money.
This game has so much un-realized promise. It could be a nice departure from WWII, but unfortunately it is executed in an abysmal way.
If there is a way of fixing the camera so that one can view their boat from any angle, and at whatever zoom they choose, this game would have a little more hope.
The user interface also needs some help. All 3d views should be manipulated by clicking one or the other mouse buttons to make the mouse cursor disapear, and the view direction changed by mouse movement, I noticed this was not the case of the periscope view. Your control of this view was limited to the button below the pericsope view. This combersome method is also used for the raising and lowering of the scope. No "up scope" or "down scope" keys.
After the two missions, I removed the game.
But due to its small size, I think I'll reinstall it. It is most likely I am spoilt or used to Sh3 and 4.
I see there are some mods for this game, so I will look at those.