[nervouspete]

Hey you lot.

I'm going to get it, if only because I feel the immersion is there. I'll be happier once TDC's and rudder controls are modded in, and a more historical interface, but then I think I realise why the developers have gone for a basic look for the existing UI. They wanted to remove the impression of you pressing things and make it seem more like you were giving orders to your crew to carry out. It's a sub-capt. sim, not a 'be all the crew' sim.

Am I happy with this decision? Can't say I am, but then I'm not cross either when a fine array of modders waits in the wings to work on this baby. I'm very pleased that they've left it so open for modification and tinkering. Eventually we'll get something very beautiful out of this, I'm sure.

Up until then I don't mind so much what icons I'm clicking or keys I'm pressing, so long as I feel like I'm there. Consensus of those who own it seems to be - on average:

Utterly ravishing to look at.
Interface a little baffling but workable.
Doesn't let you take full control of some aspects as SH3 did.
AI good to great.
Bugs are there but not game crippling and fixable.
Certain specifics are a little sloppy - no oilskins for crew (grrr!) recon planes at night...
Intentionally different from SH3/4
Manual is a load of balls, as are the instructions.

I find the last negative particularly ironic as this is supposed to be a 'break-out' game to hook the non-sim player. Way to reel them in with a completely inadequate manual and downright wrong key listings. Heigh-ho.

Overall though this looks a very promising title and I'm itching to buy it. I only want to know four things:

1: Is there a gramophone/radio and can I drop in those old war radio files? That was half the immersion for me with GWX, listening to authentic war broadcasts. It'll be doubly excellent when a new SH5Commander comes out.

2: Does your sub have the full crew of 40-odd, or just the 27 or so I see in the videos? Does the game make you think that the others are just rotated off shift but still on boat, or is history revised for a smaller crew? I don't mind if for performance reasons they had to scale it back, but I would like a feeling of people in bunks to make up numbers and stuff.

3: Do crew get injured or die and are replaced by suspiciously similarly voiced fresh faced types, like that bit where Homer leaves the bar and reappears as Guy Incognito?

4: Do crew still get thrown about and stuff?

It'd be great if anyone could answer me those. Ta.

So... do I think that this title needed more development time? Yeah, sure. But it's always been the case with pretty much everyone except games by Valve and the Holy Civilization series. (Except Colonization 2, that was guff.) I can't get mad at Ubi for their copy protection decision either, though I think it's a bad call. I'm just happy that some big publisher is supporting the sim genre, which is facing hard times.

I aim on boycotting all Ubisoft products, except simulations. Maybe one day they will wake up and realise that we PC gamers are tired of draconian measures, excepting with regards to sims, in which case they are Stringer Bell and we are their Bubbles.

I like to sink into a game like I do a book - and SH5 looks to be one that'll immerse me deeply. Can't wait frankly for Friday, even though it means beans on toast until mid-month payday.