You know, leading up to SHIV release - as with SHIII - I started doing some research.
All I can say is, boy do these people who think of the American campaign as boring have it wrong
I'll be honest, as much as I like the Atlantic athmosphere, tossing all bias aside - the Pacific campaign is already appealing to me a lot more. The Atlantic campaign is a clash of titans - grim wolfpacks vs. huge convoys; a lot of intensity, but ultimately it all comes down to U-boat vs. everyone. The Pacific campaign is more of a combined operation - subs are part of a bigger winning strategy; they play roles in commerce war, in naval clashes, in supporting and being supported by friendly ships, troops and airmen. In the Atlantic, there's just a prolonged battle over the same shipping lanes; in the Pacific - the enemy advances, the enemy retreats; you hunt in a theater that's constatly changing its political and military geography. And if that's not enough, it's a bigger theater with a much more interesting physical geography.
And it's NOT too easy. I said it before I started reading, and I still say it - it's blasphemy to belittle the heroism and suffering of American submariners. They were fighting a war they won and should by all accounts have won, but the battles were theirs to fight - and could be lost just as easily. With all hands.