Here is a quote from my SH4 review, which remarks on how I feel about the sim in it's 1.1 form. 1.2 makes the sim playable but I believe 1.3 is a requirement!
"I’m going to be blunt. Development studios have got to stop releasing unfinished products just so they can meet their release date. Ubisoft have released an unfinished product here and just days after release, they had a patch ready to go that still didn’t sort the problems. Ubisoft were obviously not prepared to wait for another month so the development team could get this patch into the release version and Ubisoft have released what in my opinion is a beta product not in any way ready for release. Before playing Silent Hunter 4 you must install the 1.1 patch or it is not worth buying (even with the 1.1 patch it is not a more immersive and comprehensive simulator than Silent Hunter 3 was), this review is of the 1.1 version."
http://www.timwheatley.org/2007/03/2...acific-review/