I give up.

[Grumbling Grognard]

I bought SHIV when it first came out. Heck, I bought a DVD player for my PC just to get this game. I have since picked it up…and put it back on the shelf on four separate occasions since it first came out. Each time trying to get into the game. The last two tries with the help of some nice mods but I give up.

The things that kill SHIV for me:

- The convoy/merchant AI does not even seem to exist. What the heck happened to zig zagging?!? How about AT LEAST have a convoy zig zag in unison after they are attacked instead of the stupid traffic jams that occur…that is if they even wait until an attack to start running into each other...well they don't actually hit each other no they act like they will...then stop on a dime and instantly reverse like pulling out of the drive way! But more simply...what happened to the simple zig-zag as a standard procedure? You know BEFORE the merchangs are attacked…you know they way they did in real life and in AOD and SH?

- The escorts are completely brain dead. You can often sit in one location (off the port of a convoy for example) and fire salvo after salvo of torps reloading between each volley as they cruise and use spot lights "listening". What happened to active sonar (i.e. pinging)? The only time I hear that now is AFTER they have discovered me?

- The air cover is so unrealistic it is a crime. I have lost count of the number of planes I have seen fly past in a single day as I cruise several hundred miles from the nearest air field…heck I have lost count of the number of aircraft I have blown out of the sky in a single day with my awesome twin 20mm of death!

- The entire campaign is a joke. The missions you are assigned are meaningless. I generally see so much traffic on the to my patrol zone I am out of torps before I get to my patrol zone!!!

Oh yeah, the graphics are nice (really), at least when they are not flashing and blinking at me (yes current drivers). The movies are a nice feature I must admit if only they could 'support' a real game.

The save games that don't load.

The save games where ships or entire convoys simply vanish when you load them.

Buggy crew/radar that sometimes just does not bother to tell you an enemy is spotted?

Lack of sun up sun down times and you know the #1 thing a captain was worried about from day to day other than the enemy...the WEATHER! How about some info on that? How about at least a map icon so you don't have to drop out of speed up mode and go to the damn bridge and look around personally?

The entire lack of improvement on the crew functionality. How about having some of your best men ship OUT once in awhile...you know like they did in reality? To command their own vessels, etc?


I could go on...but I won't. I so wanted to like this game and I gave it twice as many tries as I normally do a game I dropped $50 on (not counting the DVD drive).

Sorry, I needed to rant about this for quite some time. If my boy did not kinda like the game it would be on eBay right now.

I hope others enjoy it more than I did,

GG