My personal SH IV Gold reveiw

[Freiwillige]

NOTE: This is just my take and mostly based on opinion.

System Specs:AMD Sempron 2.8+ runing at the default 1600Mhz.
GeForce 7300 GT AGP with 512megs
2048 gigs of DDR 3200 system memory
80 gigabyte WD ATA HD

The intro movie just blew me away and I had to watch it at least 3 times before proceeding!

Load times are much faster than with SHIII.

First Impression. Wow even know the charicters are much more advanced than it predissesor they do look cartoony. And something just seems odd about the water and I cant describe it. The color is okay but the texture and wave behavior is bizarre. Again dificult to describe at best. The training missions are devoid of any real hints and you just kind of have to figure it out a bit. The training missions ran good on my P.C. and better than I expected with graphics set on medium.

The outside veiw is great and the boats are much more detailed than in SHIII with crews walking around on deck oblivious to their impending destruction. Now if only I could figure out how to shoot a torpedo into them instead of lofting one in there general direction!

So far I am more impressed than I thought I would be.
After watching several youtube videos describing the correct procedure to torpedo the cruiser in training mission 3 I decided to try that next. And after only 12 failed attempts I finally a torpedo on target, Not just one but all four! The cruiser rolled and sank in less than thirty seconds and the damage effects are far superior to SHIII's with the ability to see inside the holes you strategicaly placed there for the Japanese.

Another thing that struck me is how odd looking fleet boats are compared to German subs. No Teutonic engineering went into making these beautifull eyesores the U.S. feilded in WWII. No Instead of the streamlined towers of the U-boats you get these huge structures with odds and ends slapped on them and protruding in an most unweilding mannor. Still functional is the opperative word here in the US navy and dont forgett that sailor! Well at least I have the Kreigsmarine to look into next with the U-boat missions add on that came with the sim.

So after AAA practice and deck gun and torpedo trining I am sitting here with a grudging smile on my face. I must admit that I like it although I cannot shake that feeling that something is off somwhere. It just has not sucked me in like SHIII yet....

Okay training done its time to put to sea. WHy not take the type IX U-boat out for a spin on this beautifull Pacific afternoon I thought. Laod campaighn and im in an office. Looks good to. Try a few upgrades and im off in some far east harbour.

First problem arises. My frame rates near a port are reduced to nill but I pull out anyways determined to stick it out. The crew speaks English!? No German voice overs this time but I suppose there is a mod.....Thank God for Modders!

Problem 2. Looking around inside my boat all my guages are blacked out. No deapth meter. the dials on the TDC are blacked out as well! Must be a bug!

This sim even at this late stage seems unpolished and buggy. Although SHIII had its issues as well in the beginning. Seems to be a Silent Hunter thing.

Well 48 hours into this crazy experiment I pull the plug. Do I like SH4? Yes I do and modded it should have the same ability to shine as SHIII does now. Will it replace SHIII? While it will stay on my hard drive and be played quite a bit as I discover new things over the coming weeks good and bad, It wont be replacing my SHIII anytime soon if ever. It just has a differant feel to it than SHIII. I would recommend buying it if your system can handle it and some of the new features are breathtaking like the ability to see your submarine through the water.

Its more complimetary to SHIII as opposed to an outright replacment of its big brother. Admitedly I have tried none of the Mods such as Trigger Maru or Environment 4 but I hear great things about them both and will probably be trying both soon.

So there you have it in a nutshell, Hopefuly some of the modders can get some bugs fixed that UBI left in and refine the engine a bit so your frame rates stop getting kicked in the....Well you get the idea.

[FIREWALL]

Good positive review.

[Sailor Steve]

Needs a spell-checker though.