A less than exuberant review from bit-tech.net - 2/10 ...

Fischer · 03-23-10, 01:36 PM

"What you get with Silent Hunter 5 is a horrifically slow, buggy, unintuitive sub sim that's nowhere near accessible enough for beginners and breaks with so many traditions it can't be picked up and played by veterans either. Our advice? Silent Hunter 5 does such a good job of torpedoing itself you're far better off buying Silent Hunter 4 or a copy of Das Boot and reliving the glory days instead."

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/20...ter-5-review/1

03-23-10, 01:42 PM

I do agree with some of his points, re bugs, some unfinished bits and DRM, however has the guy even played the game? so many thing he says is not what I have in mine?

example:
"Firstly, there is no 'return to course' command. This means that if you use the rudder to manually steer the submarine - something you'll need to do frequently to avoid enemies and get into a better position to attack - you have to wipe all your navigation waypoints and set up them all over again afterwards. This will happen exactly five times before you start clawing for the auto-destruct button"

true there is no button, but all you have to do is add a waypoint at the end of your way point cousre and the sub starts to follow your way points again, no need to redo all the way points as he says?

also:
"What's more, the first-person mode is so badly coded it crawls along at an appallingly slow frame rate regardless of how much hardware you throw at it."

again wrong from my point of view, as I only have a amd6400, windows 7 and ati4870...so not top line and yet mine runs very smooth?

Iron Budokan · 03-23-10, 01:44 PM

Ouch.

SteamWake · 03-23-10, 02:32 PM

While performance on my machine is not butter smooth it does alright not a 'crawl' by any stretch of the imagination. He probably reviewed on a laptop or something.

BTW Darkwraiths mod returns the return to course button.

Then there is this

Quote:

Nothing is more infuriating than being stuck in the conning tower and getting strafed by a passing RAF fighter all because the game has far too many steps between you and the steering wheel.

How in the heck did he manage to get strafed? I have yet to be strafed and I have many hours in the sim.

GoldenRivet · 03-23-10, 02:34 PM

you know...

he's not wrong

Noren · 03-23-10, 02:42 PM

Quote:

and as I am fond of telling my wife, compromise means everyone loses.

and I thought that was the key to a happy marriage....or a lasting one....or both? But every now and then one should do as one please.

On a serious note: the reviewer has played the game, why else would he be so frustrated with the controls? But he has not tried every single workaround or solutions to bugs/strange UI etc, he's not as hardcore and loving fan as Neal.

Ubisoft: take heed!

Task Force · 03-23-10, 02:57 PM

I agree with this guy, the devs changed things that worked... and had been working, for something that is broken...

Performance, is my main issue, its horriable I dont know why performance is SO bad inside, but good outside...

Nemesis43 · 03-24-10, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shmall

again wrong from my point of view, as I only have a amd6400, windows 7 and ati4870...so not top line and yet mine runs very smooth?

The engine seems to prefer ATI. I, being an Nvidia user, actually had to disable SLI to get smooth performance; with SLI it was more like smoothness interrupted by a great many stutters. I'm guessing the review was done on a machine equipped with Nvidia card(s).
On that note, has anyone had positive results from using SLI vs. not using it in SH5?

03-24-10, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Silent Hunter 5 does such a good job of torpedoing itself you're far better off buying Silent Hunter 4 or a copy of Das Boot and reliving the glory days instead."

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Thank gawd for sane people who tell it like it is. None of that "oh dear, we better be nice or we'll lose the only subsim maker in existence..." for that reviewer. Just the bottom line, plane and simple.

Repeat after me people: "SH5 is a load of bolox."

Now, doesn't that feel better ? Good to get it out of yer system huh ?

Galanti · 03-23-10, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fischer

"... nowhere near accessible enough for beginners and breaks with so many traditions it can't be picked up and played by veterans either..

That about sums it up for me. Ubi chose to compromise, and as I am fond of telling my wife, compromise means everyone loses.

I'm sure a year or two down the road it'll be quite fun and playable (if the supermods come out), but right now it represents too much of a departure in terms of scope and scale to really keep the interest of SH3/GWX and SH4/OM/RFB players.

The interactive crew thing has already gotten old, and I'm tired of sinking one of three ship types (Liberty, Hog Island and Cimarron tanker) over oand over again.

Agustus · 03-23-10, 06:30 PM

bit-tech.net is a very reputable tech website. I've used them on many occasions for reference and have found their reviews to be quite accurate.

And I happen to agree with this review too. You guys can zero in on the "seamen" comment all you want to turn it into a "this isn't a good review." But he provided two pages worth of accurate commentary on the game as is, without mods and with the lousy DRM issues. He also gave it props for trying to do expand the game with the RPG flavor. It just turned out to be a lousy mechanic for this type of game.

I know everyone is trying really, really hard to like this game despite the drawbacks. But sometimes the truth just plain hurts and this review is a lot more truthful than the "it's not so bad" comments I'm reading.

subsimlee · 03-24-10, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agustus

bit-tech.net is a very reputable tech website. I've used them on many occasions for reference and have found their reviews to be quite accurate.

And I happen to agree with this review too. You guys can zero in on the "seamen" comment all you want to turn it into a "this isn't a good review." But he provided two pages worth of accurate commentary on the game as is, without mods and with the lousy DRM issues. He also gave it props for trying to do expand the game with the RPG flavor. It just turned out to be a lousy mechanic for this type of game.

I know everyone is trying really, really hard to like this game despite the drawbacks. But sometimes the truth just plain hurts and this review is a lot more truthful than the "it's not so bad" comments I'm reading.

Amen!

Safe-Keeper · 03-23-10, 10:28 PM

Okay, 6/10, I get. Even 5/10 I can definitely sympathize with.

But 20%? Now, that's just downright silly

.

pythos · 03-24-10, 12:48 PM

I read only the first part of this review and realized that the reviewer is a know nothing, dumb a**

"why would any one want to have a first person perspective of a submarine" or other such drivel met my eyes, along with many references to seamen (homo erotic fascination or something?)

I usually give reviews a fair chance, and full read, but this one, may take a while for me to get the will to plow my way through it.

I am sorry, beginning a review on a sim by complaining about aspects that bring it closer to reality is no way to make me think you know Sh*t about sh&t when it comes to reviewing sims.

Almost like the whiny ba*&ards going on about how the virtual cockpits of flight simulator and combat flight sim Obstructed your view. Geeze.

03-23-10, 01:36 PM	#1
Fischer Nub Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Aarhus, Denmark Posts: 4 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	A less than exuberant review from bit-tech.net - 2/10 ... "What you get with Silent Hunter 5 is a horrifically slow, buggy, unintuitive sub sim that's nowhere near accessible enough for beginners and breaks with so many traditions it can't be picked up and played by veterans either. Our advice? Silent Hunter 5 does such a good job of torpedoing itself you're far better off buying Silent Hunter 4 or a copy of Das Boot and reliving the glory days instead." http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/20...ter-5-review/1

03-23-10, 01:42 PM	#2
shmall Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	I do agree with some of his points, re bugs, some unfinished bits and DRM, however has the guy even played the game? so many thing he says is not what I have in mine? example: "Firstly, there is no 'return to course' command. This means that if you use the rudder to manually steer the submarine - something you'll need to do frequently to avoid enemies and get into a better position to attack - you have to wipe all your navigation waypoints and set up them all over again afterwards. This will happen exactly five times before you start clawing for the auto-destruct button" true there is no button, but all you have to do is add a waypoint at the end of your way point cousre and the sub starts to follow your way points again, no need to redo all the way points as he says? also: "What's more, the first-person mode is so badly coded it crawls along at an appallingly slow frame rate regardless of how much hardware you throw at it." again wrong from my point of view, as I only have a amd6400, windows 7 and ati4870...so not top line and yet mine runs very smooth? Last edited by shmall; 03-23-10 at 01:53 PM.

03-23-10, 01:44 PM	#3
Iron Budokan Sea Lord Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 1,778 Downloads: 32 Uploads: 0	Ouch. __________________ "You will take on England wherever you find her ships, and you will break her power at sea." --Iron Coffins, Herbert A. Werner http://kennethmarkhoover.com

03-23-10, 02:34 PM	#5
GoldenRivet Subsim Aviator Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 8,726 Downloads: 146 Uploads: 0	you know... he's not wrong __________________

03-23-10, 02:57 PM	#7
Task Force Rear Admiral Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SPACE!!!! Posts: 10,142 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	I agree with this guy, the devs changed things that worked... and had been working, for something that is broken... Performance, is my main issue, its horriable I dont know why performance is SO bad inside, but good outside... __________________ Task Force industries "Taking control of the world, one mind at a time"

03-23-10, 06:30 PM	#11
Agustus Swabbie Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 13 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	bit-tech.net is a very reputable tech website. I've used them on many occasions for reference and have found their reviews to be quite accurate. And I happen to agree with this review too. You guys can zero in on the "seamen" comment all you want to turn it into a "this isn't a good review." But he provided two pages worth of accurate commentary on the game as is, without mods and with the lousy DRM issues. He also gave it props for trying to do expand the game with the RPG flavor. It just turned out to be a lousy mechanic for this type of game. I know everyone is trying really, really hard to like this game despite the drawbacks. But sometimes the truth just plain hurts and this review is a lot more truthful than the "it's not so bad" comments I'm reading.

03-23-10, 10:28 PM	#13
Safe-Keeper Ocean Warrior Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Norway Posts: 3,234 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	Okay, 6/10, I get. Even 5/10 I can definitely sympathize with. But 20%? Now, that's just downright silly. __________________ First Strike Mod tester. Hardcore sub skipper.

03-24-10, 12:48 PM	#14
pythos Grey Wolf Join Date: May 2005 Location: Somewhere over there Posts: 834 Downloads: 46 Uploads: 0	I read only the first part of this review and realized that the reviewer is a know nothing, dumb a** "why would any one want to have a first person perspective of a submarine" or other such drivel met my eyes, along with many references to seamen (homo erotic fascination or something?) I usually give reviews a fair chance, and full read, but this one, may take a while for me to get the will to plow my way through it. I am sorry, beginning a review on a sim by complaining about aspects that bring it closer to reality is no way to make me think you know Sht about sh&t when it comes to reviewing sims. Almost like the whiny ba&ards going on about how the virtual cockpits of flight simulator and combat flight sim Obstructed your view. Geeze. Last edited by pythos; 03-24-10 at 12:59 PM.