I got a look at Silent Hunter Online: now with pics & article

[Onkel Neal]

Conn, Sonar: we are ready for missile launch.
Silent Hunter Online - first look


Please remember, this is not a review or even a preview. The game is still evolving. This is only a first look, an introduction. So, I'm going light on editorial content, too. The time for that is when the game goes live.

Thanks for waiting, enjoy!
Neal

[Julhelm]

So this basically sounds like we're going to have a winner. Awesome!

[Sartoris]

Sounds like the complete opposite of what I want from a Silent Hunter game.

[Chad]

Great Article Neal

I think super hardcore simulation players will be upset to hear it's not a pure simulation. And while that's the shame, I think this will introduce the genre and the history to more players, players who haven't even heard of the Silent Hunter genre, and, like in my case way back in 2001/2002, even heard of what a U-boat is!

I joined at the right time during release of Silent Hunter 2, and joined a great community at the WolfPack League. SH2 had it's flaws, and wasn't perfect, but it was fun, and the community is what really sold it for me. Had it not been for those guys (and few girls), the constant connection drops, bugs, and whole Project Messerwetzer drama would not have been worth it.

I personally am excited, it may not be super hardcore, but I think it will be fun. It's a hard job for a developer to make something everyone wants to play, it's impossible. Good luck SHO team, and pick me for the Closed Beta!

[Alex]

Good article, yes.

Originally Posted by Julhelm

So this basically sounds like we're going to have a winner. Awesome!

Depends on how you define a good game.

Graphics were an important part of the game, and

Erm.

[Sailor Steve]

Unfortunately I'm not a gamer, or this might actually appeal.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Conn, Sonar: we are ready for missile launch.
Silent Hunter Online - first look


Please remember, this is not a review or even a preview. The game is still evolving. This is only a first look, an introduction. So, I'm going light on editorial content, too. The time for that is when the game goes live.

Thanks for waiting, enjoy!
Neal

Thanks for the sitrep, Neal. I see that SHO is exactly what I expected it to be. That being the case, I will definitely pass on this. Regardless of quality, it just seems a little too "arcade" for my tastes.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Chad

Great Article Neal

I think super hardcore simulation players will be upset to hear it's not a pure simulation. And while that's the shame, I think this will introduce the genre and the history to more players, players who haven't even heard of the Silent Hunter genre, and, like in my case way back in 2001/2002, even heard of what a U-boat is!

I joined at the right time during release of Silent Hunter 2, and joined a great community at the WolfPack League. SH2 had it's flaws, and wasn't perfect, but it was fun, and the community is what really sold it for me. Had it not been for those guys (and few girls), the constant connection drops, bugs, and whole Project Messerwetzer drama would not have been worth it.

I personally am excited, it may not be super hardcore, but I think it will be fun. It's a hard job for a developer to make something everyone wants to play, it's impossible. Good luck SHO team, and pick me for the Closed Beta!

Thanks, Chad. Yes, the game definitely has possibilities. It will not replace SH3/SH4, but that was made clear from Ubisoft on day 1. I think some people need to be reminded several times, but whatever

I went for a long motorcycle ride today and was thinking along the same lines--one of the main engines of the growth and success of the Subsim community was the Wolfpack League social network that formed in anticipation of Silent Hunter II and interop multiplay with Destroyer Command. While the games were not what we had hoped for, the interaction among WPL players was superb. I can say that I never had more fun online. I migrated the WPL social aspect to Subsim and it was the right move. Through all the games we've seen:SH3, SH4 Sub Command, DW, etc., it has been as rewarding to interact with other players regarding the games as playing the games. And like you said, while SHO may not be what some players want, I think there will be thousands who really have a ball playing online with a strategic-layered, accessible Silent Hunter that connects them to their network stronger than ever.

Originally Posted by Hinrich Schwab

Thanks for the sitrep, Neal. I see that SHO is exactly what I expected it to be. That being the case, I will definitely pass on this. Regardless of quality, it just seems a little too "arcade" for my tastes.

Thanks for reading. I completely understand, we will always have SH3.

[THE_MASK]

If it makes some revenue for ubisoft and keeps them interested in submarine games and gets more captains on subsim then it has done its job

[Hactar]

Thanks for the write-up.

[John Channing]

I am thinking of this along the same lines as Battlefield 1942. Real... not in a million years.

Fun? Hell yeah.

Luckilly for me I can enjoy both.

JCC

[BigBANGtheory]

I can overlook the hardcore simulation aspect, but I am struggling with the presentation and immersion.

I would suggest the SHO developers take a good look at how Piranha is handling MechWarrior Online which is also online F2P. The important thing to note is how they have listened to and got the buy in from their fanbase already with plenty of people paying up to $120 before the game is even released!

SHO does not appear to be what I want, I think you hit the nail on the head. Is it what the wider or majority Subsim community wants I guess is the question...

Regardless of my opinions...thanks for the review Neal, and I look forward to any future updates or developments.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by John Channing

I am thinking of this along the same lines as Battlefield 1942. Real... not in a million years.

Fun? Hell yeah.

Luckilly for me I can enjoy both.

JCC

As usual, John, you hit the nail on the head. BF42, Vietnam, BF2 were all fantastic games. I enjoyed them immensely. I would never argue they were real worlds, realistic, but they were great computer games.

Originally Posted by sober

If it makes some revenue for ubisoft and keeps them interested in submarine games and gets more captains on subsim then it has done its job

Agreed. And hopefully it will pull in many new guys who really haven't been interested in or exposed to submarine warfare. Who can say, maybe a successful SHO will grow the player base several times over and there could be demand for a Silent Hunter 6: like SH5 but fully engineered to replace SH3.

One thing we need to remember (we being the guys who have been playing subsims since Gato... our realism skills grew with the games. Wolfpack and Aces of the Deep were pretty simple to learn and play. There was no manual TDC, map plotting, and complexity in those games. We were ready when SH3 came along. It's possible a lot of new players are discouraged by the realism features we enjoy.

Another thing I was thinking about, how many SH3/SH4 players among us do not like TDC work? I have heard many times here, from passionate subsim players, they love realistic games but they feel the Captain does not get his hands dirty with plotting and TMO. He has officers for that. A valid point. I personally prefer the game to depend on my actions for updating the plot map, so I play SH3/SH4 with no map contacts. My maps never show any enemy ships, I plot them all from observations (and it's usually full of errors, but hey! that was real life). That doesn't mean the guy who like real-time moving ship icons (Aces of the Deep style) is any less of a player (or more), just we have different preferences.

Cheers!
Neal