Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic

Essentially, Silent Hunter 5 is what it is: the fifth installment of a submarine simulation series. Graphically, it’s bounds and leaps forward and the new inside perspective adds to the realism. Sim fans will get what they want, with loads of options to make the game even more realistic if required. It’s accessible for those not particularly seeking realism. Sailing, simple manoeuvres, firing torpedo’s. The new interface adds to this ease. Everything is reached with simple mouse clicks and intricate menu’s are nowhere near this game. However, everything takes its time, which some people might not appreciate. Sailing from one point to another, searching for enemies, sinking them, getting new supplies, finding enemies again, etc. SimCity and Anno also require lots of time investment, which is what this title also has, and that’s how you discover the true strength of the game. That’s what makes Silent Hunter 5 mainly a game for those with patience.

The DRM alone could sink this sim, but the core Carrier Command-style gaming is worth the battle. [May 2010, p.99]

Campaign, graphics and the visual contact model are excellent but this simulation desperately needs a damage model for merchants, better usability and lots of small bug fixes and short-cut keys before it can be played. [Apr 2010]

Very recommended for players who feel curiosity to know how was the war in the seas, and of course, for series followers.

Gorgeous and pleasingly free form. Without the bugs and oppressive DRM, it would be the best Silent Hunter 5 yet. [May 2010, p.102]

Silent Hunter V simplify some aspects of the previous games, achieving however a good mix between simulation and atmosphere, fun and a deep experience. It's so a shame that there are so many bugs and technical flaws.

Among the improvements you'll encounter better graphics, better effects, better sound and music. The rest is less then good as the game practically drowns in nasty bugs and together with the strict DRMS action enforced by Ubisoft threatens to sink the game.

Fight through the performance issues to find that the heart of sub simulation's best franchise still beats strong. [May 2010, p.64]

Silent Hunter has all ingredients to be a thrilling historical submarine simulation. But there are so many bugs and flaws that most of the fun is drowning.

Silent Hunter 5 is another decent game in the series with a few problems here and there. Especially the incomplete tutorial, the loading times and the lack of polish in some area’s are annoying. On the other hand, this game is so packed with content that you are guaranteed to be busy until Silent Hunter 6 comes out.

Silent Hunter 5 – Battle of the Atlantic is an accomplished combination of atmospheric sound, historic background and good graphics. Unfortunately, a lot of bugs are ruining the fun.

In all, the game seems to alternate between a wonderful, engrossing experience and a frustrating, incomplete one - and while we can hope that upcoming patches fix many of these (often niggling, sometimes major) problems, for the moment, Silent Hunter 5 remains a interesting but partially-broken game.

After the brilliant fourth episode, a step backward for the series. Too many bugs, and a boring gameplay. Just for submarine lovers.

Reviewing a poor submarine sim is tough because there are just too few opportunities for comparison. It's like living in a town with only one pizza place. Even if it's not very good, you'll still go every once in a while if you happen to be in the mood for pizza.

Although likely to be modded to perfection, SH5's release version is an incomplete, buggy disappointment. [Jun 2010, p.68]

Silent Hunter 5: Battle for the Atlantic would have been a fitting and enjoyable experience had it not been so inexplicable demanding on hardware, buggy and generally frustrating.

As a game, Silent Hunter 5 fails because the bugs and UI render it a chore. As a simulation, it fails because the bugs and UI render it ridiculous and incomplete. As a product, it's just overwhelming disrespectful to this long running series' fans. And finally, as one of the first games to receive Ubisoft's new copy protection, it's an embarrassment.

Silent Hunter 5 has promise, but this buggy and unstable game needs to be sent back to the drydock for some serious refitting.

With a lack of polish and an unfinished feel, chalk this one up to an experience that could’ve been a great one, but definitely isn’t.

Silent Hunter 5 is a broken, bug infested game, a potentially great experience ruined by the bad job of the programmers. The lack of a tutorial for beginners and the bad optimization under the technical side, are big problems for new players and for the veterans of Silent Hunter.

This one may sink pretty fast unless Ubisoft get's the damage crews working pretty fast.

Only if you have not played Silent Hunter 3 and you are ok with a permanent internet connection you can enjoy the Atlantic battle from your periscope view. [Issue#190]

In this submarine simulation which takes place in WWII your biggest enemy is the game itself. Tons of bugs like disappearing foes and the annoying copy protection kill every ounce of fun. Nice graphics, though. Maestro!

Transparently not finished. [June 2010, p.80]