Silent Hunter III

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Silent Hunter III

Developer(s)	Ubisoft
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Release date(s)	March 15, 2005
Genre(s)	Simulation game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s)	PC
Media	DVD-ROM

Silent Hunter III is a submarine simulation developed and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the PC on March 15, 2005. Like Silent Hunter II, it places the player in command of a German U-Boat during World War II and the Second Battle of the Atlantic. It sought to address many of the complaints leveled against its predecessor, specifically the lack of a dynamic campaign. The game was critically praised, receiving a score of 8.8 out of 10 from IGN, an 8.9 out of 10 ("Great") from GameSpot, as well as a 5 out of 5 by GameSpy.

[edit] Gameplay features

Silent Hunter III features a fully dynamic campaign. Instead of giving the player a specific set of objectives for each mission, Silent Hunter III simply assigns the player a certain patrol grid, and appropriate naval traffic, such as convoys, destroyer escorts, and task forces are automatically generated by the simulation engine. How the mission proceeds and what targets are attacked is left totally up to the player. In addition to being a more accurate representation of WWII U-Boat warfare, the dynamic campaign significantly improved the game's replay value, as the campaign would play out differently each time.

A stated goal of the developer was to fully immerse the player. The game featured a fully 3D U-Boat control room, allowing the player the freedom to move about the interior of the submarine. Unlike other submarine simulations, where the crew is often heard but not seen, Silent Hunter III allows the player to see and interact with crewmembers. The game also tracks the stats of individual crewmembers, such as rank, experience, morale, and decorations, between missions.

Playable submarine types include Type II, Type VII, Type IX and Type XXI. Players can upgrade their U-boat's anti-aircraft gun(s), deck gun, diesel engines, batteries, radar, and sonar, and install special features such as a radar detector and anti-radar and -sonar coatings. Many different enemy vessels and aircraft are included.

While the dynamic campaign goes a long way to addressing the criticisms of the former Silent Hunter title, some gameplay issues still remain such as destroyers/escorts depth-charging at slow speeds, which in real life would normally result in critical damage to the destroyer. The Starforce copyright protection used for Silent Hunter III has also been criticized for installing incompatible device drivers.