''Silent Hunter III'' is a submarine

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

developed by Ubisoft Bucharest and published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...

. It was released for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

on March 15, 2005. Like '' Silent Hunter II'', it places the player in command of a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

during the Battle of the Atlantic in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Gameplay

''Silent Hunter III'' features a 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

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

s, and task forces are automatically generated by the simulation engine. How the mission proceeds and what targets are attacked is determined by the player. ''Silent Hunter III'' features two methods of play - either a dynamic campaign or select historically-inspired missions, such as an operation to save the , or the sinking of in Scapa Flow. German

veteran and sub commander

Jürgen Oesten Jürgen Oesten (24 October 1913 – 5 August 2010) was a ''Korvettenkapitän'' in the ''Kriegsmarine'' during World War II. He commanded the U-boats and , and then served as a staff officer before returning to command . He sank nineteen ships for ...

was a technical advisor for the game.

U-boat campaign

In the campaign version of the game, a player begins their career as a "Lieutenant, Jr." (corresponding to ''

Leutnant zur See ''Leutnant zur See'' (''Lt zS'' or ''LZS'') is the lowest officer rank in the German Navy. It is grouped as OF1 in NATO, equivalent to an Ensign in the United States Navy, and an Acting Sub-Lieutenant in the British Royal Navy. The rank was int ...

''), with the choice of initial assignments to a

base between the years 1939 and 1943. The war time and political situation of

is reflected in the geographical area and time period which the player begins their career. The ''Silent Hunter III'' campaign will assign the player a certain patrol grid with appropriate naval traffic (such as convoys, destroyer escorts, and task forces) automatically generated by the simulation engine. How the mission proceeds and what targets are attacked is left totally up to the player. The player also has the option to change realism settings on the submarine, adding challenges such as fuel being limited as well as various game play assistance features involving navigation, weapons, and the ability to switch to external camera mode to view the submarine's surroundings. The most difficult realism setting in the game allows a player to manually target

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

es for an attack on enemy vessels. In the manual targeting feature, the player must observe vessels, determine their class and nationality, as well as calculate speed, angle on the bow, and

gyro Gyro may refer to: Science and technology * GYRO, a computer program for tokamak plasma simulation * Gyro Motor Company, an American aircraft engine manufacturer * ''Gyrodactylus salaris'', a parasite in salmon * Gyroscope, an orientation-sta ...

angle for torpedo launch. The player also has the option to set torpedo depth and spread shot with multiple weapons. De-selecting manual targeting allows a "Weapons Officer" to make these determinations for the player, although approaching targets at certain angles and determining relative motion is still a factor. The simulation engine further generates various coastal and port cities, which appear as large harbors surrounded on the outskirts by town buildings, churches, and

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

. It is possible for the player to sail into such ports (friendly, neutral, or hostile) and either dock or engage moored targets. Some of the cities available are

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, Scapa Flow,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Norfolk, Virginia, and

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. Although possible to sail to South America and into the Pacific, the simulation will not generate traffic or port cities for these regions. The game features a fully 3D U-boat control room, allowing the player the ability to look around the interior of certain submarine rooms. Unlike other submarine simulations, where the crew is often heard but not seen, ''Silent Hunter III'' allows the player to see and interact with crew members. The game also tracks the stats of individual crew members, such as rank, experience, morale, and decorations between missions.

Reception

The game received "universal acclaim" upon release according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. According to

NPD Group The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966, and based in Port Washington, New York. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest mar ...

, ''Silent Hunter III'' sold 26,600 copies by June 2005. The editors of '' Computer Games Magazine'' presented ''Silent Hunter III'' with their 2005 "Best Simulation" award, and named it the year's third-best computer game. They wrote, "Are sims dead? Not when they're this good." It also won the "Best Simulation 2005" award from ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'', whose editors called the game "simply an amazing voyage."

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silent Hunter III 2005 video games Submarine simulation video games Ubisoft games Video games developed in Romania Windows-only games Windows games Naval video games World War II video games

Gameplay

U-boat campaign

Reception

See also

References

External links