Critics and fans slammed it for its inflexibility here (the AI can also be quite flaky at times), but this simplified linear format makes SH2the perfect candidate for time-constrained gamers who just want to spend 20 or 30 minutes sinking Allied tonnage.ĭouble-clicking the Silent Hunter 2 desktop icon launches the game in less than 10 seconds, and after selecting your historical or user-created mission, you'll be at the helm a few seconds.
In fact, the older game eschews the sim community's favored dynamic campaign structure for a series of hard-scripted missions that you must individually beat in order to progress. SH2 can't compete with its progeny graphically or through superior gameplay mechanics.
I had the game downloaded and running on my Win7 64-bit PC in less than 20 minutes.
You won't have to seek out and install patches or scour message boards looking for tips to make it work with Vista or Windows 7. Getting Around the U-boat Mastering SILENT HUNTER II is a process of learning to use the various stations of the U-boat simulator to best effect. Today, the best way to revisit this naval pioneer is to grab the fully patched, $9.99 download at GOG. Silent Hunter 2 system requirements Windows 95/98/ME CPU Pentium II 266 MHz 64 MB RAM Compatible with DirectX 8 3D graphics card with 16 MB RAM DirectX. Some hoarding-afflicted simmers (like myself) still own original boxed retail copies of Silent Hunter 2.
During key moments, it actually made you feel like you were sharing claustrophobic boat space with Kriegsmarine veterans like Otto Kretschmer and Erich Topp. The sim's well-researched U-boat dynamic created a sense of historical imperative that transcended convention. Sub sim fans have had a pretty good time with Ubisoft Romania's graphically sumptuous Silent Hunter 3, 4, and Vofferings but the franchise first got its Windows sea legs in 2001 with the Ultimation-designed SH2. Your emotions swing from euphoria to despair in seconds as you alternate from hunter-killer to passive prey. That's the mercurial nature of Silent Hunter 2. After my fish made contact and turned the freighters into flaming steel coffins, the convoy's three destroyer escorts descended on me, peppering my crash-diving sub with hull-ripping depth charges. But the sense of elation I felt is transforming into terror. Probably because I sunk two of the fattest ships in their convoy 15 minutes ago with a perfectly-aimed torpedo spread.
Those British destroyers circling manically overhead show no signs of bugging off and leaving me to lick my wounds. Slicing through the frigid North Atlantic waters, my wounded Type VII-C U-boat is one well-placed depth charge away from bursting open like a cheap German piñata and sinking rock-like to the ocean floor.