''Silent Hunter III'' is a

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

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 '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

. It was released for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

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

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

during the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

s 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 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

. German

veteran and sub commander Jürgen Oesten 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''), with the choice of initial assignments to a

base between 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 up to the player. The player 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, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

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 angle for torpedo launch. The player 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 In geometry, a position or position vector, also known as location vector or radius vector, is a Euclidean vector that represents a point ''P'' in space. Its length represents the distance in relation to an arbitrary reference origin ''O'', and ...

is still a factor. The simulation engine generates coastal and port cities, which appear as large harbors surrounded on the outskirts by town buildings, churches, and

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or 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. Th ...

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

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, Scapa Flow,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, and

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa'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 t ...

. 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 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 and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

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

. According to NPD Group, ''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." During the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

nominated ''Silent Hunter III'' for " Simulation Game of the Year".

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silent Hunter 03 2005 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Naval video games Submarine simulation video games Ubisoft games Video games developed in Romania Windows games Windows-only games World War II video games