Silent Hunter II - PC Games

The game's strength, like the original, is in its attention to detail. Everything from the ocean environment to the controls written in German helps to give you the feeling that you are actually on board a German submarine. Graphics and sound are unexpectedly very good; games of this nature often suffer due to too much attention being paid to the statistics rather than the look and feel of the product, but Silent Hunter 2 copes admirably when dealing with both underwater and surface action. Better still you won't need a high-spec machine to enjoy it. Multiplayer options allow you to play over LAN or Internet.

Ubi Soft have also released Destroyer Command, a World War Two naval combat simulator that has the option to be connected to the same world to fight against Silent Hunter 2 players and is rather similar to the Novalogic universe for Comanche, Armoured Fist etc.

Make no mistake, this is a game for the hardened fan, and with a real-time option (it can be sped up) missions really can take over 24-hours to complete. Nonetheless if you're a fan of the movies, then this is definitely the game for you. --Jason Denwood