Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It is the year 2138. Since the terrible conclusion of the great war between Simon Cowell’s X-tremes and Charlie Brooker’s Tweetonauts, humanity has been at peace. And, for the first time in 131 years, the PC gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun passes an entire week without mentioning DRM.

That’s then, but this is now – and UbiGate continues apace. Yesterday, seemingly cracked versions of Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin’s Creed 2 appeared. Ubisoft have since responded to say these DRMless versions are not complete, backed up to some extent by various forum comments observing that the SH5 scene release can’t make it past the first mission. Other comments claim otherwise. What’s a poor website to believe?
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Those of you with a modicum of interest in Ubisoft’s latest iteration of the Silent Hunter series will probably interesting in seeing a bit of how the campaign might play out. Clearly this has been edited up with the action bits to be as fancy as possible, and won’t really get the hours of stalking enemies and peering through your periscope, but it does give an idea of the kind of events the game’s dynamic campaign should generated. You know the kind of thing: ships sinking, stuff exploding, allied commanders facepalming.
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We’re peering through the futurescope at the games we can expect to see in the coming year. There’s plenty to work through, so let’s get on with a look at some of the notable games of Spring and Summer 2010. (You can read part one here.)
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This Silent Hunter 5 trailer reveals the new game engine in action, and it’s pretty damned spectacular. There’s not going to be any debate about what the best looking naval sim is after this hits, at least. Whether the rest of the game lives up to the legacy of the series remains to be seen, but we’re feeling fairly optimistic. Anyway, this is worth taking a look at, even if you’re not a naval sim type. It has excellent waves.
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If you spot something just below the water when you’re out at sea, you can bet it’s a plastic bag. But when it’s not, it’s often a gigantic submersible warship. And we know how you like those. Fortunately for you, U-boatisoft send word that their greatest submarine game is back, and now with first-person elements (possibly RPG elements?) where you can walk around your ship as the captain and “become a real leader”. There’s a trailer, which I’ve posted below, in which the captain suggests that “this is the strangest game ever.” Not quite, but we’ll grant it is a little odd. Silent Hunter V game boasts a dynamic campaign, more help for people who found the previous games too hardcore, and some very detailed underwater boats. Developed by Ubisoft Romania, the big bad menace of the seas will be burst from the depths in early 2010, probably. I’m sure we’ll fish some more details out of the depths very soon.
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