The naval simulation site Subsim has posted an extended hands-on preview with Silent Hunter 5, Ubisoft's upcoming World War II U-boat game. The preview has a lot of the exhaustive detail-oriented fussing that only a hardcore simulation nerd would appreciate. But it's also got some good stuff about the new approach to captaining, which drops you into the submarine's hull where pants get wet when the going gets rough (pictured).

This part of the game seems to involve a bit of glad-handing with the crew. This is apparently an attempt to make Silent Hunter 5 more than a game about staring at charts and dials, which is the case with most submarine sims.

Certain design decisions, such as cartoon speech balloons over their heads and an outline glow when selected give the game a distinct Sims-feel. All objects that can respond to player interaction can be highlighted by simply using the Alt key...You, as Captain, may take steps to improve morale and manage [your crew's] abilities. Abilities represent improved skills in their area of expertise, so for example, Radioman Wolfram Raabe (he's not a Nazi, either) will become more proficient at exercising care when sending radio messages to avoid being located by British HF/DF...Motor Officer Willi Pelz (who wants to win the war but is not a Nazi) can achieve abilities to "overcharge the diesels", and the soundman can improve levels of sound coating. These bonus abilities have a whiff of "action game" that may appeal to casual gamers but I think they could have been presented a little more realistically.