The ability to configure the situations in which you’ll captain a ship is rendered far more enjoyable by the fact that the sea is far more responsive to weather than in previous iterations. Combined with the new “walkthrough” option (which allows players to walk around the ship, FPS style, as it sails) the waves certainly get across the motion of shipping for those on board in a more convincing way; seeing the pitch and roll of the horizon is something primal... and a little sickening.

Likewise the attention to detail in the port cities encountered over the course of your shipping career makes for a more realistic exp[erience and means that you’ll be in no doubt as to where you’ve arrived. While they might not be picture-perfect, the reproductions of real ports are at least convincingly accurate, which is more than enough to maintain the atmosphere.

It’s very good for Ship Simulator that we’re impressed by how good its environments look. It’s hard to find anything else to do but spend a very large amount of “play” time gazing from the helm, watching the horizon tilt slowly back and forth...