Silent Hunter II gives the player the command of a U-boat during the Second Battle of the Atlantic. The game offers single-player and multiplayer missions.
In addition to some separate single-player missions, they also come as a string in the theme of "U-boat highlights", allowing the player to re-experience such well-known adventures as U-47's penetration into Scapa Flow, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar and Operation Drumbeat against American shipping.
German World War II veteran and sub commander Erich Topp was one of the game's technical advisers.
What made Silent Hunter II into a revolutionary concept was that it was not only playable on-line with or against other U-boats, but also against destroyers that were controlled by players of Destroyer Command, a title also released by Ubisoft.
However, the reception was not enthusiastic among the fans of Silent Hunter. Silent Hunter II was criticised for a crude AI, the lack of a replayable single player career against the limited collection of missions and the fail-prone multiplayer mode, which often disconnected players before the action had even started.
To fix and enhance the multiplayer mode, an unofficial (authorized by Ubisoft) patch called Projekt Messerwetzer was worked up by Subsim.com. Also, to revive a once disappointing title, several fan-made modifications and missions have emerged.
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