Glug glug glug
Although similar in concept to classics like Silent Service, 1914 is actually a fairly average and rather uninteresting submarine simulator that is probably not really worth the time of anyone but the most committed of sub fans. It's got most of the essential elements except for fun as it's all just a bit too dry and serious for its own good, making it a tough sell. One thing that is a little different is the setting, as here you're in control of German subs during World War I and as with other such games, you basically have to complete a series of missions and which generally involve patrolling around a given area while on the lookout for the enemy before blowing them up. When you start out, you can tailor the level of realism to suit your needs, while the main game itself pretty much follows the formula laid down by the genre, where you switch between various parts of the sub, issuing orders and using various bits of equipment to track down and destroy your foes. Shells of Fury is very much a standard sub sim that doesn't deviate too much from the established template. In itself, this might not have been so terrible apart from the fact that there are numerous issues which get in the way of entertainment. The big problem is that it just feels lifeless, with little in the way of atmosphere or tension to draw you in. Instead of being thrilling, missions are tedious, a fact not helped by awkward and unresponsive controls along with other problems which combine to create a game that is very hard to like.
