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At first I stayed clear of this because the gaming community commonly referred to it as "The Sims - U-Boat Edition." Frankly, I was looking for more a sub sim with some... depth... and passed it by as a subsim with a gimmick that perhaps doesn't work well. But in spite of my initial misgivings and having fond memories of previous WWII subsims, I decided to take the plunge and try UBOAT.
I have to say it up front... I believe this is the best WWII sub sim since Silent Hunter 3.
Everything has a familiar feel to SH3, but with a fully modeled sub that you can walk bow to stern unhindered and interact with a multitude of stations, better graphical fidelity, decent audio, and good variety of mission types (Some not historical, but can be disabled if you aim for the monotony of "full real") in a "Dynamic Campaign." The customization options for difficulty are plentiful as well, ranging from highly automated "arcade-like" to hardcore sim which doesn't hold your hand and requires you to plot intercept courses, gather all information for torpedo firing solutions (which you can then input into a fully modeled, realistic, TDC), and manage any crises that can and will arise.
If I had one major complaint, I would levy it directly at the audio, which is a bit of a mixed bag. Thankfully, there are sound mods and full steam workshop integration. There are even mods which add many new ship types, both ally and enemy, to encounter in the world which can add a great deal of unpredictability.
The "Sims" aspect is present, but not as annoying to manage as I expected. Depending on how much micromanagement you wish to deal with, settings can be customized so that sailors and officers will, for the most part, go about their duties without your interference. However, if you want to get the best out of your crew, you can set specific schedules and tasks, assign specific sailors and officers to priority tasking, and even assign what priority level your crew should give to individual tasks on the boat. It can be either complex, or simple, your choice.
In addition, when combat starts and things begin to go wrong, you may see crew get hit and knocked out, ragdolling down, while your medic rushes over to help, carrying them to a bunk where they can be stabilized. An example of what can go wrong... I was on a patrol near Tobruk in poor weather and my watch crew were minimal because I thought the visibility was so poor, we'd never stumble across a warship. I was wrong. A corvette opened fire on us just after the watch sounded the alarm. I looked to the conning tower and was presented with the explosion of a cannon shell... which was close enough to one of the watchmen that it knocked him unconscious. The blast knocked him back, off the rear of the tower, bouncing off the deck, and into the water, where he drowned as I heard the calls for man overboard. I ordered the crash dive and we were able to get away safely, but lost two sailors in the process.
Another interesting example of what can happen: I recently intercepted a carrier group, at night in a light rain storm, and rushed at them on the surface at flank speed. The hope was to get into a good position, close enough to get hits on the fleet carrier with a full salvo. At great distance, I see star shells being fired to illuminate the area. I know they couldn't possibly have spotted me as I was still just over the horizon and could only see the tips of their masts. I then observe... explosions... jutting up over the horizon. It took me a moment to realize... another U-Boat had also intercepted the carrier group, and had scored at least two torpedo hits... and the destroyer escort was now hunting him. After diving, my sonarman confirmed this theory when he was able to identify the screws of an allied U-Boat... desperately trying to evade the destroyers.
Seeing things like this happen is something that sets UBOAT well apart from its predecessors. It can look and feel a little "janky" at times, but no more so than other sub sims on the market today or of yesteryear. It's a very well done sim, and if you are interested in the strategic, slower pace of submarine combat, it has a lot to offer.