Sail Simulator 4 review

Sailing and pleasure-boating are increasingly popular sports. Sail Simulator 4 from Ubisoft claims it will teach you the basics of sailing while you stay nice and dry. And for less than a tenner, too!

With the game loaded, you have two choices. You can either jump straight into sailing one of seven boats, or take a structured course. The course consists of explanatory documents linked to exercises, which let you practice what you've just learned. At its most basic, this introduces essential terminology and key principles like using the wind and turning the boat.

More advanced sailors can take a boat out into one of three virtual seas, practising 'real-life' sailing procedures and using navigation instruments. These include a GPS receiver, autopilot, a compass, echo sounder and digital charts. The instruments are very faithfully represented, so it's great to have them included in the simulator.

To add realism, and to help you learn about sailing, the program lets you take control of nearly every aspect of a boat. You can alter the angle of the sails by tightening and loosening ropes, move the rudder and shift the crew's seating positions to keep the boat balanced. All this is great from an educational point of view, but as you have to manage everything using the keyboard, you'll soon find yourself running out of fingers.

If it all becomes too much, the program has various auto settings and your PC can take over the management of some parts of the boat.

Graphics are basic, consisting of a green mass for the land and shades of blue for the sea. With no towns or trees to look at, it's also visually dull. And, when sailing, it's useful to have a visual reference point on the land to sail towards. With these absent, potential way-points are few and far between and you have to rely on the compass. Sound is equally basic. There is only a swish of water and the repeated cry of an invisible seagull to keep us entertained.

Sail Simulator's intentions are admirable - it accurately simulates the wind and waves that make boats sail. Unfortunately, difficult controls and very basic graphics make a game which should be exciting and educational a bit of a trial.