The third time is
the charm. Codename: Panzers has been a game that I’ve had the luxury of seeing
blossom into an excellent PC game. The first time I witnessed the game was in
May 2004 at E3. The game was in excellent shape even at that time. Then in
June 2004 a preview copy made it’s way onto my desk and I was still impressed
with the game. So now September/October 2004 and the final version of Codename:
Panzers has been safely installed on my computer. Once again I’m very impressed
with the game and military & strategy gamers will be just as impressed with
Codename: Panzers.
The game is a real
time military strategy game set during World War II. Now you might be thinking
“Been there, done that” but wait just a second. Instead of just focusing on one
part of the war or one particular country, Codename: Panzers allows you the
option to control three different forces, German, American-Allied and Russian.
You might even think of it as a strategy version of Call of Duty (CoD) since CoD
played out from several different perspectives. Each force has their own unique
missions that are specific to each of them. The German missions will range from
the early parts of the war (the 1939 invasion of Poland) to the siege of
Stalingrad in 1942. While the American-Allied missions will start with the
landing at Normandy and finishes with the Eagle’s Nest confrontation.
The game plays out
in a mission/objective-based structure in historical order. Each mission can
have up to several different objectives that must be accomplished before the
mission is complete. The game even includes hidden or bonus objectives that can
be discovered during a mission. During the standard single player mode the game
will list for you the objectives of that particular mission. Since the game is
based on historic events all of the missions and their objectives are as close
as possible to the actual events. But how the missions are played out are
completely up to you the player. If you can find a better way to finish a
mission then the game will reward you for your strategy. You can earn points
that you can later use to purchase more soldiers and weapons.
Besides the single
player mode the game includes the following additional modes: Multiplayer (via
LAN or Internet), Tutorial, Training Camp, and Scenario. The Tutorial and
Training Camp modes are great ways for new players to get a feel for the game.
Tutorial gives players a walk-through of how everything works within the game,
while Training Camp allows you to try out specific troops and weapons. The
Scenario mode allows you to test your skills at a specific scenario created by
the designers. Right away the maps available in the Scenario mode are for
advanced games since the difficulty is bumped up. Future Scenarios will be
available for download from the internet.
Codename: Panzers
is a great military/strategy game that will please hard core and casual gamers.
The historic representation and ability to play from three different
perspectives are some great options for gamers. The game even includes a unique
hero system where each side (German, Russian and American) has its own specific
player that is in control during the battles. The heroes even have their own
stories that unfold during the single player version. Strategy and military
gamers should not miss out on Codename: Panzers – Phase One.
Gameplay 8.7
Real time strategy
but with a turned based option is what I would use to really describe the
gameplay of Codename: Panzers – Phase One. The game gives you the freedom to
move any of your troops around at any moment with a few clicks of your mouse
buttons. To move a unit you click on the unit with your left mouse button and
then click on the area on the map to move them by pressing the right mouse
button. If an enemy is near by your units will automatically start attacking
the enemy for you. But if you notice the unit is in trouble and needs to move
away from the battle, just click on them again to move them away. All of this
can happen at anytime during the game. But luckily the developer’s included an
option to slow the game down that (almost) makes the game a turned based
strategy game.
You have the
option to pause the action at anytime and then issue commands to your units.
Let’s say for instance that you have a rifle unit that discovered an enemy tank
and soon the rifle unit is taking heavy fire. Your anti-tank unit is already
pinned down by another tank and you’re worried that the rifle unit won’t last
much longer. By either pressing the space bar key or clicking on the pause
button the game will pause. But now you can issue all of your commands while
the game is paused and once you resume the game each unit will carry out those
commands. I found this to be the only way I was able to succeed and complete a
majority of the missions.
This isn’t to say
that you won’t be able to finish a mission by controlling your units in real
time but for me it was so much easier. I felt that I actually had control over
my units instead of just sending them off to die in a wasted effort. You can
see the entire map as soon as a mission starts but you can’t see where the enemy
is located. If the enemy has two or three tanks located in one corner and I
only sent my foot soldiers, I’m in big trouble. Another issue that was helped
tremendously by the pause feature was when the troops would be spread out on the
map. Not being able to see everyone at the same time is a strategic risk that
is eased by the pause option.
Besides the pause
feature there were a few nice additions included within the game. One was the
ability to tag each unit with a number and then click that number to switch
views to see what is happening with that unit. For instances I have one of my
tanks assigned to the number 2, when I click on the 2 label in the upper right
hand corner my view instantly changes to see the tank. Another addition was the
repair, ammo and healing features of the game. Each unit can be healed or
repaired during the game at any time as long as you have a repair truck or a
medic available. I would recommend that you have at least two to three repair
and medical units during each battle. These were a lifesaver on many
occasions.
During most the
game all of the units responded right away when issuing commands. In fact you
don’t even need to issue a command to fire for any of your units. If your unit
spots the enemy they will attack automatically. You can change this at anytime
by issuing a command to hold their position. Sporadically there would be a
problem with getting a specific unit to move to a location fast enough. If
another unit was nearby it would sometimes cause a delay in getting the computer
to figure out the fastest and easiest path to reach its designated location. It
would seem as if the drivers in the tanks and trucks didn’t finish driving
lessons.
Graphics 8.5
The graphics for
Codename: Panzers are excellent. The game is played out in an over the top view
of the city or location where your mission is taking place. All of the
locations are lavishly detailed with destroyed out buildings, burned out tanks,
and excellent landscapes. You can zoom in on the action to get an up close and
personal look at what is happening. Even zoomed in on all of the game the
graphics remain sharp and detailed. All of the heavy weapons such as airplanes,
tanks and trucks look amazing with an excellent attention to detail. The
weapons are based on actual weapons used during the war and all of them look
fantastic. The character graphics were well done but not with the same detailed
as the weapons. Each character has it’s own animation and will usually react
differently then another character.
The game even
includes a brief cut-scene during the single player missions to help explain the
story. The cut-scenes use the same graphics engine that still looks good but
has a few issues that show up. The character models during the cut-scenes look
outdated for a game released in 2004. For example if a character was picking up
something during the cinema display sometimes the item might disappear or might
not even exist. The character graphics reminded me of games released three or
four years ago, but the rest of the graphics in the cut-scenes looked good.
Another great
looking part of the graphics was the explosions. All of the explosions were
large and looked great with particles and debris flying everywhere. If you
blew up a building then you would see a very satisfying explosion and then watch
the building crumble. Most of the stages graphics would react to the battles
around it such as trees falling down or power lines being torn down. The
weapons during battle would show signs of damage as well with smoke building up
as a tank or truck continues to get hit. There was even a nice touch where if a
flame-thrower was used to heat up a tank or truck, you would see the tank get
hotter.
Sound 8.5
The sound effects
of the units, especially the tanks, were nicely done. I loved the explosion
sound effects since they would come across loud and clear every time. The
music in the game was only noticeable during the cut scenes or menu options.
Each hero character has it’s own unique voice and the voice acting was well done
for the cut scenes. All of the units have their own unique voice and phrases
that did get repetitive after a while. For the majority of the game the sound
effects, music and voice acting are top notch. However the voice over during
the tutorial mode was horrible. It reminded me of all of the old terrible voice
acting jobs that used to show up years ago.
Difficulty
Medium/Hard
Remember folks
this is strategy game. Don’t expect to win if you have all of your units
attacking at the same time. I made this mistake several times where I thought I
would overwhelm the enemy only to get trounced in the end. Several missions
didn’t even last 5 minutes before all of my soldiers were defeated. You will
need to play some of the missions over again in order to find out where the
enemies are located. Even on the easy setting sometimes the game would still
walk all over me for no good reason. I would take extreme caution to make sure
I had the correct units in place, only to end up restarting the missions several
times. Not being able to see where the enemy is hiding and knowing what type of
units are waiting for you is always a challenge.
Concept 8.8
Military strategy
games seemed to be released every week, especially this year with the
anniversary of D-Day. Codename: Panzers offers something a little extra instead
of just the standard strategy routine. The biggest extra is being able to play
out War World II from three different perspectives, German, Russian and
American-Allied. Each perspective is played out with it’s own unique hero that
must survive in order to complete the mission. The story lines for the heroes
are different and it allows you to see the different sides of the war. Each
character has their own back-story and you will see the progression of each hero
during the cut scenes.
The other
interesting idea was the ability to pause the action and turn the game into a
turn based strategy game. This option was extremely helpful and I wouldn’t be
surprised if the majority of players use this feature. Taking an extra few
minutes to ponder your next move is what strategy is all about. But if you want
to run head on into the storm with guns blazing then you can select all of your
units at the same time and move them into battle. The tutorial mode and
training mode were nice touches as well.
Multiplayer
There are several
different types of gameplay modes available in Multiplayer: Team Deathmatch,
Domination, Assault and Coop Mode. All of the games offer you the ability to
play against 7 other players. Team Deathmatch is the standard deathmatch that
has been around forever, players’ fight with or against each other to see who
will survive. Domination is where you have to conquer and hold different
locations from the enemy. An automobile factory, infantry camp and radar
station can all be used to your advantage once captured. Assault allows you to
compete against other players by finishing the mission goals or taking matters
into your own hands and deciding your own missions. Coop allows you to play
with a friend in the three single player campaigns. You can play multiplayer
by LAN, Direct IP (connecting to a known server by IP address) or through
Gamespy.
Overall 8.6
Codename: Panzers
is an excellent strategy game that is sure to please even the harshest of
critics. Not every game is for everyone but giving players great options
is what helps create new fans. The pause option and multiple hero stories are
great ideas that helped push Codename: Panzers over the top. The excellent
graphics, good controls and great sound effects also add up to a great game.
But all is not perfect, the difficulty and the occasional AI misstep might put
off some gamers. In closing Codename: Panzers is an excellent strategy game
that offers a superb military/strategy experience for everyone.
