In the early
days of the Xbox Live Marketplace, we were treated to a number of high-quality
“video-game board games”. No, not Sorry! and Mousetrap, but the strategic
classics like Carcassonne, Catan, and even UNO. In recent years those types of
releases have been few and far between, but if Panzer General: Allied Assault is
any indication there’s still a lot untapped potential left in the genre.
With its combination of board gaming and deck-building card battles, Panzer
General is among the very best board games for Xbox Live Arcade to date. That
said, it still suffers from some issues that hold it back.
As may be obvious, Panzer General is a World War 2 game which tasks the Allies
with breaking through the Nazi occupation of Europe, but in a much different way
than most other WW2 games. It’s essentially a turn-based-strategy game with each
player drawing cards each turn which can allow them to place additional units
(tanks, infantry etc) conduct air strikes, or weaken the enemy. Though it’s
actually adapted from an old PC game, you would be forgiven for mistaking it for
some long forgotten Wizards of the Coast board game. And while it might not seem
like the ideal genre for a for a WW2 game since we’ve seen so many successes in
the FPS and RTS genres, Panzer General does in fact handle the source material
quite well. What it lacks in the intensity generated by real-time battles, it
makes up for in strategy, accessibility, and overall polish.
The only noticeable issue is that gameplay can be really slow. When a player
attacks, the fight takes place in phases where players take turns playing combat
cards to improve their attacks and impede their opponent’s defense. After the
first few battles, it’s often possible that both opponents wont have any combat
cards available to play. When that happens, the game still goes through the
motions of asking each player to play their card, then telling you that you
don’t have a card to play, and finally showing an animation of blank cards
flipping over.
Especially
if you’re in a situation where the opponent counterattacks, an individual battle
can take up to several minutes, and most of the time nothing is even happening.
It just takes a couple minutes of pointlessly going through all the phases when
none of that matters and it usually all comes down to the dice roll at the end
anyways.
Impatient gamers will have problems with this. Although most of the gamers who
are interested in purchasing a strategic board game probably aren’t too worried
about some slow play. Especially considering that, even at it’s slow pace
(relative to other games) it’s still exponentially faster than playing a game
this complex manually (on a physical board.)
Otherwise, the presentation is top-notch and the gameplay is great as well.
Nice, small touches can be found all throughout the game. Like the enthusiastic
victory celebration that takes place after a scenario is won: fireworks shoot
into the sky above the board, and snappy military victory music plays. It’s an
altogether grand spectacle.
It also makes good use of the WW2 subject matter as a launching point for gamers
who may not be familiar enough with board games to get into a title like
Carcassonne. Plus, you can easily play this game without ever knowing what any
of the WW2 minutiae are all about. Who cares if you don’t know what an M1A4
Sherman is? All you need to know is that it blows up people. And that M-10
Wolverine? That blows up non-people. See? Easy. The point is, Panzer General
never gets bogged down with the details and never forces the player to have any
kind of prior knowledge.
At this point in the life of Xbox Live Arcade, it’s quite likely that all the
board game fanatics have long since gotten bored of Carcassonne, Catan, and UNO.
If you’re one of those gamers then we can’t recommend Panzer General enough.
Whether you’re playing against the computer AI, or online with friends, this
game has a lot to offer including dozens of maps that mirror (as closely as a
tiled board can) real WW2 battlefields like the beach at Normandy or Sainte Mere
Eglise as well as tons of unit types and special ability cards.
That said, Panzer General isn’t going to be converting any staunch anti-board
gamers. There’s nothing here that’s really going to surprise you, or make you
change your mind about this genre, but for those who already enjoy it, there are
few better options.
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Gameplay:
8.3
Panzer General is deep, strategic and a whole lot of fun. There’s some
significant slowdown during play due to some unnecessary, unskippable parts of
battle, but it’s nothing too terrible.
Graphics:
7.0
The graphics are nothing incredibly, but they get the job done for this simple
game. There’s some nice touches like the fireworks after a victory, but battle
animations could have been more elaborate.Panzer
General looks to reignite the popularity of board game style titles on Xbox Live
Arcade
Sound: 6.5
Mostly standard military fare. There are some good songs here, but the sound
effects are pretty forgettable while never being annoying or distracting.
Difficulty: Medium
The enemy AI can be pretty clever, but only later in the game do they become
smart enough to actually take you down. There’s a pretty good learning curve so
the game never gets to be too much.
Concept: 8.5
The concept of a World War 2 board game on XBLA is certainly a unique one,
there’s nothing else like it on the system.
Multiplayer: 8.3
Joining up with other players is quick and easy, though there isn’t a huge
community out there for this yet. Though victory options are limited to the same
as those in the campaign so it can end up feeling all too similar.
Overall:
8.0
For the decent price of 800 MSP ($10) Panzer General delivers great gameplay
over a lengthy campaign. The slow down will bother some, but most will come away
pretty pleased with this unique style of board game.
