Codename: Panzers Phase One
by CDV Software
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Video Game Reviews of Codename: Panzers Phase One
Customer Review: Rock solid Singeplayer, weak Multiplayer
Summary: 3 Stars
Overview - what it's all about
Codename Panzers is a real time strategy game that features the early phase of WW2. The campaigns deal about the invasion of eastern Europe by the Third Reich.
There are 3 different campaigns in the game: Germany, Russia and Allies. All of these reflect the actions from the individual points of view. This means if you play Germany and have to Blitzkrieg into Warszawa you may also play the opposition and have to prevent the Germans from achieving their goal.
Technical - Graphics, Sound & Music
The graphics and artworks of this game are outstanding. I've never seen such a beatiful animated infantry before.
The weapon sounds are quite cool, either. I play the game with a surround headset (Medusa 5.1), and am quite impressed how well the sounds are distinguishable coming from the different directions - depending on the angle you turned the free 3D moveable game area.
The music supports the athmosphere very well, too. All units give voice-feedback when you issue new orders and the voices are very well done.
Into the action - Singleplayer
The singleplayer game is clearly the main feature of this game. Also CDV, the publisher, promotes the multiplayer part very heavy, the singleplayer experience is the reason for me to give it 4 "Fun-Stars". It would have been 5 Stars if wayfinding routines of the troops were better. Sometimes troops just don't move the way you want, the way that was shortest. This can lead to situations where you have a large group of enemies spotted, want to roll them over with the tanks you got, and the tanks are arriving at the scene one by one and are slaughtered by enemy gunfire like lambs on a shambles. This accounts to MP, too, of course.
There are three different difficulty levels you can chose from. The difference is whether or not you get reinforcements after missions and whether or not they are already trained units or fresh meat.
At the beginning of (almost) each mission you can buy troops for prestige points you earned in previously mastered missions. Troops that earned experience in fights are brought into the next mission, too. These are quite vital, because they do more damage and stand enemy fire longer then untrained ones. The missions develop as you progress - new goals and situations are scripted in and intermittent cutscenes bring the story forward. Most of the missions are well-balanced, with one or two exemptions where it sometimes seems a bit unfair regarding what the enemy has and what you got against them.
All in all this makes up for a new class winner in WW2 RTS games. It makes fun to replay the missions, because there are eastereggs to find, surivive with more veteran units at each level end and additional and secret goals to master.
Units can be combined (move infantry into transports, link an artillery to a truck), you can capture enemy tanks by burning the crew out with flamethrowers and a lot of other nice things like ordering a group of units to follow a spearhead unit.
As call-in support you can order Stuka attacks, bombardements, artillery, recon planes and paratroopers.
Skirmish Mode
In this mode you can play against the computer artificial intelligence (AI). Well, there simply is none. The computer rushes with all of its troops to your starting point and lets the match end in about 5 minutes. No further comment on this here. I took this into account with the 3 Star Rating i give in the overall rating.
Well, theres Multiplayer, too...
I played the actual patched version (1.60) and was crestfallen in consideration of the great qualitative difference between SP and MP. A one-on-one match can be fun, but as soon as you want to play in teams you are out of luck. A 3-3 or 4-4 match simply crashes back to desktop all the time. What a pity for this great game.
In fact, the only multiplayer experience I really enjoy with this product is the coop mode, where you can play SP missions together with your pal. In that mode we divide the troops so one plays the tank squad and the other one artillery and infantry - most of the time such a match can be played to the end without a back to desktop or data mismatch. The ESL League banned the game for its open cheater holes (the .pak resource file can be altered client-side and has impact on MP sessions) until the game has a worked over multiplayer part.
Conclusion
If CDV works over the Multiplayer part, the AI and the wayfinding routines it would get my 97% rating as one of the best games I've ever played. Until then, I can only recommend it for its good SP experience and tell anyone to forget about MP as far as he wants to play it seriously.
Customer Review: Another Step Forward
Summary: 4 Stars
Codename: Panzers falls into the genre I call 3D animated real-time strategy. As a reviewer of games for over ten years, I'ne watched the genre grow from laughable to almost "there". Earlier games were not historical in terms of unit capabilities and the graphics outpaced game play. Huge numbers of enemy units compensated for bad computer play and game mechanics were so complicated as to drive a player insane. Later versions improved on all this; yet, the scale of play left me uncertain as what level of command I played and the AI was never good. Units needed more mmicromanagement than real soldiers required.
I've played the demos for Panzer and find many of my objections handled. I know that I'm a company commander with a specific mission. I cam constitute my units to match my task. The interface has been streamlined, my troops react to obvious threats without me hovering over them and the AI seems crafty.
From the demos, Panzers seems to be the system that, to date, best links fun with history. I hope the final product bears me out.
Customer Review: A lot like WW2, but with a pause button...
Summary: 4 Stars
Ingredients:1 cup Blitzkrieg
2 tsp A Bridge Too Far
Mixed statistics and HE shells
Big dollop of history
For anyone who ever wanted to click their way through World War 2, this latest real-time-strategy game from CDV may be just the thing. Players take on the role of German, British, American and Russian commanders, boldy leading platoons of little polygonal troops to death or glory. And it's really rather cool, n'all.
Viewed from above the battlefield, players can rotate, pan and tilt the camera to get the best view of the action, zooming out for a wider look at the field, or zooming in to watch individual soldiers take aim. 'Panzers boast an impressive variety of units, all highly detailed and distinctive, so you'll have no trouble telling them apart once things get frantic. Its quite a thrill to see infantry squads taking cover behind meticulously modeled walls and hedgerows, machine gun crews going prone and setting up their weapon bipods and the grit and decals clearly visible on armored units.
Like CDV's other RTS, Blitzkrieg, players must carefully manage and defend their units, since every squad that survives the mission will be carried forward to the next battle. In addition, battle-hardened troops gain experience that boosts their accuracy and mobility, so it's worth playing smart. To bolster your ranks you can purchase additional troops or vehicles before each mission. The game currency is 'prestige', earned principally by completing missions. It's possible to recieve a prestige bonus by completing a mission with few casualties, inflicting lots of damage on your foes or by finishing in record time, and there is immense replay value in trying to gain maximum points. Naturally, the practical payoff of careful planning will be more units to command next time around. Each completed mission concludes with a report from the battle, grading your performance, and this can be a real help in taking on the next challenge, seeing what you can do better etc.
There are lots of options to play around with on the battlefield; all units can be commanded to alter their behaviour, responding aggressively to threats or remaining passive (great for ambushes). In addition, infantry can be instructed to move crouched, or to crawl, which adds another dimension to your strategy. Infantry units can also occupy buildings and take control of captured vehicles - like Blitzkrieg, it's possible to take out a gun crew, for example, and then make off with the weapon, swelling your combat effectiveness mid-game. It's even possible to gently persuade tank crews to bail out by super-heating their ride with flamethrowers or molotov cocktails! Many units have alternate weapons, including grenades, landmines and rubber boats, so there's almost always more than one way to complete your objective. Battlefield support is often available in the form of bombers, recon planes or artillery. Like in Blitzkrieg, planes can't be directly controlled, rather, given a starting objective, so you need to use them wisely.
Everything in the game is rendered in loving detail, and the maps are no exception. There's an astonishing amount of attention paid to buildings (which can be reduced to shattered shells with sustained fire), and plenty of wonderful ambient details - grass and trees that sway in the wind, birds that flap lazily about, and the water effects are among the best I've ever seen in a strategy title. It's a pleasure to lead your troops through such varied locations, from the hedgerows of France to the frozen streets of Stalingrad. There's even a working weather - (in pouring rain your heavy armor may find itself bogged down) and a functioning day/night cycle that throws up new gameplay possibilities - why not wait until darkness falls to sneak your platoon right down the enemy's throat?
Mid-game cut sequences, using the game engine, occur periodically to highlight objectives or spotlight a particular event. Its a simple but effective way of introducing story elements into the game, and makes the whole sha-bang feel all the more personal. Another nice touch is the inclusion of a game speed button - it's possible to compress time for those long trips, or pause the action. The real boon of the pause function is that you can still rotate the view and issue orders in this mode. Large battles become a lot more manageable as a result, since you can pause the game, rattle off intructions, and then unpause and see how it all plays out. The fog of war, a common RTS element is present and correct, but 'Panzers throws the factor of sound into the mix...visual icons represent when your troops can hear, but not see, enemy troops or vehicles. There's a great sense of tension as you and your men hear the rumble of approaching armor, waiting to see what emerges from the fog...a platoon of tiger tanks anyone?
Any downsides? Well, you'll need a decent computer to get the most from all the graphical effects, although my P.4 handles it smoothly enough at 1280x960. CDV is a German publisher, and its pretty clear that all the English language, spoken and written, was translated from the original - non-sequiters and strange phrasings pop up in the mission briefings, and some of the soldier chatter is rather iffy. Still, there's so much charm on display here that it matters nought. Also, much like the WW2 action game Call Of Duty, it's a rather scripted experience - that is, you'll be facing the same enemy components each time you play a given mission. Still, battles seldom play out the same, and there's lots of room to make your own variety through tactics and troop selection. It's also difficult to recommend this title to anyone who was on the fence about Blitzkrieg. It doesn't offer anything radically different enough to truly seperate it from that title. Indeed, I think it's pretty fair to say that 'Panzers plays much like the plucky younger brother of Blitzkrieg, expanding on many ideas and refining others. Basically, if you liked that game you're gonna love this.
Armchair generals take note...this title represents a new wave of WW2 strategy, and would be a worthy medal to add to your collection.