| Panzer General 3d Assault | ||||
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SSI, the creators of the "General" series of games first brought to fame by "Panzer General" and then their last release "People’s General" has taken a new tack with their famous series. Panzer General is back, but this time in bold 3D, bringing an all new look and feel to this familiar and highly popular series. Don’t let the title fool you: this isn't merely a 3d upgrade to the series, though the 3D graphics and animations are nicely done and add a nice touch to the gameplay. And if the animations bother you, they can easily be shut off to speed up the game.
 The enhanced graphics do serve their purpose, beyond the ‘gee-whiz’ factor. The map is scrollable and you can view the map from different angles giving you different perspectives on the battlefield, much as when playing a table top game. Your vehicles rumble across the terrain kicking up dust in their wake and damaged vehicles smoke when hit. This is especially nice since you can tell by seeing a unit just how damaged it is instead of having to check out all the stats. If you’ve played the PG series before then you know what to expect here; SSI has wisely chosen to leave alone that which ain’t broken. But they have added some nifty features such as Leaders for each unit that can effect combat effectiveness, lending the game more depth and strategic value. The Leadership Factor This is one of my favorite parts of this game. Now leaders can help decide the battles as they did in real life. I know PG is a very soft core wargame and not as in depth as most grognards would like it, but the addition of these leader traits has pushed PG to a level higher.
 Leaders each have a different specialty, such as tanks or infantry etcetera, and for each leader you can get "leader specials." Leader specials give two powers: a class power and a random power. For example if you have a tank officer, he may get a "Blitzer" special and another random special. The Blitzer is a leader fluent in armored warfare and any non-armor units he controls will overrun enemy units as if they were armor. As you see, these specials can come in very handy but if you have a leader that is not in his class (ie. a tanker leading infantry) does not get these same benefits, so there’s a nice balance here.
 Furthermore, the more experience a leader has, the greater the number of commands he can issue to a unit in a turn. In other words, strategy now comes into play even before the fighting begins. You may choose a highly experienced leader, but he will then occupy more "slots" in your roster. Will you choose more green leaders, or fewer experienced ones? Similarly, the units they command vary in quality and ability, and better units can do more in a turn.
 A New Battle System The battle and command system has also changed and expanded, granting new tactical depth and also increasing the learning curve. The basic commands remain (move, shoot, rally, resupply, etc.), but as leaders gain promotions and increase in rank they can issue a range of "veteran" commands. These commands in turn vary with each unit. For example, you can order a mechanized unit to patrol, or tell your fighter-bombers to seek cloud cover. You can even use your fighters as "eagle-eye" recon units, and command your fighter-bombers to use their special tank busting abilities. Veteran Recon orders include the ability to act as Forward Observer for your artillery, and Veteran Artillery orders include the ability to Plot and Saturation Plotting, increasing firepower and effectiveness. The complexity and flexibility of engagements has increased dramatically in PG Assault. |
With the focus shifting to leadership, the campaigns themselves now follow the careers of the most famous generals. You'll find Patton, Rommel, Kesselring and Montgomery here, as well as a bunch of others. Gameplay As I mentioned before, with the exception of new command abilities gameplay is much the same as it has always been through this series, except now you’re fighting in a 3D battle. The only problem I found with the map was the fact that its photorealistic landscape can become blurred at times. It might have been better if SSI had rendered a 3D landscape like we see in Shadow Company.
 Although the map is 3D, there are hex grids that show on the map when you’re executing your movement. But that too can be a bit confusing when you’re trying to lay out a plan of movement to contact where you reach your maximum range. Still, it works well enough. All the unit information is neatly laid out at the bottom of the screen for easy reference (click on screen left) and all units can easily be viewed without a need to scroll all over the place, where you could find yourself becoming disoriented. All the units can be sorted in any order you wish and each unit's status is color coded, allowing for a quick glance to get the information you need. As the name implies the main focus of the game is armored warfare, but your other units are not just window dressing. They are needed for attacks along with your tank units. Proper use of your combined arms assets will lead to success for you in your campaigns. As with the original two games, they’re easy to use and the learning curve is not very steep at all.
 Strategic Map This is a perfect game for anyone looking to get into wargames for the first time or for fans of the genre looking for a fast and easy game to pick up. The 88 page manual that comes with the game covers all aspects of play from single to multiplayer as well as giving historical background information. This is definitely still wargame "lite," which is a good thing. Not everyone who plays a wargame wants to wade through pages and pages of information just to play. And there are also tutorials in Panzer General 3d to help you learn.
 There are several complete campaigns within the game as well as some stand-alone scenarios, and there is support for play on Mplayer as well as LAN and direct TCP/IP play. Up to four people can play in multiplayer and with the amount of scenarios given in the game should provide hours of fun with your internet friends. The one drawback is that there is no mission editor, so once you’ve played all the existing scenarios you'll be waiting for SSI to release additional ones (as they have done for previous games.) Overall there’s a lot of fun to be had with Panzer General 3d, and the game is especially good for anyone looking to break into the wargame genre. If you have felt overwhelmed by reams of text in some of the more hard core wargames, this is a good way to start. Once again SSI brings us a fun and easy to digest wargame in a series that has defined the 'beer and pretzels’ style of wargaming. While not heavy in realism the game is very heavy in fun! Core Rating: 25
Overall Rating: 86 Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking HERE.
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