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Sudden Strike
By Steve MacGregorGameplay
Ah, the gameplay. Now, this is where the heart of this game resides (and where, I suspect, the bulk of development work has gone). If this game has one overriding feature that screams “Buy Me” from the shelf, it’s gameplay. Varied, maddening, satisfying, exasperating, exciting, knackering and all round top-hole. Sometimes light-hearted, but never dumb. Sometimes frenetic, but never descending into a clickfest. Forget gathering your biggest tanks and steamrollering the enemy. The most important weapon in this game is the one that resides between your ears. Each scenario demands that you consider the strengths (and weaknesses) of your own and enemy forces, the effects of terrain and the need for reconnaissance. This game puts the “Strategy” back in RTS. Most games disappear off my hard drive a short time after I finish reviewing them. This one won’t. Sudden Strike has put the hook in me in a way that nothing else has for a couple of years, and this is entirely down to the varied and constantly challenging gameplay.
A very small part of a very large Rusian force. Some of the battles are BIG
Campaign missions begin with a briefing that explains the objectives for the mission. Usually, there are several objectives in each mission. Often, achieving an objective will bring reinforcements. For example, a mission might require you to break out from encircling enemy forces, capture a town and then capture an enemy installation. Capturing the town might bring reinforcements needed to take the last objective. You don’t have any choices in the composition of your main force, or of any reinforcement that may become available. Nor can you choose the starting location for your troops or for reinforcements.
The game itself is based almost exclusively on combat. You can’t build or request new units (though you can repair damaged ones). The only construction options you have are related directly to combat: You can build things like pontoon bridges, tank traps and anti-tank defences, but nothing else.
So, most missions start with your units not in direct contact with the enemy. It is important always to bear in mind your mission objectives, and to plan a strategy accordingly. Because you cannot replace lost units, you must take care that you apply force only where it is needed. It is very easy to be side-tracked by a tempting target of opportunity, only to find that you have insufficient forces left to achieve your main goals. Although some missions have time limits, most do not, so that you can take as long as you need to assess the situation and plan accordingly.
One of your first problems will be reconnaissance. Line of sight is very important in Sudden Strike. You can only “see” enemy units that are within the line of sight of your units. This varies according to the type of unit (for example, tanks have a very short range of vision, while snipers have a long range of vision) and the terrain (units see further the higher they are – on elevated terrain for example, or in a watch tower or other tall structure). So, there is little point in sending out your Tiger tank to scout out the way ahead. It will be obliterated by A/T guns long before it can see them. Likewise, if you send your sniper out, he can be easily destroyed by enemy units (though well positioned snipers can pick off enemy gun crews while still out of range of the guns). Where they are available, scout aircraft assist greatly in reconnaissance – just don’t route them close to AA guns.
German units advance over a bridge
Combined arms operations are mandatory here and the wide variety of actions available to each unit provides a huge scope of ways to tackle each situation. For example, reconnaissance shows an enemy armoured force that I suspect may cross a bridge to attack my forces. Do I use heavy weapons to destroy the bridge before they cross? (Tricky, I may need the bridge later, or the enemy may rebuild it) Do I use infantry to mine the bridge? Do I build tank traps close to the bridge to slow the enemy tank down, and then site my A/T weapons so that I can pick off the stalled tanks? (Again, tricky. If I use my precious and vulnerable supply vehicles to build tank traps, the enemy may appear unexpectedly and wipe them out). Do I site my mortars on adjacent high ground and pound the enemy units as they stream over the bridge? Most situations can be solved by the application of several alternative strategies and the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the player.
A skirmish in a small village
In most missions, the player is required to attack defending AI troops. Like most other things in the game, the key to a successful attack is good planning and combined arms operations. Reconnaissance must first be used to locate the enemy. When this is done, the main route of the attack can be planned, and indirect fire weapons (howitzers and mortars) set up well to the rear of the main battle line. Field guns and heavy tanks can then be lined up (out of sight of the enemy) to support the attack. Infantry (brought up to the jumping off point by truck) head the attack, supported by light tanks and armoured cars. When these attacking units sight the enemy, the supporting mortars, howitzers, field guns and tanks obligingly rain fiery death on the defenders. When the hard crust of the enemy defences has been broken, reserve forces can be rushed forward to occupy enemy positions and take over captured heavy weapons. I love it when a plan comes together. Except that it often doesn’t. Your hasty reconnaissance misses a vital group of enemy tanks, your attacking troops are decimated in the ensuing crossfire and your valuable howitzers and mortars are captured during the subsequent enemy counterattack. Sigh.
Generally, the AI controlled troops behave in a sensible way. The AI attacks and counterattacks often, effectively and unexpectedly. In one mission, I had captured a town, and apparently destroyed all the enemy units in the area. Short of units for my next objective, I left only a token force to defend the town, assuming that I had cleared that part of the map. While still en-route to my next objective (and with my main force a considerable distance from the town) a completely unexpected infantry counterattack swarmed into the town, overwhelming my defenders, and forcing me to turn my force around and re-take the town. Little flashes like this make the AI seem sharper than other similar games, though there are still problems. Using a sniper on a group of enemy troops for example, results in one enemy soldier at a time collapsing bloodily to the ground, while the others stand around nonchalantly smoking. (A sniper can see further than normal troops, you see. So the troops being attacked can’t see the sniper, so they don’t respond to him at all. After all, what you can’t see can’t hurt you, right? Wrong!)
German infantry move forward to support a field gun. The vehicle in the centre is a Supply Truck
Altogether, there is nothing really new here. Most of the individual gameplay elements in Sudden Strike have been seen in other games. What stands out here is the way in which these elements are combined into a balanced and varied package. The ultimate test of any game is whether it makes you want to play it. For me, Sudden Strike succeeds brilliantly. The missions are sufficiently varied to offer new challenges each time, and the variety of units allows you to develop your own style of play. In all the time I have been playing this game I have often felt frustrated at my inability to complete a mission (the learning curve is gentle, but the later campaign missions are difficult), but I have never felt bored at repeating the same mission type over and over – something I often find with strategy games.
