Article Type: Review
Article Date: December 03, 2002
Product Info
Product Name: Sudden Strike II
Category: Real Time Strategy (RTS)
Publisher: CDV Software (Germany)
Developer: Fireglow
Release Date: July 30, 2002
Minimum Spec: Pentium II 333 with 64 MB of RAM
Files & Links: Click Here
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Blip on the Radar
I have done a few reviews and previews on RTS's on these fine pages, but never touched upon an offering from CDV called Sudden Strike, and for good reason—I had never played it. I did look at the demo, back in the day, but that didn't grab me, so it fell off of the radar for me.
But I heard about the demo for its sequel and was impressed as stated here. So now that the full version is out in the wilds of North America, I was excited to look it over.
Install and Docs
As I tossed the CD into the drive, I took a peek at the 50-page pamphlet/manual. As the 567 MB footprint laid itself down, I scanned through the key commands section—thoughtfully placed, I might add, in the center section for ease of use. The font style is black, over watermarked jungle scenes, so it is fully legible.
I did try the install on a low-end system, to have a go with the laptop, and it let me know that the CPU requirements did not meet the minimum specs of 600 MHz. I was on battery power, so the Intel Speed Step had kicked the 700Mhz processor down for energy savings. It is good to know that the setup program does give a nod to the requirements.
Graphics
Once installed on the larger test system, a jump into skirmish mode is my usual modus operandi. With the RTS genre, it’s nice to shake out all weapons systems, but I was disappointed to find it missing. OK, I looked around in single player and found a pair of training scenarios. While rudimentary, they did deal well with the vagaries of the systems used and allowed a look at the 2-dimensional graphics, which are quite pleasing to the eye.
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Mass detonation  |
Chunky explosions and unit animations are convincing. The detail of some of the units and how to operate them are spelled out via a pop-up window hint system. For instance, in order to use an artillery piece, a pair of infantrymen need to man it. If you capture a vehicle, a specialized crewman or more must occupy it. The same goes for aircraft. Pilots, not just any infantry type, must man the controls. Overall a nice addition, as an armored vehicle may be moved with just a driver but cannot be fired with out more depending on the mount. Artillery of smaller bore can be moved slowly by the two-man crew, but can be towed more quickly with the use of a truck.
Campaign
After the warm-up pair of single missions I went on over to the campaign section to see the various sides foray into World War II battles. My first choice was the USA from the list that includes German, British, Japanese and Russian. The seven game set was based upon light, mobile infantry forces relying on the capture of German equipment to accomplish any heavy punch capability.
And the one thing that really rankled me raised its invisible head. Invisible? Yes. When set upon by the enemy, the “fog of war” does not part to reveal the source of your losses. Restart after restart is required, as a shot in the dark, literally, is all that can be done to react to provocation. If you choose incorrectly your forces will be depleted to the point where you cannot go on. I had to restart the mission, to try again and again, on more than one occasion. It all becomes tedious and sometimes frustrating, as it seems that the German equipment has much longer range capabilities.
I have since received a file from CDV with a re-worked US campaign, which is an evaluation copy. I have yet to test it out, but have hopes that it will make it in to a patch. It seems that others were of similar opinion.
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| Puffs of smoke |
After finally, painfully, completing the USA set I changed over to the British Allies. Very little difference in how it played out: different accents on the responses, same shoot in the dark disparities.
Okay, let’s take a look at the Wermacht forces. Their eight game group is against the Russians, and the only captured item that can be of assistance is the long range artillery, left unattended, in the first mission. Those are of dubious value, as the aforementioned fog of war and the understandable inaccuracy of long-range guns can make for fratricide of the spotter.
The armor allowed throughout the eight games is of ample quality and quantity to allow a veritable blitzkrieg. Rarely have I seen a game with the play balance so skewed in one direction. The Japanese campaign is very difficult, as is mentioned in the manual’s short description, as the US and British forces have heavier weapons systems by comparison. All the campaign missions for all five sides are scripted. In doing the many replays I saw very little variance on the part of the AI.
Artificial Intelligence
Sudden Strike 2 has possibly the most advanced AI of any real-time strategy game I’ve seen thus far. They are not easily lured into ambushes and do seem to bring their heavy weapons to bear before committing the more vulnerable infantry.
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| Stand-off capability utilized. |
When stand-off capability is an option, it is usually utilized in a correct manner: not closing in, but staying back to avoid return fire.
Environmental Effects
This area is part of the overall graphics, which are very good. Snow falling, and the odd rain squall are visually pleasing, but do not seem to hinder or help the forces pitted against each other.
Multiplayer
As previously mentioned, there is no way to check-out maps off-line for a practice and familiarization session before trying your tactics on-line. I attempted to setup an AI player and was told that the minimum number of players was not met. My first attempt was at Game Spy, but it kept grabbing the original, not version 2. Some friends in an IL-2 squad and I tried it out the other day and it was very similar to the demo.
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| Choose you map and settings |
There are time limits for getting to the barrage balloons. Making it on time allows continuation and some fresh reserves. Missing the time limit results in defeat.
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| Get to the baloon, or go home. |
There are no resources to gather or supply lines to keep open. Just keep possession of the balloons, for a host specified time, and reinforcements will come in at regular intervals. It is truly a case of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. If you can manage to get three to six folks all hooked up you can create teams with different or historically incorrect alignments. All spots do need to be human, however. This is my own, personal pet peeve with multiplayer: it's dogfight or nothing.
Conclusion
While I’m sure that a lot of effort went into creating this graphically pleasing improvement to the first edition, there are too many things that bring on exasperation. This reviewer enjoys a quick and dirty mission with flanking maneuvers, surprises, ambushes and balanced gameplay. This was not the case for me with this title. Multiplayer can always be a challenge to get other, trusted folks to join. Not being able to run through a map in single player is a real drawback. The reason I sit down and play a wargame is to have a pleasant distraction, and this seemed, for me, more like work than a pleasant diversion.
CPU: AMD XP2200
RAM: 512MB DDR Ram
Video: GeForce4 Ti4400 (128 MB)
Internet: Hi-Speed Cable
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