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.
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!
