Codename: PANZERS Phase One

The third time is the charm.  Codename: Panzers has been a game that I’ve had the luxury of seeing blossom into an excellent PC game.  The first time I witnessed the game was in May 2004 at E3.  The game was in excellent shape even at that time.  Then in June 2004 a preview copy made it’s way onto my desk and I was still impressed with the game.  So now September/October 2004 and the final version of Codename: Panzers has been safely installed on my computer.  Once again I’m very impressed with the game and military & strategy gamers will be just as impressed with Codename: Panzers.

The game is a real time military strategy game set during World War II.  Now you might be thinking “Been there, done that” but wait just a second.  Instead of just focusing on one part of the war or one particular country, Codename: Panzers allows you the option to control three different forces, German, American-Allied and Russian.  You might even think of it as a strategy version of Call of Duty (CoD) since CoD played out from several different perspectives.  Each force has their own unique missions that are specific to each of them.  The German missions will range from the early parts of the war (the 1939 invasion of Poland) to the siege of Stalingrad in 1942.  While the American-Allied missions will start with the landing at Normandy and finishes with the Eagle’s Nest confrontation.

The game plays out in a mission/objective-based structure in historical order.  Each mission can have up to several different objectives that must be accomplished before the mission is complete.  The game even includes hidden or bonus objectives that can be discovered during a mission.  During the standard single player mode the game will list for you the objectives of that particular mission.  Since the game is based on historic events all of the missions and their objectives are as close as possible to the actual events.  But how the missions are played out are completely up to you the player.  If you can find a better way to finish a mission then the game will reward you for your strategy.  You can earn points that you can later use to purchase more soldiers and weapons.

Besides the single player mode the game includes the following additional modes: Multiplayer (via LAN or Internet), Tutorial, Training Camp, and Scenario.  The Tutorial and Training Camp modes are great ways for new players to get a feel for the game.  Tutorial gives players a walk-through of how everything works within the game, while Training Camp allows you to try out specific troops and weapons.  The Scenario mode allows you to test your skills at a specific scenario created by the designers.  Right away the maps available in the Scenario mode are for advanced games since the difficulty is bumped up.  Future Scenarios will be available for download from the internet.

Codename: Panzers is a great military/strategy game that will please hard core and casual gamers.  The historic representation and ability to play from three different perspectives are some great options for gamers.  The game even includes a unique hero system where each side (German, Russian and American) has its own specific player that is in control during the battles.  The heroes even have their own stories that unfold during the single player version.  Strategy and military gamers should not miss out on Codename: Panzers – Phase One.

Gameplay 8.7 

Real time strategy but with a turned based option is what I would use to really describe the gameplay of Codename: Panzers – Phase One.  The game gives you the freedom to move any of your troops around at any moment with a few clicks of your mouse buttons.  To move a unit you click on the unit with your left mouse button and then click on the area on the map to move them by pressing the right mouse button.  If an enemy is near by your units will automatically start attacking the enemy for you.  But if you notice the unit is in trouble and needs to move away from the battle, just click on them again to move them away.  All of this can happen at anytime during the game.  But luckily the developer's included an option to slow the game down that (almost) makes the game a turned based strategy game.

You have the option to pause the action at anytime and then issue commands to your units.  Let’s say for instance that you have a rifle unit that discovered an enemy tank and soon the rifle unit is taking heavy fire.  Your anti-tank unit is already pinned down by another tank and you’re worried that the rifle unit won’t last much longer.  By either pressing the space bar key or clicking on the pause button the game will pause.  But now you can issue all of your commands while the game is paused and once you resume the game each unit will carry out those commands.   I found this to be the only way I was able to succeed and complete a majority of the missions. 

This isn’t to say that you won’t be able to finish a mission by controlling your units in real time but for me it was so much easier.  I felt that I actually had control over my units instead of just sending them off to die in a wasted effort.  You can see the entire map as soon as a mission starts but you can’t see where the enemy is located.  If the enemy has two or three tanks located in one corner and I only sent my foot soldiers, I’m in big trouble.  Another issue that was helped tremendously by the pause feature was when the troops would be spread out on the map.  Not being able to see everyone at the same time is a strategic risk that is eased by the pause option. 

Besides the pause feature there were a few nice additions included within the game.  One was the ability to tag each unit with a number and then click that number to switch views to see what is happening with that unit.  For instances I have one of my tanks assigned to the number 2, when I click on the 2 label in the upper right hand corner my view instantly changes to see the tank.  Another addition was the repair, ammo and healing features of the game.  Each unit can be healed or repaired during the game at any time as long as you have a repair truck or a medic available.  I would recommend that you have at least two to three repair and medical units during each battle.  These were a lifesaver on many occasions. 

During most the game all of the units responded right away when issuing commands.  In fact you don’t even need to issue a command to fire for any of your units.  If your unit spots the enemy they will attack automatically.  You can change this at anytime by issuing a command to hold their position.  Sporadically there would be a problem with getting a specific unit to move to a location fast enough.  If another unit was nearby it would sometimes cause a delay in getting the computer to figure out the fastest and easiest path to reach its designated location.  It would seem as if the drivers in the tanks and trucks didn’t finish driving lessons. 

Graphics 8.5 

The graphics for Codename: Panzers are excellent.  The game is played out in an over the top view of the city or location where your mission is taking place.   All of the locations are lavishly detailed with destroyed out buildings, burned out tanks, and excellent landscapes.  You can zoom in on the action to get an up close and personal look at what is happening.  Even zoomed in on all of the game the graphics remain sharp and detailed.  All of the heavy weapons such as airplanes, tanks and trucks look amazing with an excellent attention to detail.  The weapons are based on actual weapons used during the war and all of them look fantastic.  The character graphics were well done but not with the same detailed as the weapons.  Each character has it’s own animation and will usually react differently then another character. 

The game even includes a brief cut-scene during the single player missions to help explain the story.  The cut-scenes use the same graphics engine that still looks good but has a few issues that show up.  The character models during the cut-scenes look outdated for a game released in 2004.  For example if a character was picking up something during the cinema display sometimes the item might disappear or might not even exist.  The character graphics reminded me of games released three or four years ago, but the rest of the graphics in the cut-scenes looked good. 

Another great looking part of the graphics was the explosions.  All of the explosions were large and looked great with particles and debris flying everywhere.   If you blew up a building then you would see a very satisfying explosion and then watch the building crumble.  Most of the stages graphics would react to the battles around it such as trees falling down or power lines being torn down.  The weapons during battle would show signs of damage as well with smoke building up as a tank or truck continues to get hit.  There was even a nice touch where if a flame-thrower was used to heat up a tank or truck, you would see the tank get hotter. 

Sound 8.5 

The sound effects of the units, especially the tanks, were nicely done.  I loved the explosion sound effects since they would come across loud and clear every time.   The music in the game was only noticeable during the cut scenes or menu options.  Each hero character has it’s own unique voice and the voice acting was well done for the cut scenes.  All of the units have their own unique voice and phrases that did get repetitive after a while.  For the majority of the game the sound effects, music and voice acting are top notch.  However the voice over during the tutorial mode was horrible.  It reminded me of all of the old terrible voice acting jobs that used to show up years ago. 

Difficulty Medium/Hard 

Remember folks this is strategy game.  Don’t expect to win if you have all of your units attacking at the same time.  I made this mistake several times where I thought I would overwhelm the enemy only to get trounced in the end.  Several missions didn’t even last 5 minutes before all of my soldiers were defeated.  You will need to play some of the missions over again in order to find out where the enemies are located.  Even on the easy setting sometimes the game would still walk all over me for no good reason.  I would take extreme caution to make sure I had the correct units in place, only to end up restarting the missions several times.  Not being able to see where the enemy is hiding and knowing what type of units are waiting for you is always a challenge. 

Concept 8.8 

Military strategy games seemed to be released every week, especially this year with the anniversary of D-Day.  Codename: Panzers offers something a little extra instead of just the standard strategy routine.  The biggest extra is being able to play out War World II from three different perspectives, German, Russian and American-Allied.  Each perspective is played out with it’s own unique hero that must survive in order to complete the mission.  The story lines for the heroes are different and it allows you to see the different sides of the war.  Each character has their own back-story and you will see the progression of each hero during the cut scenes. 

The other interesting idea was the ability to pause the action and turn the game into a turn based strategy game.  This option was extremely helpful and I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of players use this feature.  Taking an extra few minutes to ponder your next move is what strategy is all about.  But if you want to run head on into the storm with guns blazing then you can select all of your units at the same time and move them into battle.  The tutorial mode and training mode were nice touches as well.

Multiplayer  

There are several different types of gameplay modes available in Multiplayer: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Assault and Coop Mode.  All of the games offer you the ability to play against 7 other players.  Team Deathmatch is the standard deathmatch that has been around forever, players’ fight with or against each other to see who will survive.  Domination is where you have to conquer and hold different locations from the enemy.  An automobile factory, infantry camp and radar station can all be used to your advantage once captured.  Assault allows you to compete against other players by finishing the mission goals or taking matters into your own hands and deciding your own missions.  Coop allows you to play with a friend in the three single player campaigns.   You can play multiplayer by LAN, Direct IP (connecting to a known server by IP address) or through Gamespy.   

Overall  8.6 

Codename: Panzers is an excellent strategy game that is sure to please even the harshest of critics.  Not every game is for everyone but giving players great options is what helps create new fans.  The pause option and multiple hero stories are great ideas that helped push Codename: Panzers over the top.  The excellent graphics, good controls and great sound effects also add up to a great game.  But all is not perfect, the difficulty and the occasional AI misstep might put off some gamers.  In closing Codename: Panzers is an excellent strategy game that offers a superb military/strategy experience for everyone.