Codename: Panzers - Phase 1 Review Review

In case you donâ??t know, Panzers is set during World War II, and allows you to choose one of three campaigns to follow, the German campaign, the Russian campaign, or the Allied campaign. Each campaign begins at different times during the course of the war. If you choose to play as the Germans, youâ??ll begin with the invasion of Poland in 1939, youâ??ll start by defending Russia from the German invaders in 1941 if you choose to follow the Russian campaign, and finally, youâ??ll start two days after D-Day on June 6th 1944 if you choose to play as the Allied forces, as they try to capture two bridges deep in German held Franceâ?¦

The developers have included â??heroâ?? characters that you follow throughout the course of the game. For instance, if you were working through the German campaign, you would follow the war through the eyes of the German â??heroâ??, Hans von Grobel. Not only do get to essentially play as von Grobel, you also follow his thoughts through his diary entries. The missions in the campaigns are linked through cut-scenes so that the storyline progresses as smoothly as possible. The game features four other heroes that you follow depending on which campaign you decide to follow.

The game includes a tutorial section, which we would recommend people complete before even thinking of starting one of the campaigns. It goes through the controls and some of the in-game features such as entering a building, or taking command of vehicle or cannon after the enemy has abandoned it â?“ or after theyâ??ve been killed by your forces. Some of the orders that you can make during missions include requesting a reconnaissance plane to fly overhead and identify enemy targets. Once identified, you can then call upon a bomber to fly over the identified area and attempt to destroy the enemy forces from a safe distance. The use of these options during the missions are heavily restricted, with the ability to use a recon plane only available a few times a mission â?“ so plan ahead and donâ??t waste these very precious options.

Panzers, like all RTS titles, requires a great deal of strategy and planning. You can by no means just rush in to the mission and expect a victory, because youâ??ll get all of the troops under your command killed, and the mission will fail. Sending scouts forward in an attempt to identify where enemy forces are hiding is a prerequisite at the start of a mission. With that knowledge, youâ??ll then be able to start making your plans. Although you can save your progress while playing through a mission, Panzers isnâ??t the sort of game - like most in the RTS genre â?“ that you can just pick up and play; players will have to spend time to develop their skills if they want to unlock the gameâ??s potential.

The developers of Codename: Panzers have certainly tried to make the game as real as possible through the inclusion of over 100 authentic vehicles from the era, including cannons, trucks and of course tanksâ?¦lots of tanks. The environments in the game look great, and the fact that trees and buildings, as well as enemy vehicles, can be blown to smithereens as a result of mortar attacks, mean that the locations are fairly dynamic too. Changing weather conditions also adds a layer of realism to the game.

Panzers allows you to really get right into the environment that you find yourself in. Using the mouse-wheel, players can zoom in and out of the action; and by using the middle mouse button (or by pressing your mouse-wheel), the game enables you to tilt and rotate around the cursor so that you can view the situations from most of the angles that you need. This is great feature of the game, that when used well, can really to give you a feel for the battles as they rage.

The game has a range of different types of troops, from snipers to medics to machine-gunners and the ordinary rifleman, each of which with their own strengths. Your troops have the ability to move either by standing upright, crouching, or by crawling. It goes without saying that running and moving whilst crouching makes your soldiers more vulnerable to attack, but they have the advantage of moving a lot quicker than if they were crawling. However, the crawling troops can use the undergrowth to hide themselves. If you want your troops to travel across distances, then you can always order them to ride in the trucks.

The music in Panzers is suitably military sounding, and the game also includes what appear to be scripted music sequences that add a certain war movie element to the action. The general chatter amongst the troops when they receive their orders, and the voices for the heroes are quite good. The cut-scenes sometimes have some ropey acting, but on the whole, we think that this is a minor fault.