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This
is, without question, a game which is unlikely to appeal
to players who do not have a military hardware fetish.
Or, to be fairer, anyone with an interest in the mechanised
warfare of the Second World War will find that Panzer
Strike caters for that interest in a scientifically
and historically exact way. Players who prefer planning
campaigns on a larger scale, and whose imagination is
kindled by the idea of rearranging history wholesale,
are likely to be stunned by the huge quantities of technical
detail reproduced in this simulation. It's a typical
SSI tactical-level game, only more so than usual!
In
this case, tactical-level means that the battles that
Panzer Strike recreates are fought with units
representing single tanks and small squads of men, on
a map showing individual buildings, craters and trees.
The game progresses in turns, covering one minute of
'game time' and, as the maximum number of turns in a
single battle is 60, none of the encounters lasts for
more than an hour. The variety of places and situations
offered is admirable. There are three fronts or 'theatres'
available -- east, west and Africa -- each occupying
a disk side, and giving the player the opportunity to
play preset scenarios or customised games. An exhaustive
assortment of offensive vehicles appropriate to the
time and the place is provided; the dozens of different
tanks in the game are listed with their vital statistics
in a substantial booklet separate from the main instruction
manual.
The
computer can play either Axis or Allied, or both or
neither. There is an option to play with or without
the 'limited command' rules, which simulate the fact
that subsidiary units are not always in radio contact
with their headquarters and in a position to receive
orders. There is a simple handicap level adjustment
and a message delay length to decide, before play starts.
The
screen map is clear-cut and uncluttered, though minimalistic.
It is not immediately obvious from its appearance that
the game provides an unusually large variety of terrain
types, including unexpected territory like wheat, olive
trees and vegetation fire amongst the more common forests
and roads, which affect movement and may or may not
provide cover. This is summarised concisely in the Briefing
Manual, but the player just has to use his imagination
when trying to decide what on-screen graphic represents
what type of vegetation. Clear ground is patterned in
dots, to make it easier to see how many grid squares
it covers; this is a useful touch, as the range of weapons
is measured in these squares and is vitally important
when deciding on tactics.
Infantry
units look like sealed envelopes (I have a suspicion
that certain game designers consider this mysterious
symbolism more sophisticated and serious than small
drawings of soldiers with guns) and the tanks rather
like door handles. Visually it is all very functional
and businesslike.
The
map can be viewed at the normal tactical level, showing
a 20 by 10 square portion of the playing area, or at
strategic level, which on most scenarios shows the whole
map and is useful for getting an overall picture of
how the battle is progressing.
The
gameplay is very simply arranged into two phases, orders
and combat. The player spends as much time as he likes
giving his units movement and firing orders, then watches
passively as the orders are carried out in the combat
phase. An unusual feature is the automatic running-on
of combat phases: unless the player actively intervenes
with a keypress at some point in the combat, the computer
will run through the scenario's allotted number of phases
without interruption.
Orders
are given via a menu, crammed onto the bottom of the
screen and fully explained in one of the manual's numerous
charts. The map can be explored with a cursor, and the
objective of the current scenario is always available
for examination; the type of mission affects what the
player gets victory points for, so that battles which
end in apparent defeat can actually be judged quite
successful in the circumstances.
Units
are either vehicles or small squads of infantry, and
they are all arranged into platoons. The units are identified
alphanumerically in the game, so it is always clear
which of them belong together and which of them serves
as headquarters, the top of the chain of command; all
units in the same platoon are referred to by the same
letter, and the headquarters is number zero. Ultimately,
all units on screen report to unit AO. The chain of
command only becomes important, however, when the player
has chosen to operate within the confines of the limited
command rules. Without this option, all units are equally
manipulable and the platoon system is merely a convenient
way of ordering group movement.
Units
have their own menu, which replaces the map menu when
they are selected for attention. One of the most important
options is the 'weapons' page, a screenful of information
which gives details about the guns and armour of tanks,
the state of morale, the unit's maximum speed and the
number of men in attendance. Weapons are lovingly described
in terms of their ammunition, size of shell, shell penetration
value, accuracy, maximum range and infantry attack value,
and tanks nearly always have more than one gun in their
armoury. As far as I know, these statistics, and the
differences between the various models of tanks, are
historically accurate; the Briefing Manual often includes
a short note about any feature of interest along with
this alphanumerically bleak profile. As I've already
said, technofreaks will delight in poring over all this
detail. It is reasonably easy for more simple-minded
strategists to gloss over it in search of a good game,
but not without a sneaking sense of missing something.
A
formidable selection of orders can be given to units
from the unit order menu, though the basic options are
the usual 'fire' or 'move'. Units will automatically
take pot-shots at anything that comes within a specified
range, up to the maximum extent of their weapons' capacity,
and they calculate their own target. It is possible
to check on what enemy unit a friendly unit has targeted,
but not to alter it. The player's role in the attack
is merely to arrange the most suitable forces in a position
appropriate to the object, and to order the units to
restrict their fire to the desired range. It is possible
to specify movement exactly, so working out which units
will attack what is not too difficult.
With
a mathematical mind it is also possible to predict the
probable outcome of the attack, for the complex combat
rules -- which are modified by every conceivable factor
-- are fully explained in the 'formulas' section of
the rulebook. Studying the formulas gives the player
the best chance of attacking and defending successfully,
for he can work out the precise advantage of positioning
a certain kind of tank in soft cover, or ordering a
unit to make a 'cautious' rather than a 'full' advance
in conditions of poor visibility.
The
combat phase itself takes place in three 'pulses', which
serve to subdivide the fictional minute and sort out
the units which fire first from those which are burdened
by what the game mysteriously calls an 'administrative'
delay. (It conjures up visions of officers filling in
forms in triplicate before allowing their men to fire).
While the computer makes its calculations, it treats
the player to a virtuoso display of random numbers,
just to prove it hasn't frozen. When a unit fires, the
screen scrolls to its target and the player is informed
of the type of fire -- mortar bombardment, rifle fire,
or the classification number of the tank gun involved
-- its accuracy on this occasion, and, if the target
is hit, the result. Most of the time, nothing happens;
the accuracy rating of much of the firing is low. Attacking
armoured vehicles with rifle fire is predictably pointless,
for even if the tank is hit, the bullets merely bounce
off. When a tank is successfully attacked the location
of the damage is specified, although it is possible
for a unit to be completely destroyed by a lucky first
hit. Infantry units suffer loss of men.
One
defect of the combat phase is the fact that the attacking
unit is not identified. Another is that it tends to
be slow. There is an option to speed up or slow down
the message display, but this is not a practical solution
to the problem; speeding up the displays to the point
where they became unreadable, or at least uncomfortable
to keep up with, is a bad idea. It is the sheer number
of messages which can cause the phase to drag, and most
of these report on attacks which were unsuccessful.
There is much sound and fury signifying nothing. It
is also rather too easy to forget to press the 'O' key,
and find oneself launched into another combat phase
without a pause to give orders or assess the situation.
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