Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm

Total score
Game play
Nuts & bolts
Bells & whistles	N/A

 

I downloaded the demo of this game and played around with it for a while back when Winter Storm first came out, but I didn't buy the game then, thinking at the time that it didn't offer me anything I didn't already own in Combat Mission.  With the upcoming release of the much delayed Panzer Command: Kharkov I thought it was time to finally take the game out for a spin.  There is a wargames drought on after all. 

Koios Works has made a few miniatures-on-the-PC games now, starting with two ancients games and inevitably moving on up to WW2.  This game uses Steven Lorenz's free miniatures rules and Microsoft's abandoned Managed DirectX graphics engine (it was replaced with XNA if you follow these things). The end result as I've found out is a slightly prettier but much, much more limited Combat Mission. Which is what I thought when I was $45 richer, and goes to show how accurate the demo is at representing the game.

Nuts & bolts

The install process is shaky -- there was a dialogue box to tell me I didn't meet the minimum requirements (Vista's not officially supported, though the game works fine on Vista); and another to demand I install NET 1.1  and DirectX 9c (both generations behind the versions already installed) -- but the game runs fine once you pass this hump.  At least the installer gave me the option to continue.

There's nothing particularly new or exciting in the interface of the game.  There's no help text on any of the icons indicating track damage and whatever else might afflict a unit. There aren't even any scroll bars on the lists of scenarios or the scenario text (a pet peeve of mine, anyone forcing me to scroll through lists one line at a time by clicking on a button is not going to gain any special favours). But the 2d interface does the job to get you to the pretty 3d world inside, and once there the controls are suitably like the old Combat Mission controls to get you going straight away.

Why did Battlefront abandon such a winning set of controls in the new Combat Mission?  Who knows.  The only thing that's really missing in Panzer Command by way of Combat Mission 1 controls are waypoints.  There are no pirouetting panzers here to force you to use waypoints, but sometime it's be nice to say "you guys go to the left of the buildings, you guys go to the right."  in Panzer Command movement's always "you guys go over there (the route's up to you)".

Game play

More comparisons to the original Combat Mission series are inevitable, and mostly just a tad unflattering. If you already own the three original Combat Mission games you'll want to think hard before buying Panzer Command.

The scope of Winter Storm is so very much more limited.  Apart from a few 44-45 scenarios and a small 45 campaign the game is wholly concerned with a fortnight or so of December 1942.

The underlying combat model is a step backwards too (miniatures rules instead of anything more PC centric).  It works, but it's not really something to write home about.

The AI's are indistinguishable, both are good.  The one big (and it seems obvious when you think about it) advance this game has over CM1 is requiring units as well as the player to spot a target before the unit can fire. Goodbye Borg spotting routines.

The game's highly mod-able, units are just XML  and DirectX .x files, but any new vehicles are going to require a lot of work in your favourite expensive 3d modelling software, a lot of spare time and some artistic ability (not included in the standard install).  Needless to say the web hasn't been flooded with new vehicles. There are some, but not many.

Everything's in winter white, and most engagements are tank heavy affairs, so the scenarios can get to feel a bit samey.  I did have a particularly good game where I had to send some T34s out to outflank a Panther that was blocking my way, and  moments like that are really all I ask of a game. Stalk, stalk.  Side shot.  Kaboom. For a few minutes there I wasn't sitting at my desk at home any more, disbelief was suspended.

Some of the scenarios can drag on a bit at the end though.  There's no cease-fire or run-way! option to end scenarios early.  If the scenario designer says the thing will take twenty turns then it'll take twenty turns, even if you've got no tanks left for half of that.

Finally I think the map scale for an armour heavy game is too small.  1km wide maps just don't cut it when you're talking about tank duels. This is better than Close Combat's claustrophobic scale, but it could be better still. If this bothers you walk away, there's no way around the map size limit I can see.

So, in conclusion

There's nothing particularly wrong with the game you do get, and parts of it are very nice indeed, but there's nothing all that compelling about it either.  The very limited scope being its main problem:  the game you don't get is the problem.

If you're really into 3d tactical WW2 games then this is just such a game and it's a good one, just don't buy it expecting to get the whole of ASL.  Expect to be buying the partisans module and you'll know what you're getting yourself in for.