A friend recently handed me a game from his collection of computer games and said, "I am sure you will enjoy this." And I agreed completely then. Why would I not like a game? I am a gaming freak, I could play games day and night and the day after without a break. Why won't I like any game for that matter. I thought he din't know me enough.
I started playing the game after the usual struggle of installing the game and having to modify the graphics settings to make sure the game does not stutter on my old machine. Then it was the struggle to learn the keys and the controls and the dynamics of the game. I am quite seasoned at Age of Empires, but this was different, my first true 3D world war 2 game. Imagine the delight to a gaming soul when you know that nothing is and can be hidden from view, just a flick of the mouse with the middle button down.
So, as I was saying, I started playing the game. I liked the concept and I am sure I am a late entrant to the hotbed of computer gaming with high end graphics and all (AOE is the best I could play on my system till date, or should I say, I am not the aware kinds).
It starts where all WWII games start (generally) at the normandy beach. Ok, a little away from the beach as the first thing to do is to capture a bridge before getting to the normandy mission. It was frustrating at first. I din't quite know what forces to pitch against which forces. The mortar dudes always got my men while we were trying to fiercly get the machine gunner out. Man, are these games so much more complicated or what. Imagine how generals in the wars made real life decisions. I am sure it would have been a tad bit more difficult knowing that real men would die if you were to misjudge the location of the enemy tiger by a few 100 meters. So, the game makes it easier of course, save, reload, try different tactics, but win you must to go to the next level and revel in the beauty for a brief second before heavy mortar starts pounding your men and medics rush to heal them.
Its a head rush. Rushing to pund the enemies on one side of the field, trying to save the other flank where the tiger suddenly popped up and try to keep an eye on the health of your men and machines. I must admit that the foot soldiers are not much of a help in the thick of battle against other machines, but then the game is called "Panzers" right? And once you get the hang of it, this is a great game to play. As long as you loose you are gonna feel that the game is lousy, but once you start crushing some of their tanks with strategically placed shermans, the satisfaction of feeling like a general is immense.
Its an awesome game and everyone should play it once. It seems to have built over all the good and the bad games in this genre over the last couple of decades starting from command and conquer (though I have never played it), to AOE (that I can vouch for) to even games like Blitzkreig and Combat Mission (though not anywhere as realistic as Combat Mission). And on doing some research I figured that this game has been followed by Codename Panzers: Phase II and Rush for Berlin, all by StormRegion. I have looked at the reviews of the others and I figure that the other games are going to play like a stuttering nightmare on my system. For now, I am happy with the phase one, but I am sure that I have to catch up soon lest I might be called the gamer from yore. ;-)
So, when my friend said that I would like this game, he meant that I would like the game for the content it brings along and not for the fact that its a game. Something like porn to men I think. No porn is bad, but some are just awesome. And Panzers is the awesome game, fun to play, fairly easy to learn, quite difficult to master but hours of sleepless nights to look forward to. I liked this game like I like all other games, but I like this game for it being more than a game, its a treat to the senses and challenge to my limited intelligence. Should that not be what all games should be aiming at? And how few even land in that vicinity is quite surprising.
Anyway, if you are looking for more on this game take a look at the following links.
Game website - http://www.panzers.de/index.php?page=game.en.panzers
At Gamerankings.com - http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/562461.asp
At Gamespy.com - http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/codename-panzers/552969p1.html
At Gamezone.com - http://pc.gamezone.com/gamesell/p21216.htm
And if you like this game too, or don't like it like mad, get in touch and we can have some cool discussions, maybe even an online deathmatch (Don't know if my system can take it though :-)
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