Blitzkrieg

"Best RTS I've played to date"

First: If you are looking for an easy, build a base build units and tank rush the enemy game, this isn't for you.

With that said, this is easily the best RTS game I've ever played. It's as realistic as they get.

[GRAPHICS] 10/10

The graphics are awesome. Units are very detailed, and you actually see the men in/around them move to fire the guns on an artillery piece, fix a tank, resupply, etc. Terrain looks great, and explosions are nice looking.

[Sound] 8/10

Not much to say here. Everything sounds like it should, except the guns on the tanks only have about 4 different sounds, and sometimes the sound and music skips. You can also hear men talking about the mission occasionally.

[STORY]

It's WW2. You play as the Allies, Soviets or the Germans. No real story.

[GAMEPLAY] 11/10

This is easily the most realistic RTS game ever made. In a typical RTS game, tanks take several shots to kill, infantry are pretty much useless, and artillery barely reaches across the screen. Blitzkrieg is the opposite.

Tanks die if they get hit in the right spot. You shoot an enemy tank in the rear, they're dead in 1 or 2 shots. Shoot them head on, and it may take longer. They also shoot with their cannon AND their machine gun at the same time, at appropriate targets. Infantry have many formations and behaviors to use, and they actually are useful, even if you have tanks. As your units go through the mission, they run low on ammo and health. You have support vehicles (Resupply and repair) that can follow them and fix them up. If you use a good strategy, such as flank the enemy position or come from behind, as opposed to attacking head on, your units catch the enemy by surprise and you most likely don't take any damage. If you attack head on without scouting ahead, you may succeed, but there's a good chance you'll get ripped to pieces by enemy AT guns. Unlike most RTS games, the enemy CAN'T see everything, they won't see you coming from behind unless they use a scout plane or scout sniper and see you.

Artillery is what really impresses me in this game. Your artillery can reach all the way across the map, depending on what kinds of guns you have. If you use suppressive fire on an enemy position, they stop attacking you and take cover. When you start shelling the enemy, they start shelling you, and it can be a real challenge to knock out their guns. Your artillery can't move unless you hitch it up to a support truck.

You don't build any bases, EVER. You may start with a warehouse, but you can't build anything. The closest thing to a base you can make is when you have your support trucks build a trench and some barbed wire to protect your artillery while your men and tanks go attack the enemy. You never build units. What you start the mission with is usually all you get, unless reinforcements come. You have a group of ''core units'' that stay with you from mission to mission and gain ranks, as well as units that are only in one mission.

Air support is sometimes available, whether you want a recon plane or a bomber or fighters or ground attack planes or paratroopers. All air units come from off the map.

[BUY OR NOT]

Buy this game if you like RTS games and want a challenge. I recommend this to anyone, but if you REALLY need a game with a base where you build units, don't get this.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/04