Panzer Tactics DS

"Only Stop For Kittens"

Panzer tactics is a turn based strategy game extremely similar to panzer general. So similar that if SSI were still around they'd probably be thinking about suing.That said, the developer's intent was to make something like pg but more accessible like advance wars.If you've never played panzer general, its a turn based abstract wargame where icons representing "groups" of a single type of WWII era unit are positioned on a hex grid and the objective is to maneuver them to complete an objective which is generally capturing the opposing force's cities. Its a lot like advance wars but with more elements of maneuver warfare added.

Pt differentiates itself from pg with the addition of an officers/commandos dynamic. Officers can be added to units to enhance their combat power. Commandos are like weak invisible infantry units that can only be spotted by other commandos or when another unit runs over their hex but have special abilities. Sabotage which deprives an enemy unit of fuel/ammo and assassinate which kills an enemy officer.

During the Pt campaign you have a "core force" which gains experience and abilities as you progress. Abilities for these units can generally only be used once per mission. The player is given full control of what units to requisition for their force.

The game gives you a lot of flexibility in how you go about the missions. There is a 20 unit limit on the player's force and the maps are large giving lots of room to maneuver. Encirclements, ambushes, air assaults, sea borne assaults are detailed in the games training mode. Infantry and limbered artillery can be transported in trucks and there is no greater feeling than over running the enemies front line with your tanks and discovering enemy units still helpless in their trucks being sent to the front line.Unless touching a girl is all its cracked up to be. I wouldn't know.

PT caters more to hardcore gamers than aw. Zones of control or ZOC if your one of the cool kids(enemy units can't move through a hex adjacent to one of your units and can only move one hex if already adjacent) which allows anti tank guns to actually be useful when positioned right and entrenchment(infantry defense increases once per turn to a max of 5) are both features PT has that AW doesn't. Unlike pg both sides generally take damage in encounters since there is no initive(that I know of). There is some streamlining to make things less boring. Reinforcing a damaged unit doesn't lower its experience and the unit selection while large is trimmed down from pg so you don't waste as much time choosing between two identical units.

The graphics and design are surprisingly very good. The characters look authentic, have personality and don't carry giant wrenches or resemble most of the crap obscure western third party developers slap in their games. Icons are easy to tell apart, there are some decent weather effects and the animations are ok(though I turn them off like probably everyone else). The images for all the different units look great and there is a wide variety.

Unfortunately Pt isn't perfect. The changes to the historical missions (such as forces being composed of slightly different units from what they actually fielded in the mission) are generally welcome since it is a game but some out right inaccuracies hurt the game's authenticity. These problems are the Tiger being by far the fastest German tank (the real ones were slower than panthers at least being super heavy and had serious problems going anywhere due to them being so heavy) and Panthers in north Africa O__o. A few more music tracks would be nice too though the one there sounds a lot like 1st SS Panzer Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler's anthem which makes it all pretty authentic(not that I actually play the sound that often).

Online was IGN's big complaint. From their review they didn't seem to realise there was a random option for match ups. The game features a ladder and punishes disconnects/powering off so is pretty competent. Definitely made me curious as to how the new AW would handle online. Because of the kind of game, matches will go on very long so a play by email type thing is missed. The three campaigns clock in at about 33 missions altogether(3 are bonuses). The German campaign eases you in, the Russian is challenging and the allied campaign is very hard. A map editor is missed and it would be nice if you could practice the multiplayer maps against the ai. The final niggle is that you have to count hexes to see unit ranges. Which feels a bit archaic to say the least.

All in all I highly recommend Panzer Tactics DS

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/08

Game Release: Panzer Tactics DS (US, 11/06/07)