Codename: Panzers, Phase Two (PC) - Review
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High: Great gameplays, Three Campaigns, Improved Graphics, New Features
Low: Not different enough from previous games in the franchise.
It was obvious from the start that CDV and Stormregion had big dreams for the Codename Panzers franchise. Right from the outset they had planned that the series would span three full price titles, and they would of course all involve events taken directly from the Second World War. The first in the series, aptly named Codename Panzers Phase One was released last year and not only took a stranglehold on the RTS genre, but also brought some cracking ideas to the table. Now, as the next release date approaches, we finally get to discover if Stormregion can hold that position, or have they rested on their laurels and produce nothing more than an expansion for this, the eagerly awaited Phase Two?
Initially things do look similar to what we were treated to with Phase One; the single player campaign again spans three different perspectives (Axis/Allied/Partisan) and can be played at any time, independently of each other. The Russian side has been dropped in favour of the partisans for Phase Two but apart from that everything should look pretty familiar to anyone familiar with the series. The main crux of the game is still the story mode, and once you have selected exactly who you are fighting for that particular story can begin. Each of these three stories closely follows a particular ‘hero’ and tells of proceedings in the war from their own particular perspective. The stories still intertwine amongst each other, and as in Phase One, the ‘hero’ reminiscing about events is normally a controllable character in game as well.
For anyone new to the series, the in built tutorial does its best to explain both the rudimentary and more advanced features in one sitting. While at heart this may just be another WW2 RTS Codename Panzers does at least try to bring some interesting features to the table. Old favorites like the flame throwing units who can overheat a tank to the extent the tank crew must evacuate are brought back for even more carnage, as are the indispensable repair trucks and medics.
If you called an entire unit roll call you would be rightly impressed. Codename Panzers features a staggering amount of different controllable vehicles and foot soldiers each with their own unique purpose and attributes. Anyone of these units can gain valuable experience throughout the missions depending on how well they perform, and these units even get to keep their experience points throughout the whole campaign as long as they are not destroyed during a mission, so extra care has to be taken with your troops if your favourite units are to see out the whole campaign. The staggering amount of vehicles at your disposal include a diverse range of tanks, repair and supply trucks. The repair and supply trucks are nearly always on hand to provide reinforcements to your war machine during the battle. Medics are also available to patch up your battle weary troops if they stray into trouble. Each vehicle has enough stats and attributes to please even the most hardened tactician. Armour ratings replicate how it was in WW2 with tanks and other vehicles supplied with sturdier armour at the front leaving them more susceptible to damage from the sides making flanking and sniping a real battle tactic. It’s also entirely possible to call for recon flights, heavy bombing and strafing runs from your friends in the skies during some intense missions if the mission allows.
Developed by the Hungarian studio Stormregion, Codename: Panzers, Phase Two actually sounds as good as it looks. The voice acting in large parts is helped by the strong talent that was drafted in to record it. Familiar names make an appearance with Peter Weller (Robocop) playing the convincing hero Jeffery Wilson.
What really sets Codename Panzers apart from the other WW2 clones that seemed to have flooded the market recently is that every single unit is meticulously detailed right down to the individual badges on soldier’s shirt. There is no denying just how fabulous the Gepard engine looks, especially when tied up in a frantic firefight. Night missions are even more enjoyable now that the day and night cycle has been introduced into the equation and the fully destructible environment looks especially pleasing, undeniably so if the battle happens to be going your way. The option to zoom in and out is nice to show off how great the game looks, but its purpose gameplay wise is limited, its use probably being restricted to picking out the individual units on a scattered battlefield a problem that plagued Phase One. Codename Panzers also allows you to crash though barricades bring down telephone poles and take crafty shortcuts behind the enemy lines bypassing the massed but gleefully unaware opposition forces. You'll constantly find yourself pausing the game and thinking about the best way to tackle the scenario in hand and Codename Panzers simply achieves this by giving full control to the player rather than doing most of the thinking for you. Of course taking a shortcut can also leave you in hot water as well, it’s a fine balancing act between good use of your recon units, heavy weapons and foot soldiers. In other words it's exactly how it should be.
All of this graphical wizardry is provided by the proprietary ‘Gepard’ 3D engine. Not only is the detail on the units spectacular but so is the fully destructible environment that they fight on. Buildings once looking proud can be reduced to rubble after a nasty fight with a team of panzers. Telegraph poles once standing collapse and give way as vehicles come crashing though in a hurry and it all looks spectacular. Indoor fighting is also possible as troop’s crash down the doors of suspect buildings and when this happens the roof of the building in question becomes transparent allowing you to view in real time your troops clearing out the building (or dying trying to do so). Even the buildings are furnished inside to keep the realism at the max.
There are a few tiny problems that we hoped would have disappeared in time for the release of Phase Two, the units are still difficult to identify when clustered, and the zoom feature sometimes doesn’t zoom out quite enough for our liking, but in essence everything else feels solid and more importantly enjoyable.
The multiplayer portion now includes new mission modes which offer a slight distraction from the usual 'slaughter them all' deathmatch modes that were provided in Phase One. The multiplayer mission games will force more tactical minded games with prized objectives to be fought for or protected. And of course with the included editor, further single player games and multiplayer maps are only a creative mind away.
So there we have it, Phase Two is better than Phase One but only marginally. The biggest sigh of relief will come from the fans of the series that have absolutely no reason now to avoid catching up on proceedings. Some will no doubt be disappointed with the lack of progression but everything that Codename Panzers did so well in the first phase has been brought forward so elegantly with Phase Two. If you want to see the best the WW2 RTS genre has to offer, then you really have no need to look any further.
Reviewed By:Godboko Reviewed On: Sun, 14 May 2006 00:54:07
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Game Space | Review | Preview | Trailers | Interviews | Cheats
Release Date:
ESRB: Rating Pending
Genre: Strategy
Platform: Computer
Multiplayer: N/A
Developer: Stormregion
Publisher: CDV
ESRB: Rating Pending
Genre: Strategy
Platform: Computer
Multiplayer: N/A
Developer: Stormregion
Publisher: CDV
Score:
Graphics: 80
Audio: 80
Gameplay: 90
Replay: 80
Overall: 85
Graphics: 80
Audio: 80
Gameplay: 90
Replay: 80
Overall: 85
High: Great gameplays, Three Campaigns, Improved Graphics, New Features
Low: Not different enough from previous games in the franchise.
It was obvious from the start that CDV and Stormregion had big dreams for the Codename Panzers franchise. Right from the outset they had planned that the series would span three full price titles, and they would of course all involve events taken directly from the Second World War. The first in the series, aptly named Codename Panzers Phase One was released last year and not only took a stranglehold on the RTS genre, but also brought some cracking ideas to the table. Now, as the next release date approaches, we finally get to discover if Stormregion can hold that position, or have they rested on their laurels and produce nothing more than an expansion for this, the eagerly awaited Phase Two?
Initially things do look similar to what we were treated to with Phase One; the single player campaign again spans three different perspectives (Axis/Allied/Partisan) and can be played at any time, independently of each other. The Russian side has been dropped in favour of the partisans for Phase Two but apart from that everything should look pretty familiar to anyone familiar with the series. The main crux of the game is still the story mode, and once you have selected exactly who you are fighting for that particular story can begin. Each of these three stories closely follows a particular ‘hero’ and tells of proceedings in the war from their own particular perspective. The stories still intertwine amongst each other, and as in Phase One, the ‘hero’ reminiscing about events is normally a controllable character in game as well.
For anyone new to the series, the in built tutorial does its best to explain both the rudimentary and more advanced features in one sitting. While at heart this may just be another WW2 RTS Codename Panzers does at least try to bring some interesting features to the table. Old favorites like the flame throwing units who can overheat a tank to the extent the tank crew must evacuate are brought back for even more carnage, as are the indispensable repair trucks and medics.
If you called an entire unit roll call you would be rightly impressed. Codename Panzers features a staggering amount of different controllable vehicles and foot soldiers each with their own unique purpose and attributes. Anyone of these units can gain valuable experience throughout the missions depending on how well they perform, and these units even get to keep their experience points throughout the whole campaign as long as they are not destroyed during a mission, so extra care has to be taken with your troops if your favourite units are to see out the whole campaign. The staggering amount of vehicles at your disposal include a diverse range of tanks, repair and supply trucks. The repair and supply trucks are nearly always on hand to provide reinforcements to your war machine during the battle. Medics are also available to patch up your battle weary troops if they stray into trouble. Each vehicle has enough stats and attributes to please even the most hardened tactician. Armour ratings replicate how it was in WW2 with tanks and other vehicles supplied with sturdier armour at the front leaving them more susceptible to damage from the sides making flanking and sniping a real battle tactic. It’s also entirely possible to call for recon flights, heavy bombing and strafing runs from your friends in the skies during some intense missions if the mission allows.
Developed by the Hungarian studio Stormregion, Codename: Panzers, Phase Two actually sounds as good as it looks. The voice acting in large parts is helped by the strong talent that was drafted in to record it. Familiar names make an appearance with Peter Weller (Robocop) playing the convincing hero Jeffery Wilson.
What really sets Codename Panzers apart from the other WW2 clones that seemed to have flooded the market recently is that every single unit is meticulously detailed right down to the individual badges on soldier’s shirt. There is no denying just how fabulous the Gepard engine looks, especially when tied up in a frantic firefight. Night missions are even more enjoyable now that the day and night cycle has been introduced into the equation and the fully destructible environment looks especially pleasing, undeniably so if the battle happens to be going your way. The option to zoom in and out is nice to show off how great the game looks, but its purpose gameplay wise is limited, its use probably being restricted to picking out the individual units on a scattered battlefield a problem that plagued Phase One. Codename Panzers also allows you to crash though barricades bring down telephone poles and take crafty shortcuts behind the enemy lines bypassing the massed but gleefully unaware opposition forces. You'll constantly find yourself pausing the game and thinking about the best way to tackle the scenario in hand and Codename Panzers simply achieves this by giving full control to the player rather than doing most of the thinking for you. Of course taking a shortcut can also leave you in hot water as well, it’s a fine balancing act between good use of your recon units, heavy weapons and foot soldiers. In other words it's exactly how it should be.
All of this graphical wizardry is provided by the proprietary ‘Gepard’ 3D engine. Not only is the detail on the units spectacular but so is the fully destructible environment that they fight on. Buildings once looking proud can be reduced to rubble after a nasty fight with a team of panzers. Telegraph poles once standing collapse and give way as vehicles come crashing though in a hurry and it all looks spectacular. Indoor fighting is also possible as troop’s crash down the doors of suspect buildings and when this happens the roof of the building in question becomes transparent allowing you to view in real time your troops clearing out the building (or dying trying to do so). Even the buildings are furnished inside to keep the realism at the max.
There are a few tiny problems that we hoped would have disappeared in time for the release of Phase Two, the units are still difficult to identify when clustered, and the zoom feature sometimes doesn’t zoom out quite enough for our liking, but in essence everything else feels solid and more importantly enjoyable.
The multiplayer portion now includes new mission modes which offer a slight distraction from the usual 'slaughter them all' deathmatch modes that were provided in Phase One. The multiplayer mission games will force more tactical minded games with prized objectives to be fought for or protected. And of course with the included editor, further single player games and multiplayer maps are only a creative mind away.
So there we have it, Phase Two is better than Phase One but only marginally. The biggest sigh of relief will come from the fans of the series that have absolutely no reason now to avoid catching up on proceedings. Some will no doubt be disappointed with the lack of progression but everything that Codename Panzers did so well in the first phase has been brought forward so elegantly with Phase Two. If you want to see the best the WW2 RTS genre has to offer, then you really have no need to look any further.
Reviewed By:Godboko Reviewed On: Sun, 14 May 2006 00:54:07
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