by Brian - October 1, 2004

Codename: Panzers isn�t just your run-of-the-mill World War 2 RTS. With its advanced AI, gorgeous visuals, top notch gameplay, and staunch attention to detail, Codename: Panzers is the Command & Conquer of World War 2 real time strategy games.

Emphasis on Strategy and Customization

In Codename: Panzers you can play as either Germany, Russia, or the Allies (England and America). Each side has the same basic infantry units although they look different for each side, but their armored units vary in more than just appearance. They have different speeds, armor, firepower, ammo, etc. For example, the Russian tanks are the slowest but they also have the most armor.

Each unit has strengths and weaknesses, and they all have specific uses. Tanks are mainly used to support your troops and destroying other tanks. Artillery provide long range, high powered, indirect fire, but are vulnerable at close ranges and are incredibly slow because they must be pushed by a group of infantry. If you feel like spending the extra money though, you can purchase trucks that will cart artillery and AT guns around the battlefield. Artillery also fire the most damaging shells in the game that will obliterate infantry in a matter of seconds. Later in the game you may get access to mobile artillery units like the German Wespe, the Allied M7 Priest, or the Russian Katysha ZIS-6 among others. These provide faster, more heavily armored artillery support. Additionally, each side has a few Anti-Tank guns, both push powered and armored versions such as the Allied Archer. These, obviously, are very good at penetrating enemy armor but very vulnerable to anti-tank infantry such as mortars or bazooka soldiers. Of course you can�t forget the support vehicles. You aren�t going to get very far without a repair truck, and if you have any artillery, you better have an ammo truck because they run out of shells fast. Then of course you have cars and APCs which provide fast transport and protection from other infantry.

As for infantry, there are plenty of options. Unlike tanks, infantry cannot be controlled individually. They can only be controlled in squads. The size of the squad depends on the unit type. Rifle Infantry are your standard conscripts armed with rifles. Of course there are medics which can heal all infantry. Sub-Machine gunners are like rifle infantry with a shorter range, but higher fire power. Machine Gunners have the most powerful anti-infantry guns, while Anti-Tank Gunners have high powered armor piercing rifles. Snipers use high powered rifles with very long range to kill their targets. They are also hard to spot because they have foliage strapped to their uniforms making them blend in quite well. Bazooka soldiers carry around bazookas for armored targets, and mortar soldiers are like mini-artillery. Finally, there are flamethrowers and tank crews. Flamethrowers carry a flamethrower gun that is great against infantry and tanks alike. Although it doesn�t actually harm the tanks armor, the flame heats the tank up so that the operators will be forced to evacuate the tank. When the tank cools down again it is possible to steal it with a tank crew. Flamethrower infantry can be real pests to players who have lots of armored units.

Furthermore, you can customize your infantry squads in many ways. For only a little more money you can equip a squad with two extra weapons or items. Hand Grenades and Stick Grenades are great for taking out other groups of infantry, and to moderate damage to armored units, but don�t think equipping a group with these will make them an all around threat. Most infantry are swift kills for tanks, but every little bit counts. Molotov Cocktails are the best anti-infantry weapon available, but equipping a squad with this will only give them one, so use it wisely. It will usually kill infantry in one hit, but it also heats up enemy tanks. You can also give squads explosive charges used to blow up bunkers and garrisoned buildings. These are very useful in urban battles where you never know where you will be fired upon from. Tank mines and hand mines are both anti-tank weapons, but they are used differently. Tank mines are placed in the dirt. If a tank drives over one, it will take a lot of damage and will likely become immobilized. Hand mines are a bit harder to use. Hand mines are magnetic explosives that your infantry must stick to enemy tanks by running up to the tank and placing them. Although your infantry squad likely won�t make it out with their lives, these babies can kill a medium or light tank in one blast. Other items include the mine detector, binoculars which allow your soldiers to shoot farther, and an inflatable boat that allows them to cross water without a bridge. The latter is only useful in certain situations, obviously. The shear amount of ways you can customize your infantry units is just amazing to say the least. You can also set infantry up in buildings and have them fire from the windows at passing enemies. The only way to kill enemies in a building is to either blow up the building or send in one of your own squads to duke it out with them inside the building.

Each side has a campaign consisting of ten missions for a total of thirty. In the campaigns, each side also has a special hero unit that must survive each mission. They are all stereotypes of their respective countries. The American hero, Jeffrey S. Wilson, is a cigar smoking, rugged voiced macho man. The British have a snooty fellow named James Barnes. Him and Wilson have sort of a friendly rivalry, always trying to one-up each other in their letters back and fourth between each other. The German Tank Commander, Hans von Gr�bel, proudly fights for his homeland unaware that he is being deceived by his government about the war. Finally, Aleksandr Vladimiriov, fighting for the Soviet Union, watches as his cities are torched and his people slaughtered. The heros don�t serve much of a purpose in the game other than providing journal entries and letters describing the war in an intimate way. The Russian campaign seems to be the most emotional of the three with them being on the retreat most of the time, but all of the campaigns are equally difficult and fun to play. Most of the major battles of World War 2 are in the game�s campaign, such as Stalingrad, D-Day, the invasion of Poland, Kursk, etc.

Furthermore, there are also limited use powers that you can invoke on the battlefield. The number of these powers differs from level to level. All but one involve air units. The recon plane is like a spy plane. It has no weapons and is very vulnerable to AA guns, but it will fly around the battlefield for a long time revealing the fog of war around it wherever it goes. Fighter Bombers are used for quick tactical strikes against a single unit. The fighter will dive at the target and drop a bomb as it levels out and pulls back up, usually killing the target in one hit. Carpet Bombers are just that. Instead of a tactical strike, they drop a lot of smaller bombs that cover some distance. There are also naval artillery strikes, which are absolutely devastating to infantry and are great at knocking down buildings. Finally, the paradrop brings you two sub-machine gunner squads armed with grenades as reinforcements. These powers bring an element of surprise into the battle that, when used strategically, could turn the tides of any battle.

Better Looking than C&C: Generals

Codename: Panzers is one of, if not the best looking RTS game to come out this year. Each and every tank looks straight out of World War 2, the infantry are motion captured so the animation is fluid, and the environments are downright beautiful. Tanks will kick up dust as they travel down dirt roads, or snow as they pass through a blanketed city street. The best part though is the explosions. The explosions in this game are the best I�ve seen from any RTS to date. The combination of reds, oranges, and yellows followed by a mixture of smoke and dust clouding the area looks amazing.

Another great feature in Codename: Panzers is that nearly everything in the world is completely destructible. Your tanks will plow through forests and knock over telephone poles as they advance toward the enemy. All the buildings can be blown up, knocked down, set on fire, etc. Watching the destruction is quite awesome.

The only disappointment in the graphics department is the cut-scenes. Although you can zoom in pretty close to the battlefield in a game with it still looking superb, zooming in for the cut-scenes, which use the in-game engine, are not as impressive. The people�s lips don�t even move when they speak, which was kind of a disappointment.

KABOOM!

Again, the sound effects in Codename: Panzers are amazing, but there is one flaw: The voice acting. Unfortunately, the voice acting is uninspired, cheesy, and just downright bad. At least they got the accents right though, unlike some games.

However, the sound effects more than make up for that. All of the guns, tanks, and artillery fire sound authentic. Furthermore, the minor things like trees being torn from their roots, buildings collapsing, and engines whirring are remarkably realistic. Can�t forget the explosions either. The sound effects for the explosions are also superbly recorded.

Panzers� music sounds like a less in-your-face version of the music from Battlefield 1942, and that�s a good thing. None of the tracks really stuck out in my mind, but that is because they blend so well into the background of the game that you barely notice it over the action on the battlefield.

Fun? Ha! You bet!

Let me tell you something. I played the crap out of the multiplayer demo for this game when it was released, and it only had 2 maps and one side (Germany). I loved it. Now that I have the full game in my hands, with two more multiplayer modes and a lot more maps, I simply couldn�t put it down. The multiplayer in Codename: Panzers is incredibly fun and involves a lot more strategy than most RTS games. Unlike your Command & Conquers, Warcrafts, and whatever other popular RTS games you can name, there is no base building in Codename: Panzers. Instead, before the round starts, the host sets the prestige limit, game type, the map, and time period. Prestige is the money in the game in that you use it to purchase units. You build your entire army before the round starts, and you cannot see what your opponents armies consist of. There are hundreds of combinations that you create to try and defeat the other team, but you could have the perfect army and still lose if you don�t know have a good plan of attack. Its not a good idea to send all of your units at the enemy at once, for example, because you will likely lose all of your support units and have damaged units that are just waiting to be ambushed by properly supported enemies. The use of air power and artillery is also essential to winning the battle. Knowing when to use them and when not to could determine the victor. There are so many strategic elements in Codename: Panzers� multiplayer that it may take you a hundred games before you come up with a strategy that works most of the time. For this reason I never want to stop playing because I want to experiment and develop a good plan of attack.

The multiplayer has four modes. Team Deathmatch puts you and up to three allies against another group of allies in a battle to the last unit. Assault is a free-for-all with up to eight players. Domination, the most popular mode, allows you to capture factories, barracks, and radar stations to gain the ability to get reinforcements by building new armored units, infantry, and gaining more air strikes. Finally, there is Coop mode where you and a friend can play through all three of the campaigns together. All four modes are fun, exciting, and strategic. I especially like Team Deathmatch, but the majority of the games online are domination.

Looking Forward to Phase Two

I�ve said pretty much all there is to say about this game in this review already. Simply put, Codename: Panzers is an amazing game and a must have for any real time strategy fan. Panzers successfully combines smooth visuals, superb gameplay, and marvelous multiplayer to create one of the best strategy titles of the year. CDV and Stormregion have done an excellent job polishing this game. I applaud them for it, and look forward to their future games.