by Zac - July 5, 2004

With path-finding like this, it's no wonder the Germans lost WW2. Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon is ultimately a rarely enjoyable World War 2-themed babysitting game in which spend most of your time making sure your units aren't getting stuck on devastating obstacles such as houses and fences.

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Having not played the original Blitzkrieg, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with Burning Horizon. After checking out the detailed instruction manual, my interest was peaked. The ability to call in air support and drop paratroopers, the inclusion of long-range artillery to soften targets, and mentions of engineers who could lay mines and build trenches had my imagination running wild. So I popped the game into my computer and started the tutorial. After learning the basics of control and the resource system (which essentially is based upon supply trucks delivering ammo) I started a new campaign. Apparently in the first mission I'd be serving under Rommel (you will throughout the campaign) and taking part in capturing key crossroads in the Ardennes with light lead units to prepare for a full tank drive. Cool. The game threw in some historical background, and off I went.

Upon starting the mission, I was told that the crossroads were poorly defended, and if I hurried, I could get to them before the main enemy force did and avoid a costly frontal assault. Naturally, I ordered my units to hurry towards the crossroads. Unfortunately, they didn't hurry. One truck decided to back around 50 feet into the forest nearby and my lead vehicle advanced way ahead of the other units I had selected, not because it was particularly fast but because the other units just didn't move immediately. Undeterred, I figured this erratic unit behavior was a one-time thing, and not wanting to lose any time in the actual mission, I restarted it.

Again, I ordered my units down the road. This time, they got into each other's way, halted, turned a bit, sorted themselves out, and then got into each other's way again after a few seconds. So, I restarted again and this time I ordered my units to follow a lead car instead of ordering them as a group. But again, the units got in each other's way and the whole line slowed to a crawl. Down the road towards my objective, a weak flank attack slowed me down even more, and when I arrived at the crossroads, the enemy had set up a fairly solid line of defense. Well, no harm in restarting again.

Leaning towards a fresh approach to the situation, I decided to cut through the forest and attack the enemy's northern flank while calling in air support to bomb the crossroads. The northern flank attack developed nicely, and the enemy's infantry was cut down by armored cars. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a problem with my air support. The bombers arrived, but well...didn't bomb anything. They circled the area for awhile and left. Consequently, I decided to try and roll up the whole defensive line from the north, and it worked. However, during this attack, I noticed a fairly annoying habit among my units: they liked to wander off. Some infantry and an armored car basically strolled into an enemy-occupied town. My armored car killed a good number of enemy troops though as it was under heavy fire, I ordered it to retreat. The unit decided to ignore my order. I ordered again and again I was ignored. Naturally the armored car was destroyed.

Well, after mopping up a bit near the crossroads I was told that my objective was complete. But I was given a new objective: capturing the enemy town beyond the crossroads. Well ok, the armored car hadn't died for nothing. It had actually killed a decent number of people, and I still had a fairly large force, so things weren't all bad. I ordered my units to assault enemy positions, only to find that they had trouble navigating a town made up of perhaps a dozen buildings. The three block labyrinth proved to be far too difficult for trained troops to maneuver in, so I was forced to babysit them. Upon finally getting into acceptable positions, my troops were able to overwhelm the enemy and confine him to a fenced-in house.

I ordered my remaining infantry to attack the house. They surrounded it and stood still while being shot at by the units inside. Figuring the fence had something to do with this, I ordered my units into the fence's opening (which they should have automatically gone through if the fence was in their way). They repositioned themselves at the fence opening, but didn't go through. I ordered again and again the units did not go through. However, the third time was the charm, and my forces took out the building and the mission ended.

As I soon found out, this first mission was to play similarly to much of the game. The entire campaign featured the same problems; units wandering into gunfire, units getting stuck on objects, and units having trouble with just general path-finding. I don't know if there was a lack of play-testing, but it felt as if I was playing with an unfinished product. That was truly unfortunate, because Blitzkrieg wasn't all bad, and with a little work it could have very well been a great game.

Blitzkrieg is a Beauty

Other than the fairly unimpressive explosions, I have no complaints in the visual department. The terrain is nicely detailed and there is plenty of variation in scenery (you fight in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific after all). In addition, units look great and have life-like animations. As far as 2D strategy games go, this is probably the best looking one I've seen.

Still, even with the pretty graphics, Blitzkrieg seemed to be too draining on systerm resources. My computer is in no way the best of the best, but a 2ghz computer with 750MB of DDR Ram and a solid video card should run a 2D RTS game more smoothly than it did. The minimum requirements are 450mhz, 64MB of Ram, and a 16MB video card but I can't see how anyone could run this game with a rig that old.

"Sieg Heil Deutchland!"

You'll be hearing a lot of German dialogue, and mostly it effectively adds to the atmosphere, as does the well-done musical score. In addition, the individual units and effects sound good, though collectively they sound a bit weak. Consequently, smaller battles sound nice, but larger battles tend to sound underwhelming. Still, the visuals and audio are probably the biggest strengths of Blitzkrieg and are certainly heads and shoulders above your average RTS game's.

How smart is Patton?

The enemy AI is good (which is fortunate, as there is no multiplayer), though not spectacular. Defensively, the strength of the enemy lies in its strong initial positions and its refusal to be easily lured out of them. However, it does allow itself to to be killed piece by piece sometimes and has a problem with concentration of force. In addition, your opponent has no real counter to sniping. Although enemy troops will duck if the soldier next to them is shot, they don't really seek cover or investigate effectively.

Offensively, the enemy will probe your positions, call in air support, and generally do a competent job. And here lies possibly the best part of Blitzkrieg: defending against the computer's assaults. While defensive missions do retain path-finding and unit AI problems, there is not the same amount of tedious babysitting involved. During some of these defensive missions, you will find yourself willing to look past some of the more obnoxious parts of the game, especially when a well-crafted defense leads to an especially masterful annihilation of an enemy assault.

Should You Join Rommel's 7th Panzer Division?

Probably not. WW2 fanatics or those really looking for a WW2 themed strategy game may be willing to look past the flaws, but your money can be better spent elsewhere. Perhaps I've been spoiled by great games like Age of Empires II and Medieval: Total War, but Blitzkrieg's severe control problems in addition to the notable lack of multiplayer will make it a disappointing game for most.