Panzer Tactics Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

A war strategy game that will have you playing for months if you like it.

Handygames are a little bit out there compared to other developers. Their games don't usually follow the norm and we're always interested to see what they have come up with next. So when I got a copy of Panzer Tactics, I was a little surprised. Admittedly the game came out of 10Tacle studios so I'm not sure how much involvement Handy actually had which makes a bit more sense. The reason is that Panzer Tactics is a straightforward war strategy game. No flying pigs, strange goings on in lifts or streakers on a fooball pitch, just plain turn based strategy gameplay. Before I begin, let me just caveat the review by saying that I haven't played the DS version so I was coming in completely cold.

What makes Panzer Tactics a little bit different to other mobile games, is its sheer size. It's bloody massive. You get to play as each of the three sides participating in World Word II. And I say three as who really knew what side the Russians were on. For each side you have a campaign which will take you through the key stages of the battles that were fought. Then you also have a scenario mode as well as a multiplayer mode, so there are lots of things to be getting on with.

The game is called Panzer Tactics which basically means that you get to play around with Tanks (in case you didn't know, Panzer was a type of tank used in the war). But it's not just tanks, you get to play with a whole host of vehicles from Messerschmidts to troops and portable guns. As with other sorts of games in this genre, it's a turn based strategy game, and the AI will move all their vehicles before you get to have a go. This can be a little time consuming in the levels where there are lots of troops and the wait is equivalent to the AI taking a while on their chess moves. You don't have to move all your troops and you can buy some more from your HQ if you have enough points. The way you get them is by taking control of enemy towns which will then give you points each round. Be careful though, as you may have to leave enough troops behind to defend tehm properly.

As you progress through the game you will be able to control more troops and often have to launch multiple fronts of attacks. Fortunately, I am a master tactician, so while it took a bit more concentration to figure out what was going on, this wasn't really a problem.What was a problem was the map, which like some games, starts out covered until you send troops to the area. A bit like war really, but unlike real war, once the troops leave the area, they become covered again. This was a little puzzling to me as it's quite easy to forget what the area looks like. It makes a difference to the attacks as the terrain impacts the regiments attack attributes. However, as your selector goes over a covered area, you will be told what terrain the area has.

Graphically the game is a little bit jumbled. The game is well suited to a PC in terms of size and the things you can do so the graphics look a little bit squashed on a mobile phone screen. You can see the different types of troops quite well, but it's almost like the graphics are too detailed. There is background detail on the maps as well as on the selection menu, but all of this means that at times its a little hard to tell what's going on. The animation of movement and battle is average, you get an Indiana Jones style arrow that you can control to direct the troops to where you want them to go. Sound is not bad, there is a very brief piece of introduction music and you get some decent sound effects in the game.

I guess another problem that I had with the game is that the instructions weren't that detailed. With so much you can do, it took me a while to figure out how to move the guns. You have to select them and then press the button again on their square to be able to move them again. Then there are the resupply options as well as regaining the health of damaged units, none of these were explained in the instructions. There is a training mode however, which will guide you through the basics so it's definitely worth doing this first.

There are plenty of atttributes to the game, apart from the terrain, you can have units support you and there are many attributes including seeing whether your units are happy. If they make it through a battle, they will improve, as will your score.

What I will say about the game is that you get some serious value for money. The sheer size means that if you like the game and get hooked, you will be playing it for a long long time. But for me, there was just something not there, which didn't really grab me. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good game with it's size and variability, but after a few days of playing, I wasn't addicted but I did play for a while longer and can see the effort that was put into the game.

If you like your turn based strategy games and are a fan of the World War 2 era you will love this game, just be prepared to devote a month or so of your life to finishing it!