Active Reviews

Written by PierreTheMime

Introduction:
I am a huge fan of strategy games. Not realtime, such as Starcraft or Command & Conquer, though those are really fun. No, I'm talking hard-core strategy--Axis and Allies, Risk and XCOM, you know the kind of games that make players breakdown and cry. It is in this vein that Blitzkrieg runs through. Though it may be realtime, the challenge and strategy involved in any movement will require several pauses and consideration of every single factor that enters into the situation. Following closely to historical battles of World War II, Blitzkrieg takes and improves upon just about every other strategy game available.

Concept:
Blitzkrieg follows the events of the European campaign of World War II as the Allies (Great Britain, the United States and Russia) attempt to stop the ever expanding menace known as the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan). Because they are effectively fighting on two fronts (Eastern and Western Europe), the campaigns of the "good guys" are split into two groups, the Allies and Russia. Thus, there are three campaigns to choose from, each just as powerful as the others. The Allies campaign begins with Germany encroaching on Western Europe, and the defensive battles to save the whole of major Allied nations, such as France, from total defeat at the hands of the Axis. What follows is a historically accurate string of events that lead to the eventual fall of Germany and Italy at the hands of the Allies.

The concept behind Blitzkrieg is nothing new. This is a realtime strategy game depicting the events of World War II. Many games have come before, such as the classic Close Combat series, but not many execute it as well as Blitzkrieg manages to.

3/5 Stars

Gameplay:
This is perhaps one of the only real-time strategy game that actually requires a good amount of strategy; there is no way to "build" units, nor is there a definitive way to gather resources. Blitzkrieg begins each session with a set number of units and defines a goal which must be accomplished to finish the mission. This means that players cannot recklessly run dozens of troops into enemy territory without thinking if they expect to win. Even on Easy mode, this game is unforgiving when it comes to poor use of resources. Each move should be executed with the advanced knowledge of where they are going and what they are doing, or they will fall quickly to enemy fire. This does not mean that Blitzkrieg is impossible; this simply means that it requires strategy instead of brute force to accomplish mission objectives.

One thing I found myself doing very often was pausing the game whenever anything appeared that required my immediate attention. You can quickly pause any portion of the game by use of the space bar. While paused, units can still be issues orders which they will execute once the game starts again. Using this method allows a player to gather necessary information regarding whatever just happened and react to it before this event has completely ruined their plan. Sure, its realtime--but any good strategist will spend a lot of their time staring at a given situation frozen in time. This is an indispensable feature of the game that can save players a lot of time and aggravation.

Thankfully this game does not try to reinvent the wheel as far as control is concerned. The system is based very heavily on the industry standard RTS system of troop selection and movement. Groups of units can be formed in the standard fashion (Control + 1 through 0) and orders can be given either using a command panel to the bottom left of the display or through a keyboard stroke. The first few missions for each faction will allow the player to become used to the slight differences involved. Overall, this system allows for tight control with minimal issues.

Just like any good war game, players units are varied and meant for a variety of different things. Most units fall into four categories: troop, armored vehicles, artillery and support. Each of these is meant for a specific task, and depending on how you use them will greatly affect how each battle goes. A good example would be the discovery of an enemy gun placement in a small town to the north side of your units by a spy plane. Your tanks could attempt to take the position by force, but since these guns are meant to be tank-killers, there's a good chance that one or more of your units might not survive. Another strategy is to fire on that position with your artillery. This strategy is fast and effective; however, if you have not found the enemies artillery, they can extrapolate your position from the arc of incoming fire and return the favor on your guns. Another, and perhaps the most effective, way to silence this gun turret is to drop a few snipers behind enemy lines and take the gunners out from a distance. Usually these emplacements will be hidden to avoid detection until they can strike, which means that your men will have a good shot of reaching this gun without any resistance. Blitzkrieg allows the player to get through each mission however they see fit, which gives a nice sense of freedom when choosing strategies.

A supporting feature is the experience system which each unit works off of. Through technically there are no "hero" units, but your units can earn experience in battle that can prove useful later. As a unit deal damage and survives encounters, it can become more effective in battle by becoming a veteran. Though these veteran units are not the end-all-be-all, they can be more accurate and deal additional damage. This gives players an added incentive to keep their forces alive. As a player continues along a campaign, they will also be graded and awarded experience and unit upgrades at the end of each battle. The higher the ranking, the stronger the units you can command. There are also special "prestigious" missions that can only be played through if the High Command believes you are fit for the job.

Something else that makes Blitzkrieg so unique is the challenge system. Any given campaign can be played through on Easy, Normal, Hard or Suicide. However, each level of difficulty doesn't mean that you just play through the same map with a smarter AI. What Blitzkrieg does is gives each player the option of choosing which mission they'd like to take for each military campaign, many of which will have varying challenge levels. This is very refreshing to see, since 99% of all RTS games simply raise their enemy intelligence to accommodate the player. This game doesn't go easier on you; a player can simply select easier missions. Just because you chose Easy originally doesn't mean you cannot choose a harder map for each military strike every difficulty is available to each player at any time; the game simply defaults to the challenge rating you've chosen. A nice touch which means there are dozens of extra maps to play through even if you've defeated a particular campaign already.

Blitzkrieg also supports Multiplayer, so you can battle friends over the internet using a variety of different maps and play styles. Because of the nature of multiplayer, it is difficult to get anything more out of it than the standard RTS fare. The lack of time to contemplate scenarios can make for a more haphazard game, but a fun one nonetheless.

5/5 Stars

Graphics:
Blitzkrieg lays down a new standard for the next war games to follow. Each game is played out on a polygonal plain that can define hills and obstructions, as well as flowing rivers and rolling fields. As battles ensues, these pristine backgrounds become torn with craters of mortar shells and littered with bodies and tank shells. The background acts more like a living thing in Blitzkrieg that a static field that your units fight in. The actions that you take can greatly affect the landscape, which is a neat feature. This game also makes good use of volumetric smoke effects. Tank and artillery shots can cloud the air with dust and debris and burning building and other destroyed emplacements billow smoke into the sky. With these elements combined together, Blitzkrieg is a beautiful game, highly detailed and polished.

As far as units are concerned, these are a combination of sprite and polygons. Smaller units such as infantry and snipers are detailed sprites. Larger units such as tanks and planes are built of polygons that fit perfectly with the rest of the world. Because tanks and other more visually complex units generally don't come in near the numbers that troops do, even old PCs should have little trouble with Blitzkrieg (the recommended system speed is 500MHz or above).

5/5 Stars

Audio:
Each of the three factions has their own sets of voice tracks and background music. Like many other RTS games, each type of unit in Blitzkrieg has a voice to go along with it. They may not be as personable or goofy as some of the standards that people have come to expect from playing Blizzard titles, but this game is a little more serious than that. The audio, as a consequence, is pretty no-nonsense. Music tracks simply play through without much feeling and come off pretty standard. Thankfully, the rest of the game is engrossing enough that the lack of inspired soundtracks should not affect the experience too much.

3/5 Stars

Final Words:
Every once and a while it's good to find a game that will truly challenge you, one that requires a few tries to get things right and makes you think. Combined with the high level of historical and graphic detail, this game provides months of challenging gameplay and multiplayer action. It is evident in every single part of the game that this was a labor of love for Nival Interactive. This is a definite must-buy for anyone who is looking for a challenging and fun experience.

Total Score: 4/5 Stars
Excellent Game

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Screenshots