Sunday, December 10, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Sid Meier's Colonization
Publisher:- Microprose
Developer:- Microprose
Genre:- Strategy
Release date:- 1994 (DOS), 1995 (Windows 95)
Ever recall of a time when you hated something so bad that mere mention of it can draw fits of violent inner rage yet after some afterthought and a serious effort to try to like it can turn out to be one of joy.
Same case here.
Back in 1996, many gamers kept championing this game so much that I probably could do no worse than to ignore it. Play as one of four major maritime powers of the Renaissance era and the age of Exploration and build settlements in America. Interesting right? Boring.
But try it I did; but I absolutely abhorred it, at least it was back then. Where was the fun of it? There's too much micromanagement involved and there are many nitty gritty nagging issues which you have to take care of. Plus, I've had little love for the milieu of the game; the Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci feats meant nothing to me. Maybe it was the mentality of a 16 year old fresh from a then important recent PMR success; or it was just my old personality of not to even consider looking at something overly troublesome or what I perceived to be such.
Anyway, as recent as 2002, when the new line of Direct-X 8 powered graphic-intensive games rolled off the shelves and placed themselves too high and mighty for my old AMD 450MHz desktop with a puny 16MB Voodoo Banshee card, I turned to the old DOS games which could provide fun-filled hours at the cost of inferior eye candy.
So I found the old 'Colonization' for DOS residing in a neglected area of the primary hard drive. My brother played it a lot and has tons of ready-made save games for me to jump straight into the action without having to learn the ropes of the game first-hand. That's what save games are for; the legacy.
To my utter surprise; all the abhorrence of the old did not surface at all and the experience of playing 'Colonization' at the somewhat more 'matured' age of 21 is indeed different. Anyway, while I can't point to any straight facts as to why I can suddenly like something which I've detested barely 5 years ago; I did acknowledge that the game, while still tedious and messy, can be entertaining as long as you're willing to invest in it.
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"For God, Gold and Glory of our country; go to the New World- settle there and bring back the riches and thy name would live long in the lips of the grateful motherland."The aim of 'Colonization' is very different from what you've probably envisioned. The New World settlers are, in a sense, more independent than the monarchists have possibly imagined and have other ideas in mind when they first inhabit and populate the untamed America.
You start of at the Eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere near the Bahamas islands with a ship and at least 2 new settlers. The ship you'll have is different, depending on your choice of nation and the settlers can also vary according to the difficulty settings. You can play as any of the countries shown on the left:- Spain, France, England and the Netherlands. All of them are reknowned maritime powers and all are sea powers of the late Renaissance era.It might be interesting to note that while the characteristics of each of the nations are different, the end goal is the same:- independence from the mother country.
Briefly, the countries have these different traits which might influence the outcome of the game:-
1. Netherlands (Trade) - many gamers' obvious choice and for a good reason:- money from trade goods. Commodity prices are more stable than other nations and recover from inflation faster than the other powers.
2. Spain (Conquest) - the belligerent power but only against native American Indians. The player gains a 50% bonus attacking Indian villages. These settlements yield treasure when captured and can be the loot you're looking for. But, more often than not, Spain's options fall short when all other European nations have prospered with their trade with the natives, who can prove invaluable with their help.
3. France (Co-operation) - In 'Colonization' occupied Indian territory (at least 3x3 hex from the villages) often generate tension or 'alarm'. While the alarm is escalated by the presence of military and armed units in the area, the same tension can also rise due to other factors like the plowing of land or extensive road-building in the area, destroying the integral part of the natives' lives. France generates these tensions at only half the rate and has also a Hardy Pioneer in the ranks. The Pioneer unit clears land in the New World and can be ordered to build roads and other neat stuff.
4. England (Religion) - In 'Colonization' terms, 'Cross-Production' means the likelihood of immigration from the home country. England produces 50% more cross-production than other powers and have the ability to attract more immigrants from the home docks to be shipped to the New World for labor.
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Game mechanics:-
Your main aim:- establish a colony/colonies. Expand the colony to thrive in trade (obviously, the siting of the colony must be strategic so as to gain maximum benefit from the natural resources). Build up a sizable army and wage war with the home country. If you don't, by 1800, the game ends and you're one forgotten old chum.
Building a colony:- The biggest step taken in the initial stages is to choose a good site for your first colony. My priority is thus:- at least one hex of rock/hills (important for ore and other silver deposits! You won't wanna be trading ore with your other ore-producing colonies all the time), forest, river and some prairie lands for good food. But get a site with hills. Make sure that the colony is producing enough food at all times (indicated by the amount of corn at the bottom left of the screen) In the picture to the left, the colony screen at the right side is a graphical representation of the 3x3 tic-tac-toe image of what your current settlement can produce. It is ideal to bring the right people in for their jobs as they maximise the resources that can be produced. Other factors can be changed, such as plowing the land for more food growth or building roads for those hills or forests for improved production. The leftmost screen, with the buildings etc, are your manufacturing sector. Here, all goods produced at the right side will be resources with which to work with at the left. You will need to manufacture goods on your own to be fully self-sufficient in order to wage a protracted war with your home country. So, there exists a nice little circle of love. You may want to explore areas with rich tobacco land or cotton which in turn, can be manufactured into finished goods like cigarettes or cloth which can fetch a better price at the trading posts. Just keep in mind that inland colonies are at a disadvantage, at least until a customs house is built as they have no serviceable port with which to load goods onto an available ship.Interacting with the native Indians:- Arawaks, Aztecs, Incas, Iroquois, Cherokee, Tupis, Sioux, and the Apaches are the the ones who could be your ally or, most of the time, your enemy. Depending on your usage of the land belonging to the Indians and also their village location, you might be deemed to have overused their land and they'd constantly raid your colony in retaliation. The early stages of interaction with the natives can be friendly as they will encourage
trade and will occasionally offer gifts on their own accord. You might find it useful to establish a mission at these villages with a missionary to improve relations with the Indians and you may be offered Indian converts to work the fields for you but can do little in the manufacturing sector. Indians can also teach a 'Colonist' unit , (ie a unit with no profession yet better than an 'Indentured Servant' or a 'Convict') certain skills which cannot be attained from Europe such as the Furtrapper skill and more.If you're the French, you might find it useful to actually cooperate with them to build up a small trade but the Spanish, with their bonus attacks on Indians are better off destroying entire villages and make off with their loot which can run to thousands of gold for your war chest. Remember that entire Indian tribes can be entirely eliminated and cease to exist in the map. Their level of hostility towards you can be seen at the example on the left. An unarmed Indian is a friendly one, while the caricature of an Indian armed to the teeth is signal for you to either commence hostilities or to fortify your colonies. Take note that Indian raids are never good for you; you either drive them back for no gain or their raid will end up with you losing finished goods or much money. Whatever the case, their presence are integral to your stay in the New World.
The European Screen:- Also known as your home port. It is here that you'll sell your first cargo from the New World and also the place where you can hire specialists (those not taught by the Indians) to quickly boost up your bustling colony. You can trade for certain commodities which you feel might be profitable to the native Indians who demand for certain goods if you are to do trading with them. If you have discovered the 'Fountain of Youth' trigger, up to 7 colonists are there for you to choose to appear at the docks. Most of the time, the choices are narrowed down but it is worthwhile to seek out the Lost City rumor early.Other choices you'll make:- I can think of a many other triggers which can potentially disrupt your colonization process but not more so than these two:-
1. Tax rate increase:- Your king sends an envoy to the New World to raise taxes on the goods which you'll sell to the European homeland. If you don't sell any items (which is rare), a random goods are chosen to be taxed. You can reject the tax increment if you hold a '
Founding Fathers/Continental Congress:- A fictional Congress of your Independence movement. These are the American heroes who distinguish themselves in posterity and include but not limited to; Pocahontas, George
My experience playing 'Colonization' is to have at least fortressess in all of your colonies and 30 dragoons in them. It's a tedious process to rally that many troops in the short timeframe, but the game has never promoted sedated action at any point of time; so take stock the moment you establish your own first colony on American soil. Remember to back up your soldiers with enough artillery and to accept all logical aid from foreign powers who wish to intervene. The French and the English who have just declared their own independence are most likely to support your cause provided of course, you can generate certain number of liberty bells. Remember that your surrounded colonies would mean that your cultivated lands are no longer worked upon for resources nor food and that your novice soldiers would stand no chance against the Imperial troops; so throw in a nice balance of dedicated veteran soldiers and normal militia.
I'm not discussing the various unit types nor the ship types in the game as the in-game instructions have served this purpose admirably. The game also has an intuitive report system as well as certain information which can aid the beginner into jumping right into action without the frills of a steep learning curve. By all means, try until you can get the best system going. Replayability is bad after you've mastered every profitable colony location and every step you're going to take but it's a pretty game to get into long after the eye candies of the current games have passed and you're looking to spend a few worthwhile hours on an old game.
(since this is a DOS game ported into Windows, evaluation is not possible as certain standards are not implemented. For evaluation purposes, games which I review must not be earlier than 1996.)
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Sudden Strike + Sudden Strike Forever
Sudden Strike 1 + Sudden Strike Forever
Publisher: CDV Software Entertainment (Germany)
Developer: Fireglow (Russia)
Genre: Real Time Tactics
Release date: January 2001 / November 2001
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This game is old. Using dated but beautiful graphics, a primitive AI which throws score after score of units at you and hoping that their superior numbers count. Most importantly, the milieu of the battles are in the backdrop of World War II, the greatest war ever fought by the psychopath race called humans.
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The skinny:-
The Bad:-
1. Repetitive scenarios.
When used in this context, expect it to include the fact that the same mission objectives crop up everytime in slightly varying forms, e.g. to conquer a certain (ghost) town in the east, or to take a munitions depot.
2. Small units at higher resolutions 800x640 and more.
The infantry units are elusive but to the most trained eye. And trained eye means, after suffering at least 120 hours of fiddling with the game mechanics, assuming your interest can last that long in the game. Not that it's such a big problem in the first place; the wrong type of infantry can sometimes prove to be the man at the right place in the wrong time.
3. Slow gameplay.
If you thought that baby-sitting your troops to make sure that they fall in line and perform their combat well was bad enough; the measured pace of the game to model the real-life battles can also be a put-off especially when the casual gamer has already been spoilt silly by alternatives like 'Warcraft III' and 'C&C Generals'. For me, it was something you'll need to get used to but usually, the action is pretty immersive and such that the choice to send large formation of troops to the far side of the battle map is pretty unnecessary, if not an act of folly as they have a high possibilty of running head-on into enemy guns.
4. Immaculate positioning of troops.
Real time tactics (RTT) as opposed to the conventional RTS (Real Time Strategy) would have the player command troops that may not be replaced if lost (RTS games allow the player to churn out a sizeable army designed to completely annihilate their foes) and rely on a default number of troops in
any particular scenario. So, you'll have, for example, a set number of light tanks and certain valuable infantry to carry out your mission. It does get frustrating when your army starts to thin out from continuous attacks by the enemy AI who relied on numerical superiority or that a sizeable part of your tank companies get destroyed in a sortie or a scouting mission. Now, about the careful positioning part; your anti-tank cannons, tanks and also infantry must be placed at the right position of the map terrain to claim its maximum potential. To illustrate:- Your officers who have the best line of sight than others have to take the frontline, but is backed up by your artillery (which have the suckiest line of sight) to maximise the artillery usefulness. Or you may place tanks side by side with your officer but that's not such a good idea, since tanks rarely fire quickly enough to repel the enemy's streams of soldiers. In Sudden Strike, who shoots first wins, and the best line of sight does it best. This picture shows 4 of my T-34 tanks (the ones in green) taking on a small company of German Tiger Tanks (grey) with a Soviet officer at the helm of the T-34s which enable a good line of sight and helps to spot enemies at a fair distance. Ignore this if you plan to go gung-ho all the way.
5. Poor waypointing.
Sometimes, you may wish to divert your troops to avoid a heavily-defended enemy position but you may end up raking losses just because some smartass soldier decides that waiting in line for his turn to pass a narrow path is too cumbersome and decides to go a little frolic on his own where he gets cut down by a hail of bullets. Or sometimes, your orders would go unheeded as they are already stuck in trees (mostly tanks and vehicles) although this issue has been solved in the Sudden Strike:Forever add-on by enabling these vehicles to reverse.
The Good:-
1. 3 major factions duking out with the Nazi war machine. Soviets (a then rarely represented belligerent nation in PC games other than the tongue-in-cheek 'C&C Red Alert') and the Americans duel with the Nazi Germans in over 10 scenarios in single-player mode. The British make a rare appearance in certain maps. More sides than 2 ideological enemies means more fun.
2. Your units speak their mother tongue!
Unlike the 'C&C Red Alert' stereotyping Russian accents, Sudden Strike presents their units with their native language; the Soviets speak and acknowledge orders in Russian without a hint the cheesy dialogues in 'Red Alert'. The Germans also respond accordingly whereas the American troops do not sound all too goofy with their dialogues. In short, it's as immersive as you can get.
3. Beautiful maps. Isometric 2D RTT never looks so good. The graphics do not need to impress with dazzling 3D effects nor some flashy touches to some graphics which calls for it , e.g cannon fire or explosions. The map is well-drawn and represented. Bridges blow up realistically, tanks are put out of commission in a way which is not too showy and bodies of dead soldiers remain where they fell, complete with the craters which formed out of cannon ordnance etc. Your bombers also deliver payloads on the battlefields credibly and all the vehicles in the game are toy-model perfect and is accurate to the detail of their real-life counterparts. (To the left: you can see a Soviet BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher delivering some kickass rocket damage on an unsuspecting enemy. The graphics need not be polished but they do a great job.)
4. Capture enemy cannons and turn their toys against them.
Now, you don't need to destroy everything you see. This is not 'Warcraft' and certainly not 'Total Annihilation'. You can make use of their cannons if you so choose, and only if they are impressive ones, like howitzers which can deliver punishment on enemy troops fair distances away. All you need to do is to kill the enemy occupiers with small-calibred weapons (read:bullets and not tank shells) and you can man them with your existing infantry. Just make sure that you have enough supplies to ensure their continued service at the most inopportune moments.
5. Interactive terrain and tactics.
This game is about bashing. Make no illusions about it. The best thing is: you'd bash it with a brain and not really the balls (or maybe a correct mixture of both). Sudden Strike uses the common RTS line of sight (you can't shoot what you can see principle) and most of the time, many obstacles like trees or buildings obscure the player's line of sight to the detriment of the player. But that's not all. Soldiers can also garrison buildings and make themselves useful by providing the line of sight which enables you to strike at the enemy first before they can do you. Or you can load up your troops in a jeep and send them into a lightly-defended area and take out the garrisoned troops there. Or you can soften up enemy defenses with your howitzers and later mass assault them, knowing their inferior strength. Or when you have bombers and paratroopers at your disposal; dispatch them and see the difference. (To the left: you can see German paratroopers taking on a marginally defended enemy outpost).
6. Different weapon stats and tactics involved.
Common RTS titles these days require the delicate combo which can unlock a stubborn noob bent on building base defenses or the defensive tactician who can stave off wave after wave of persistent attacks. In Sudden Strike, combinations of long-range and shorter range fire is crucial to your success. You can pommel away at key enemy positions with your howitzers or rocket launchers but you can't win the war if you just rely on them since the enemy rarely gets eradicated by these ruses (being larger in numbers + their scripted reinforcements which, oddly enough are more frequent and efficient than yours). Nor can you realistically expect to storm enemy positions without your anti-tank cannons to back up your armored troops nor the infantry to provide the much-needed line of sight or their specialist equipment. Sometimes, the scripted events meant that you can't maintain a balance but you can always capture enemy weapons for your use.
7. Realistic game mechanics.
Sudden Strike brings a new meaning to 'experience' in the RTT/RTS genre. A unit's experience dictates their performance in battles and can mean a huge difference between suffering a marginal loss to total eradication of your army. Experienced units reload their ammunition faster, dodge enemy fire more effectively (stationary tanks and artillery can't do that obviously, only faster moving ones), see more of the battlefield (officers at 1000 maximum experience see the most of the battlefield), respond quicker to enemy presence, fire more accurately (you'll need a crew of 500 points and above to man your howitzers, or else they have better luck hitting your ammunition supplies hard rather than the intended target itself) and are more mobile than their green equivalent. Experienced units don't suddenly have more armor hitpoints from nowhere, nor a sudden double-turret to deal double damage from the heavens just because they are more gifted than others. They commandeer the same units as the noobies on the field but with that significant traits.
Your tanks also don't get sent to a local mechanic or have a speaker tower to repair damaged treads, nor do they have infinite ammunition which they can rain upon enemy targets ala 'all other RTS' without fear of actually running out of ammo. The rules have been changed!
You'll need adequate supplies to reinforce your army. As you spend ammo firing away at enemy lines, supply trucks eagerly restore the units to full ammo and health. Injured infantry can be healed in a field hospital or medics, but don't expect Sai Baba to be on hand to heal the unit in a flash. Healing takes time. Likewise, a badly damaged tank would be rendered immobile and cannot carry out repairs if literally in the red. Here's when the jolly engineers leap out of their supply trucks to carry out repairs on the battlefield. As the supply trucks expend their own stock, they can also 'manufacture' supplies on their own if nothing in the circumstances require their need. Alternatively, they can also refill supplies from paradropped ammo crates or at certain locations of the map, though the latter situation is rarer.
8. Build pontoon bridges, defenses and lay mines
Your supply truck is your best supporting unit. Without a supply truck, your army may grind to a crashing halt without the supplies for ammunition nor the items needed for field reparations of downed vehicles. But they can do more. Like historic engineer brigades in World War II, the supply truck can build pontoon bridges to traverse large bodies of water (at selected areas and maps only!) and they have the ability to build barbed wire defenses and 'dragon tooth' anti armor passive defense. The best tactic employed is to build a handful of these passive defenses and then lay anti-tank mines in between them. Then watch the fireworks.
9. No two game sessions are alike.
Hard to comprehend as it may seem, an exact same map (if played twice over) will not entail the same kind of action you've taken on earlier occasions. Here's why. The AI behaviour is that their random patrol paths often yield different results, and the human tendencies of your troops to err (shoot waywardly or mess up their pathfinding) makes a scenario divert from your previous experience on it. Even the aircraft bombers may screw up their bombing run sometimes. I'm not suggesting that the replayability value of Sudden Strike is enviously boosted by this technical aspect but it makes for interesting battles to try out what it would have been like, if another strategy has been taken, with the less-than-perfect side of the experience factor.
10. Game editor.
Make your own maps, adding in the triggers, the objectives and more with the user-friendly map editor.
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The Combatants:-
Common infantry:-
a. Riflemen - can lay mines. Excellent shooting parameters but low rate of fire. Highly experienced riflemen can usually kill most other infantry in one shot. While the Russian and the German infantry uses bolt-action rifles, the American rifleman possess the M-1 Garand which is semi-auto but is lower in damage per shot. Good scout unit and excellent support infantry. They are the most common.
b. SMG (submachine gunner) - has 4 grenades to lob onto enemy vehicles. Main weapon has a high rate of fire but medium damage per shot. Usually dressed in a paler version of the nation's colors and has a different helmet color.
c. Sniper - common infantry. No Vasily Zaitsev here but they all do the same task- scout and kill enemy troops manning cannons. Can also fire into enemy occupied buildings to pick them off one by one. Usually kills any infantry in one neat shot, depending on experience.
d. Machine-gunner- Light machine gunner. Use them to support attack. Otherwise, not really that different than the SMG. They have 200 ammo reserves which can be used up pretty fast.
e. Mortar units - 5 ammo reserves. Longer ranged than all other infantry, but has appalling accuracy and damage.
f. Anti-tank. Russian PTRD can kill other infantry as well in addition to tanks, but the German Panzerfaust and the American bazooka units can best be used on tanks. Enemy infantry may feel a slight pinch, but fare better off.
g. Officer. Looks useless from the start, but soon, they're indispensable if 'trained' properly. You see, when a unit fires its weapon, it can gain a small amount of experience (a feature removed in Sudden Strike 2). So officers can be ordered to shoot on your heavier armored tanks and supplied well with the necessary means. Their line of sight is far better than any other infantry. Another tip is:- place them in guard towers with a sniper if you happen to have one; not only do you have an excellent line of sight, enemy infantry are easily picked off at a distance by your sniper.
h. Medic - heals units and has a bolt-action rifle which does laughable damage.
The Soviets:-
(The left-most tanks are the T-34-85, an upgunned T-34 tank designed in 1943 with a 85-mm cannon [Sudden Strike Forever only] as opposed to the regular T-34 with the 76.2 mm cannon. The central column of box-shaped like tanks are the Klim Voroshilov-1 tanks, possessing good armor but a rather poor 76.2 mm cannon. The tanks in group of 4 at the right are the heaviest tanks in the game and in all Soviet Russia; the Iosif Stalin-2 tank with an impressive 122 mm cannon) (The artillery pieces are, from left to right; the 85mm anti-air cannon slightly above the T-34-85 tanks and the two 45mm ZIS anti-tank guns at the centre) (Supply trucks are in the centre, with their army fatigues and come in the regular ZIS version and the Lend-Lease armored version)
The Soviets are perhaps the only faction given the most attention as far as detail is concerned, by the developers since they are from Russia.
In Sudden Strike, the Soviets have some of the most balanced units in its missions; with light vehicles counterbalanced by the heavier specimens in equal proportion or in the balance which is just about right. Their firepower is also somewhat upper-class in most respects, although the Germans have superior firepower and more varieties in their tank classes.
( To the leftmost bottom corner; an armored car BA-64 which has a machine gun to carry out its scouting duties. The centre smaller tank is the T-70 tank, which is the Soviet Army's premier light tank in the latter stages of the war. A Soviet officer stand behind the central tanks to provide a better line of sight.)
The Soviet tank classes used in the game are:-
IS-2 (Iosif Stalin) tank - a heavy tank with 122 mm cannon. This means it deals a lot of damage and is a very slow tank.
KV-1 tank - another heavy tank, not quite as well-armed as the IS-2 but has good armor and is extremely well-suited in tank-to-tank battles.
T-34 tank - model 1942 and the 85mm cannon variant. The medium tank of the Soviets are the workhorse of the Army and perform some of the most brutal front-line armored combat due to its familiar numbers in the game and its versatility. The T-34-85 is arguably better than its older model as far as armor and firepower are concerned but it is not available in the first Sudden Strike version.
T-70 tank - light tank. First Soviet missions encourage use of it. Later missions would mean instant death for this tiny hamster due to its weak armor and poor armanent. That does not mean that it's useless; as its quick speed and supportive traits makes it a well-balanced scout vehicle since it also has a machine-gun for infantry erasing. Just be sure that even riflemen can destroy these tanks after relentless shots at it.
T- 26 light tank. Another light tank for the Soviets. This one is by far the most unnecessary vehicle in the game due to its poor weaponry and even shocking absence of machine gun to wipe out enemy troops. By all means, use them as cannon fodder but if you can't bear to lose troops, then place them in strategic positions where they can come to no harm and where no harm can possibly come to them.
SU-76 tank destroyer - Tank destroyers are strictly meant for their namesake classes only and are near useless against infantry. While their ability to puncture holes in enemy armor is greatly exaggerated, there are instances where their usefulness are best displayed, more so when their reload is faster than regular tanks albeit fractionally.
ISU-152 tank destroyer - Larger tank destroyers only available in Sudden Strike: Forever. They have limited shells and recharging them costs supplies more than the regular ones. But their firepower is unmatched, even by the IS-2 tanks and its prized asset is the range of its cannon which far outdistances regular tanks.
Your strategy when playing as Russia is always the balance of artillery and tanks. This means, when the howitzers have softened the enemy, your tanks should seize the initiative and perform a panzer blitzkrieg of the positions. Or when the enemy's own charge has been thwarted by your forces, quickly perform a counter-attack as soon as is possible. You'll have the best medium tank in the game with decent armor and good weaponry, so make full use of them.
(Bottom left:- Soviet howitzer 152mm cannon.
Centre:- Katyusha BM-13 rocket launcher
Upper right:- 122mm howitzer) (The tanks you can see at upper centre of the screen are the ISU -152 tank destroyers while supply trucks of both variants are displayed.) Howitzers fire in an arc, meaning that while the chances of the enemy getting hit is remote; especially over crazy distances, the damage done is brutal and somewhat devastating. So imagine the AI's own usage of similar howitzers against you. In general ,howitzers in Sudden Strike have a far distance but is awfully slow to reload.
Now for a Soviet tank battle phase (Note the magnified image)
1. The right flank has destroyed an enemy Tiger Tank north of the T-34 positions with a Soviet officer in front. The presence of the officer adds more line of sight than is possible and the enemy has none. Line of sight is important for first strikes.
2. An unexpectedly heavy counter-attack by several Panzer IV tanks led to my rightmost tank up in a smoking tin can. Their tanks at the depot are hard-hit as well, with more losses than mine. However, the Soviet officer has also perished in the panzer combat. It's time for another officer to take the offensive!
3. With a new officer at 1000 (maximum) experience points and another new T-34 brought from the reserves, I ordered a full assault onto the factories, this time destroying all the Tiger Tanks at the depot and leave them in burning scrap of metal. Notice their dead crews beneath the tank treads. Those are the ones likely to cause trouble, as they can suddenly 'see' more of the battlefield (injured units gain more experience and tank crews who survived a tank's explosion often have higher experience points than their destroyed parent vehicle) and can take the fight to my tanks.
The Germans:-
While their supremacy in technology is undisputed, Sudden Strike fails to draw a compelling image of the Nazis in this game as they often look and behave similar to each other (meaning that most of their units are shell units- with a different form and appearance but same substance and characteristics which can be hard to discern).
In Sudden Strike, the German campaign is one of the easiest though, with plenty of reinforcements and also devastating weaponry. Their tanks get bigger with each successive mission, allowing use of a wide variety of tanks but with little chance to spot the difference in their performance. The new gamer may take comfort in the fact that tanks with larger calibre (e.g 50 mm cannon and above) are likelier to inflict serious damage on enemies than smaller weapons. In fact, bigger guns mean better armor and more hitpoints.
The German key players in Sudden Strike are :-
1. Tiger tank - Heavy tank. Slow and unwieldy; it can take a fair amount of damage and can dish out punishment in excess. Will become your main tank after the Panther tank use is long obsolete.
2. Panther tank - Medium tank. Not likely to be your workhorse as their numbers are too sporadic to make much of an impact. They are slightly inferior in firepower compared to the KV-1s and even the T-34s but they are the best medium tank the Germans can put to the field.
3. Panzer Ausführung F and J - in reality classified light tank in the later stages of the war; with a medium tank classification in as early as 1939, but are classed as 'light tank' in the game. They are armed with the 50mm and 75mm cannon respectively. How the developers try to sell you the concept of using these tanks are vague, but they are nevertheless useful tanks in their right. The F version has the 50mm gun but can deal with the Soviet T-70s well and can even win a duel with the T-34s in advantageous terrain and line of sight. The J version is also poor in armor and can be the first tank to be taken out in a fierce tank battle.
4. Jagdtiger tank destroyer. Just as in real-life, the heaviest armored unit on the German side is also armed with an impressive 128mm gun, besting the IS-2 122 mm cannon. The down side is that, you can't tell the difference between the two in battle although the armor of the Jagdtiger is convincingly better than the Soviet juggernaught. And that can make a small difference.
So the German strategy is:- use the force in numbers wisely. Scout often, with the BMW motorbikes and the Volkswagen Kubelwagen. German artillery, while weaker than the Soviet equivalent, have the proud 'Nebelwerfer' in their ranks. These stationary rocket launchers can make short work of enemy infantry garrisoned snugly in buildings and the presence of the flamethrower unit means that enemy-occupied bunkers won't stay that way for long.
The Americans (Allied Forces)
Remember their role in liberating France in World War II. So too, their appearances in the game are almost exclusively devoted to the Normandy beaches.
The Allied weapons and tanks are a curious one. While they have one of the better medium tanks in the M4 Sherman, their lightweight tanks (M5 Stewart) and the M24 Chaffee tank meant that their strategy must combine an obscene amount of dependance on infantry and the occasional airstrike. Their heavier tanks, the M26 Pershing and the British Churchill Crocodile are good tanks, hampered only by their light armor and their somewhat poor weaponry. So, if you're expecting lots of heavy tank battles and more, the Allied campaign is sure to disappoint. Even their tank destroyers are scarcely armored and are easily damaged by rifle fire.
While I can't make any headway as to the ultimate trump card for the American forces in the Sudden Strike universe, I'd probably mention the M4 Sherman as their best tank and the one unit which players should seek to preserve for main assaults. The American armored cars, such as the beautiful M8 Greyhound designed by Ford Motors are decent fighters in a support role but in main assaults, they'd suffer. So the main strategy of the Americans is to defend in numbers; ride out the storm and later launch a counter-offensive. Their anti-tank weaponry are also mediocre but should hold out in an enemy rush.
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Sudden Strike, while not one of the titles to have premier the concept of RTT (The Ancient Art of War by Broderbund way back in the mid 1980s started the trend), has quite admirably brought the inspiration-weary World War II theme to the old isometric 2D platform but not at certain limitations. For hardcore RTS fans wishing to build up an army enough to conquer Russia twice over, this is not for you. For the casual gamer wishing to break into the game and come away with satisfaction, this may be the game for you but you must have a genuine love of World War II memorabilia to make any sense of the weapons involved. For those gamers wishing to while their time away and try to make sense of this game, this category make the perfect group to start including this RTT in their inventory as Sudden Strike can delight in the tiny details thrown in to make the game as immersive as is possible but certain micromanagement aspects can quickly frustrate and possibly infuriate the gamer. The second CD comes with a bundle of single-player missions and some multiplayer ones which can stretch the entertainment factor for a while longer.
Graphics:- ****/*****
Simple, uncluttered by inessential ornaments. The graphics are tasteful renditions of real WWII vehicles and artillery pieces. The maps are lushly covered with foliage of varying kinds and the green grass pitch is not distracting to the activity on the battlefield which can take place anywhere. Buildings blow up when under severe attack and factories explode in flames when destroyed, killing all occupants in it. The only factor preventing a higher evaluation in this section is the painfully small infantry which can be quite a chore to pick out.
Gameplay:- ****/*****
Simple and sweet. While I did mention that careful positioning of troops are crucial, there is fun to be had while doing so, provided that the pathfinding issues don't get in the way. Fun is the fact that there are many ways to do so; the potential to set up defenses is limitless, whether you choose to garrison a building full of your riflemen or lay mines, then set up an ambush not far off; the choice is yours. When mounting an attack, similarly there are myriad of options at your disposal- with bombers at times and a host of vehicles capable of carrying out your orders. The missions can entertain for hours at end for the honorable stategist and can prove to be hell for the gung-ho panzer chief. The maps are huge and largely interactive, where land elevations provide excellent line of sight and cover from enemy fire.
Sound:- ***.5/*****
While providing enough ambience to ensure that the gamer is not left staring at endless patches of green fields in muted silence, the sounds capture the vehicles' motions well. Engines start up with a hint of a crank while cannon fire are complete with the shell casing ejecting sans the graphical representation. Rockets shrill as they break through the stratosphere and end up at the enemy's compound while AA guns reverberate with their multiple volleys at enemy aircraft; which in turn sound just right when about to be crashed after taking too much flak damage. The spoken dialogue are also top-notch; with the native languages rendered al dente without sounding too cheesy or goofy. They do get repetitive after a while. And the music options seemed to be carelessly left out from the final product, leaving absolutely no musical accompaniment in line with the 'ride of the Valkyries'.
Interface and Controls:- ***.5/*****
The controls are easily defined in the config files and are bound conveniently on the keyboard. Team numbers are assigned as would a gamer in Starcraft etc and bandboxing is infinitely allowed. The only grouse here would be the intrusive overview map which although easily deciphered, can get a little screwy when too many units get on the main battlefield area as the small map view can get all cluttered that you can make out where exactly the danger is coming from or which sector, for that matter, is under heavy fire. General game options are adequate if not helpful and there are not many enhancements that can be had from these set of customisable options. The unit toolbar is S&S which is peachy. The unit's description is easily displayed at the bottom of the screen complete with its main armanent calibre and some useful info like its primary ammo and experience counter.
Multiplayer:- **/*****
Sudden Strike is a clear single-player franchise. The MP section of this game, while interesting, leaves a lot to be desired. For starters, the MP uses the 'Zeppelin' system, an imitator of the 'capture the flag' system where the owner of the sector receives more reinforcements from time to time and both players battle each other to gain complete supremacy of the 'Zeppelins'. Sounds easy? It is. But that's as far as the MP's appeal lies, as the concept can't lie- a stalemate would inevitably result if both players are more or less the same competitiveness and belligerence. The heavily-scripted single player presents a rare surprise which can keep the gamer alert but the MP aspect of the Sudden Strike simply doesn't impress for long. Gameplay sessions over the LAN can also get jerky due to the large number of troops present.
Lasting value, AI efficiency and difficulty:- ****/*****
Sudden Strike missions can last very long and for good reason:- all missions have to be carefully planned and carried out with minimal losses as primary goal. While this is good news for lastibility, this idea irks many gamers seeking fast-paced action and couldn't care for losses; real or imagined. The game is not too difficult to beat, since the AI relies on the sole strength:- numbers which they'll use to overwhelm your position when you've, say, conquered a mission objective. The AI do display some mild intelligence:- manning unoccupied cannons, sometimes holing up in buildings and occasionally patrol around a small area. When they're under attack, they'd retreat to the shadows and take cover. On the whole, difficulty in the game is not so apparent; if you've covered your defenses well, leaving enough troops in area likely to get attacked, while you stage a punitive attempt somewhere else. That's the art of war.
Overall:- ****/*****
Flaws make a game. Human character breaks it. If you can tolerate the slow pace and armchair strategist's style Sudden Strike does not disappoint. If you can't there are dozens of alternatives to look forward to. Your call.
Publisher: CDV Software Entertainment (Germany)
Developer: Fireglow (Russia)
Genre: Real Time Tactics
Release date: January 2001 / November 2001
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This game is old. Using dated but beautiful graphics, a primitive AI which throws score after score of units at you and hoping that their superior numbers count. Most importantly, the milieu of the battles are in the backdrop of World War II, the greatest war ever fought by the psychopath race called humans.
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The skinny:-
The Bad:-
1. Repetitive scenarios.
When used in this context, expect it to include the fact that the same mission objectives crop up everytime in slightly varying forms, e.g. to conquer a certain (ghost) town in the east, or to take a munitions depot.
2. Small units at higher resolutions 800x640 and more.
The infantry units are elusive but to the most trained eye. And trained eye means, after suffering at least 120 hours of fiddling with the game mechanics, assuming your interest can last that long in the game. Not that it's such a big problem in the first place; the wrong type of infantry can sometimes prove to be the man at the right place in the wrong time.
3. Slow gameplay.
If you thought that baby-sitting your troops to make sure that they fall in line and perform their combat well was bad enough; the measured pace of the game to model the real-life battles can also be a put-off especially when the casual gamer has already been spoilt silly by alternatives like 'Warcraft III' and 'C&C Generals'. For me, it was something you'll need to get used to but usually, the action is pretty immersive and such that the choice to send large formation of troops to the far side of the battle map is pretty unnecessary, if not an act of folly as they have a high possibilty of running head-on into enemy guns.
4. Immaculate positioning of troops.
Real time tactics (RTT) as opposed to the conventional RTS (Real Time Strategy) would have the player command troops that may not be replaced if lost (RTS games allow the player to churn out a sizeable army designed to completely annihilate their foes) and rely on a default number of troops in
any particular scenario. So, you'll have, for example, a set number of light tanks and certain valuable infantry to carry out your mission. It does get frustrating when your army starts to thin out from continuous attacks by the enemy AI who relied on numerical superiority or that a sizeable part of your tank companies get destroyed in a sortie or a scouting mission. Now, about the careful positioning part; your anti-tank cannons, tanks and also infantry must be placed at the right position of the map terrain to claim its maximum potential. To illustrate:- Your officers who have the best line of sight than others have to take the frontline, but is backed up by your artillery (which have the suckiest line of sight) to maximise the artillery usefulness. Or you may place tanks side by side with your officer but that's not such a good idea, since tanks rarely fire quickly enough to repel the enemy's streams of soldiers. In Sudden Strike, who shoots first wins, and the best line of sight does it best. This picture shows 4 of my T-34 tanks (the ones in green) taking on a small company of German Tiger Tanks (grey) with a Soviet officer at the helm of the T-34s which enable a good line of sight and helps to spot enemies at a fair distance. Ignore this if you plan to go gung-ho all the way.5. Poor waypointing.
Sometimes, you may wish to divert your troops to avoid a heavily-defended enemy position but you may end up raking losses just because some smartass soldier decides that waiting in line for his turn to pass a narrow path is too cumbersome and decides to go a little frolic on his own where he gets cut down by a hail of bullets. Or sometimes, your orders would go unheeded as they are already stuck in trees (mostly tanks and vehicles) although this issue has been solved in the Sudden Strike:Forever add-on by enabling these vehicles to reverse.
The Good:-
1. 3 major factions duking out with the Nazi war machine. Soviets (a then rarely represented belligerent nation in PC games other than the tongue-in-cheek 'C&C Red Alert') and the Americans duel with the Nazi Germans in over 10 scenarios in single-player mode. The British make a rare appearance in certain maps. More sides than 2 ideological enemies means more fun.
2. Your units speak their mother tongue!
Unlike the 'C&C Red Alert' stereotyping Russian accents, Sudden Strike presents their units with their native language; the Soviets speak and acknowledge orders in Russian without a hint the cheesy dialogues in 'Red Alert'. The Germans also respond accordingly whereas the American troops do not sound all too goofy with their dialogues. In short, it's as immersive as you can get.
3. Beautiful maps. Isometric 2D RTT never looks so good. The graphics do not need to impress with dazzling 3D effects nor some flashy touches to some graphics which calls for it , e.g cannon fire or explosions. The map is well-drawn and represented. Bridges blow up realistically, tanks are put out of commission in a way which is not too showy and bodies of dead soldiers remain where they fell, complete with the craters which formed out of cannon ordnance etc. Your bombers also deliver payloads on the battlefields credibly and all the vehicles in the game are toy-model perfect and is accurate to the detail of their real-life counterparts. (To the left: you can see a Soviet BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher delivering some kickass rocket damage on an unsuspecting enemy. The graphics need not be polished but they do a great job.)4. Capture enemy cannons and turn their toys against them.
Now, you don't need to destroy everything you see. This is not 'Warcraft' and certainly not 'Total Annihilation'. You can make use of their cannons if you so choose, and only if they are impressive ones, like howitzers which can deliver punishment on enemy troops fair distances away. All you need to do is to kill the enemy occupiers with small-calibred weapons (read:bullets and not tank shells) and you can man them with your existing infantry. Just make sure that you have enough supplies to ensure their continued service at the most inopportune moments.
5. Interactive terrain and tactics.This game is about bashing. Make no illusions about it. The best thing is: you'd bash it with a brain and not really the balls (or maybe a correct mixture of both). Sudden Strike uses the common RTS line of sight (you can't shoot what you can see principle) and most of the time, many obstacles like trees or buildings obscure the player's line of sight to the detriment of the player. But that's not all. Soldiers can also garrison buildings and make themselves useful by providing the line of sight which enables you to strike at the enemy first before they can do you. Or you can load up your troops in a jeep and send them into a lightly-defended area and take out the garrisoned troops there. Or you can soften up enemy defenses with your howitzers and later mass assault them, knowing their inferior strength. Or when you have bombers and paratroopers at your disposal; dispatch them and see the difference. (To the left: you can see German paratroopers taking on a marginally defended enemy outpost).
6. Different weapon stats and tactics involved.
Common RTS titles these days require the delicate combo which can unlock a stubborn noob bent on building base defenses or the defensive tactician who can stave off wave after wave of persistent attacks. In Sudden Strike, combinations of long-range and shorter range fire is crucial to your success. You can pommel away at key enemy positions with your howitzers or rocket launchers but you can't win the war if you just rely on them since the enemy rarely gets eradicated by these ruses (being larger in numbers + their scripted reinforcements which, oddly enough are more frequent and efficient than yours). Nor can you realistically expect to storm enemy positions without your anti-tank cannons to back up your armored troops nor the infantry to provide the much-needed line of sight or their specialist equipment. Sometimes, the scripted events meant that you can't maintain a balance but you can always capture enemy weapons for your use.
7. Realistic game mechanics.
Sudden Strike brings a new meaning to 'experience' in the RTT/RTS genre. A unit's experience dictates their performance in battles and can mean a huge difference between suffering a marginal loss to total eradication of your army. Experienced units reload their ammunition faster, dodge enemy fire more effectively (stationary tanks and artillery can't do that obviously, only faster moving ones), see more of the battlefield (officers at 1000 maximum experience see the most of the battlefield), respond quicker to enemy presence, fire more accurately (you'll need a crew of 500 points and above to man your howitzers, or else they have better luck hitting your ammunition supplies hard rather than the intended target itself) and are more mobile than their green equivalent. Experienced units don't suddenly have more armor hitpoints from nowhere, nor a sudden double-turret to deal double damage from the heavens just because they are more gifted than others. They commandeer the same units as the noobies on the field but with that significant traits.
Your tanks also don't get sent to a local mechanic or have a speaker tower to repair damaged treads, nor do they have infinite ammunition which they can rain upon enemy targets ala 'all other RTS' without fear of actually running out of ammo. The rules have been changed!
You'll need adequate supplies to reinforce your army. As you spend ammo firing away at enemy lines, supply trucks eagerly restore the units to full ammo and health. Injured infantry can be healed in a field hospital or medics, but don't expect Sai Baba to be on hand to heal the unit in a flash. Healing takes time. Likewise, a badly damaged tank would be rendered immobile and cannot carry out repairs if literally in the red. Here's when the jolly engineers leap out of their supply trucks to carry out repairs on the battlefield. As the supply trucks expend their own stock, they can also 'manufacture' supplies on their own if nothing in the circumstances require their need. Alternatively, they can also refill supplies from paradropped ammo crates or at certain locations of the map, though the latter situation is rarer.
8. Build pontoon bridges, defenses and lay mines
Your supply truck is your best supporting unit. Without a supply truck, your army may grind to a crashing halt without the supplies for ammunition nor the items needed for field reparations of downed vehicles. But they can do more. Like historic engineer brigades in World War II, the supply truck can build pontoon bridges to traverse large bodies of water (at selected areas and maps only!) and they have the ability to build barbed wire defenses and 'dragon tooth' anti armor passive defense. The best tactic employed is to build a handful of these passive defenses and then lay anti-tank mines in between them. Then watch the fireworks.
9. No two game sessions are alike.
Hard to comprehend as it may seem, an exact same map (if played twice over) will not entail the same kind of action you've taken on earlier occasions. Here's why. The AI behaviour is that their random patrol paths often yield different results, and the human tendencies of your troops to err (shoot waywardly or mess up their pathfinding) makes a scenario divert from your previous experience on it. Even the aircraft bombers may screw up their bombing run sometimes. I'm not suggesting that the replayability value of Sudden Strike is enviously boosted by this technical aspect but it makes for interesting battles to try out what it would have been like, if another strategy has been taken, with the less-than-perfect side of the experience factor.
10. Game editor.
Make your own maps, adding in the triggers, the objectives and more with the user-friendly map editor.
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The Combatants:-
Common infantry:-
a. Riflemen - can lay mines. Excellent shooting parameters but low rate of fire. Highly experienced riflemen can usually kill most other infantry in one shot. While the Russian and the German infantry uses bolt-action rifles, the American rifleman possess the M-1 Garand which is semi-auto but is lower in damage per shot. Good scout unit and excellent support infantry. They are the most common.
b. SMG (submachine gunner) - has 4 grenades to lob onto enemy vehicles. Main weapon has a high rate of fire but medium damage per shot. Usually dressed in a paler version of the nation's colors and has a different helmet color.
c. Sniper - common infantry. No Vasily Zaitsev here but they all do the same task- scout and kill enemy troops manning cannons. Can also fire into enemy occupied buildings to pick them off one by one. Usually kills any infantry in one neat shot, depending on experience.
d. Machine-gunner- Light machine gunner. Use them to support attack. Otherwise, not really that different than the SMG. They have 200 ammo reserves which can be used up pretty fast.
e. Mortar units - 5 ammo reserves. Longer ranged than all other infantry, but has appalling accuracy and damage.
f. Anti-tank. Russian PTRD can kill other infantry as well in addition to tanks, but the German Panzerfaust and the American bazooka units can best be used on tanks. Enemy infantry may feel a slight pinch, but fare better off.
g. Officer. Looks useless from the start, but soon, they're indispensable if 'trained' properly. You see, when a unit fires its weapon, it can gain a small amount of experience (a feature removed in Sudden Strike 2). So officers can be ordered to shoot on your heavier armored tanks and supplied well with the necessary means. Their line of sight is far better than any other infantry. Another tip is:- place them in guard towers with a sniper if you happen to have one; not only do you have an excellent line of sight, enemy infantry are easily picked off at a distance by your sniper.
h. Medic - heals units and has a bolt-action rifle which does laughable damage.
The Soviets:-
(The left-most tanks are the T-34-85, an upgunned T-34 tank designed in 1943 with a 85-mm cannon [Sudden Strike Forever only] as opposed to the regular T-34 with the 76.2 mm cannon. The central column of box-shaped like tanks are the Klim Voroshilov-1 tanks, possessing good armor but a rather poor 76.2 mm cannon. The tanks in group of 4 at the right are the heaviest tanks in the game and in all Soviet Russia; the Iosif Stalin-2 tank with an impressive 122 mm cannon) (The artillery pieces are, from left to right; the 85mm anti-air cannon slightly above the T-34-85 tanks and the two 45mm ZIS anti-tank guns at the centre) (Supply trucks are in the centre, with their army fatigues and come in the regular ZIS version and the Lend-Lease armored version)The Soviets are perhaps the only faction given the most attention as far as detail is concerned, by the developers since they are from Russia.
In Sudden Strike, the Soviets have some of the most balanced units in its missions; with light vehicles counterbalanced by the heavier specimens in equal proportion or in the balance which is just about right. Their firepower is also somewhat upper-class in most respects, although the Germans have superior firepower and more varieties in their tank classes.
( To the leftmost bottom corner; an armored car BA-64 which has a machine gun to carry out its scouting duties. The centre smaller tank is the T-70 tank, which is the Soviet Army's premier light tank in the latter stages of the war. A Soviet officer stand behind the central tanks to provide a better line of sight.)
The Soviet tank classes used in the game are:-
IS-2 (Iosif Stalin) tank - a heavy tank with 122 mm cannon. This means it deals a lot of damage and is a very slow tank.
KV-1 tank - another heavy tank, not quite as well-armed as the IS-2 but has good armor and is extremely well-suited in tank-to-tank battles.
T-34 tank - model 1942 and the 85mm cannon variant. The medium tank of the Soviets are the workhorse of the Army and perform some of the most brutal front-line armored combat due to its familiar numbers in the game and its versatility. The T-34-85 is arguably better than its older model as far as armor and firepower are concerned but it is not available in the first Sudden Strike version.
T-70 tank - light tank. First Soviet missions encourage use of it. Later missions would mean instant death for this tiny hamster due to its weak armor and poor armanent. That does not mean that it's useless; as its quick speed and supportive traits makes it a well-balanced scout vehicle since it also has a machine-gun for infantry erasing. Just be sure that even riflemen can destroy these tanks after relentless shots at it.
T- 26 light tank. Another light tank for the Soviets. This one is by far the most unnecessary vehicle in the game due to its poor weaponry and even shocking absence of machine gun to wipe out enemy troops. By all means, use them as cannon fodder but if you can't bear to lose troops, then place them in strategic positions where they can come to no harm and where no harm can possibly come to them.
SU-76 tank destroyer - Tank destroyers are strictly meant for their namesake classes only and are near useless against infantry. While their ability to puncture holes in enemy armor is greatly exaggerated, there are instances where their usefulness are best displayed, more so when their reload is faster than regular tanks albeit fractionally.
ISU-152 tank destroyer - Larger tank destroyers only available in Sudden Strike: Forever. They have limited shells and recharging them costs supplies more than the regular ones. But their firepower is unmatched, even by the IS-2 tanks and its prized asset is the range of its cannon which far outdistances regular tanks.
Your strategy when playing as Russia is always the balance of artillery and tanks. This means, when the howitzers have softened the enemy, your tanks should seize the initiative and perform a panzer blitzkrieg of the positions. Or when the enemy's own charge has been thwarted by your forces, quickly perform a counter-attack as soon as is possible. You'll have the best medium tank in the game with decent armor and good weaponry, so make full use of them.
(Bottom left:- Soviet howitzer 152mm cannon.
Centre:- Katyusha BM-13 rocket launcher
Upper right:- 122mm howitzer) (The tanks you can see at upper centre of the screen are the ISU -152 tank destroyers while supply trucks of both variants are displayed.) Howitzers fire in an arc, meaning that while the chances of the enemy getting hit is remote; especially over crazy distances, the damage done is brutal and somewhat devastating. So imagine the AI's own usage of similar howitzers against you. In general ,howitzers in Sudden Strike have a far distance but is awfully slow to reload.
Now for a Soviet tank battle phase (Note the magnified image)
1. The right flank has destroyed an enemy Tiger Tank north of the T-34 positions with a Soviet officer in front. The presence of the officer adds more line of sight than is possible and the enemy has none. Line of sight is important for first strikes.
2. An unexpectedly heavy counter-attack by several Panzer IV tanks led to my rightmost tank up in a smoking tin can. Their tanks at the depot are hard-hit as well, with more losses than mine. However, the Soviet officer has also perished in the panzer combat. It's time for another officer to take the offensive!
3. With a new officer at 1000 (maximum) experience points and another new T-34 brought from the reserves, I ordered a full assault onto the factories, this time destroying all the Tiger Tanks at the depot and leave them in burning scrap of metal. Notice their dead crews beneath the tank treads. Those are the ones likely to cause trouble, as they can suddenly 'see' more of the battlefield (injured units gain more experience and tank crews who survived a tank's explosion often have higher experience points than their destroyed parent vehicle) and can take the fight to my tanks.
The Germans:-
While their supremacy in technology is undisputed, Sudden Strike fails to draw a compelling image of the Nazis in this game as they often look and behave similar to each other (meaning that most of their units are shell units- with a different form and appearance but same substance and characteristics which can be hard to discern).
In Sudden Strike, the German campaign is one of the easiest though, with plenty of reinforcements and also devastating weaponry. Their tanks get bigger with each successive mission, allowing use of a wide variety of tanks but with little chance to spot the difference in their performance. The new gamer may take comfort in the fact that tanks with larger calibre (e.g 50 mm cannon and above) are likelier to inflict serious damage on enemies than smaller weapons. In fact, bigger guns mean better armor and more hitpoints.
The German key players in Sudden Strike are :-
1. Tiger tank - Heavy tank. Slow and unwieldy; it can take a fair amount of damage and can dish out punishment in excess. Will become your main tank after the Panther tank use is long obsolete.
2. Panther tank - Medium tank. Not likely to be your workhorse as their numbers are too sporadic to make much of an impact. They are slightly inferior in firepower compared to the KV-1s and even the T-34s but they are the best medium tank the Germans can put to the field.
3. Panzer Ausführung F and J - in reality classified light tank in the later stages of the war; with a medium tank classification in as early as 1939, but are classed as 'light tank' in the game. They are armed with the 50mm and 75mm cannon respectively. How the developers try to sell you the concept of using these tanks are vague, but they are nevertheless useful tanks in their right. The F version has the 50mm gun but can deal with the Soviet T-70s well and can even win a duel with the T-34s in advantageous terrain and line of sight. The J version is also poor in armor and can be the first tank to be taken out in a fierce tank battle.
4. Jagdtiger tank destroyer. Just as in real-life, the heaviest armored unit on the German side is also armed with an impressive 128mm gun, besting the IS-2 122 mm cannon. The down side is that, you can't tell the difference between the two in battle although the armor of the Jagdtiger is convincingly better than the Soviet juggernaught. And that can make a small difference.
So the German strategy is:- use the force in numbers wisely. Scout often, with the BMW motorbikes and the Volkswagen Kubelwagen. German artillery, while weaker than the Soviet equivalent, have the proud 'Nebelwerfer' in their ranks. These stationary rocket launchers can make short work of enemy infantry garrisoned snugly in buildings and the presence of the flamethrower unit means that enemy-occupied bunkers won't stay that way for long.
The Americans (Allied Forces)
Remember their role in liberating France in World War II. So too, their appearances in the game are almost exclusively devoted to the Normandy beaches.
The Allied weapons and tanks are a curious one. While they have one of the better medium tanks in the M4 Sherman, their lightweight tanks (M5 Stewart) and the M24 Chaffee tank meant that their strategy must combine an obscene amount of dependance on infantry and the occasional airstrike. Their heavier tanks, the M26 Pershing and the British Churchill Crocodile are good tanks, hampered only by their light armor and their somewhat poor weaponry. So, if you're expecting lots of heavy tank battles and more, the Allied campaign is sure to disappoint. Even their tank destroyers are scarcely armored and are easily damaged by rifle fire.While I can't make any headway as to the ultimate trump card for the American forces in the Sudden Strike universe, I'd probably mention the M4 Sherman as their best tank and the one unit which players should seek to preserve for main assaults. The American armored cars, such as the beautiful M8 Greyhound designed by Ford Motors are decent fighters in a support role but in main assaults, they'd suffer. So the main strategy of the Americans is to defend in numbers; ride out the storm and later launch a counter-offensive. Their anti-tank weaponry are also mediocre but should hold out in an enemy rush.
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Sudden Strike, while not one of the titles to have premier the concept of RTT (The Ancient Art of War by Broderbund way back in the mid 1980s started the trend), has quite admirably brought the inspiration-weary World War II theme to the old isometric 2D platform but not at certain limitations. For hardcore RTS fans wishing to build up an army enough to conquer Russia twice over, this is not for you. For the casual gamer wishing to break into the game and come away with satisfaction, this may be the game for you but you must have a genuine love of World War II memorabilia to make any sense of the weapons involved. For those gamers wishing to while their time away and try to make sense of this game, this category make the perfect group to start including this RTT in their inventory as Sudden Strike can delight in the tiny details thrown in to make the game as immersive as is possible but certain micromanagement aspects can quickly frustrate and possibly infuriate the gamer. The second CD comes with a bundle of single-player missions and some multiplayer ones which can stretch the entertainment factor for a while longer.
Graphics:- ****/*****
Simple, uncluttered by inessential ornaments. The graphics are tasteful renditions of real WWII vehicles and artillery pieces. The maps are lushly covered with foliage of varying kinds and the green grass pitch is not distracting to the activity on the battlefield which can take place anywhere. Buildings blow up when under severe attack and factories explode in flames when destroyed, killing all occupants in it. The only factor preventing a higher evaluation in this section is the painfully small infantry which can be quite a chore to pick out.
Gameplay:- ****/*****
Simple and sweet. While I did mention that careful positioning of troops are crucial, there is fun to be had while doing so, provided that the pathfinding issues don't get in the way. Fun is the fact that there are many ways to do so; the potential to set up defenses is limitless, whether you choose to garrison a building full of your riflemen or lay mines, then set up an ambush not far off; the choice is yours. When mounting an attack, similarly there are myriad of options at your disposal- with bombers at times and a host of vehicles capable of carrying out your orders. The missions can entertain for hours at end for the honorable stategist and can prove to be hell for the gung-ho panzer chief. The maps are huge and largely interactive, where land elevations provide excellent line of sight and cover from enemy fire.
Sound:- ***.5/*****
While providing enough ambience to ensure that the gamer is not left staring at endless patches of green fields in muted silence, the sounds capture the vehicles' motions well. Engines start up with a hint of a crank while cannon fire are complete with the shell casing ejecting sans the graphical representation. Rockets shrill as they break through the stratosphere and end up at the enemy's compound while AA guns reverberate with their multiple volleys at enemy aircraft; which in turn sound just right when about to be crashed after taking too much flak damage. The spoken dialogue are also top-notch; with the native languages rendered al dente without sounding too cheesy or goofy. They do get repetitive after a while. And the music options seemed to be carelessly left out from the final product, leaving absolutely no musical accompaniment in line with the 'ride of the Valkyries'.
Interface and Controls:- ***.5/*****
The controls are easily defined in the config files and are bound conveniently on the keyboard. Team numbers are assigned as would a gamer in Starcraft etc and bandboxing is infinitely allowed. The only grouse here would be the intrusive overview map which although easily deciphered, can get a little screwy when too many units get on the main battlefield area as the small map view can get all cluttered that you can make out where exactly the danger is coming from or which sector, for that matter, is under heavy fire. General game options are adequate if not helpful and there are not many enhancements that can be had from these set of customisable options. The unit toolbar is S&S which is peachy. The unit's description is easily displayed at the bottom of the screen complete with its main armanent calibre and some useful info like its primary ammo and experience counter.
Multiplayer:- **/*****
Sudden Strike is a clear single-player franchise. The MP section of this game, while interesting, leaves a lot to be desired. For starters, the MP uses the 'Zeppelin' system, an imitator of the 'capture the flag' system where the owner of the sector receives more reinforcements from time to time and both players battle each other to gain complete supremacy of the 'Zeppelins'. Sounds easy? It is. But that's as far as the MP's appeal lies, as the concept can't lie- a stalemate would inevitably result if both players are more or less the same competitiveness and belligerence. The heavily-scripted single player presents a rare surprise which can keep the gamer alert but the MP aspect of the Sudden Strike simply doesn't impress for long. Gameplay sessions over the LAN can also get jerky due to the large number of troops present.
Lasting value, AI efficiency and difficulty:- ****/*****
Sudden Strike missions can last very long and for good reason:- all missions have to be carefully planned and carried out with minimal losses as primary goal. While this is good news for lastibility, this idea irks many gamers seeking fast-paced action and couldn't care for losses; real or imagined. The game is not too difficult to beat, since the AI relies on the sole strength:- numbers which they'll use to overwhelm your position when you've, say, conquered a mission objective. The AI do display some mild intelligence:- manning unoccupied cannons, sometimes holing up in buildings and occasionally patrol around a small area. When they're under attack, they'd retreat to the shadows and take cover. On the whole, difficulty in the game is not so apparent; if you've covered your defenses well, leaving enough troops in area likely to get attacked, while you stage a punitive attempt somewhere else. That's the art of war.
Overall:- ****/*****
Flaws make a game. Human character breaks it. If you can tolerate the slow pace and armchair strategist's style Sudden Strike does not disappoint. If you can't there are dozens of alternatives to look forward to. Your call.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Game Reviews - a short disclaimer
I play PC games a lot from 1996 to around 2003 after my degree. Most of them obviously found their way to the recycle bin (or virtual trash can) but many survive in the memories of truly fulfilling gaming time and was surely time well-spent. Many lesser gems spend their lifetime never quite making it to the top of their genre; some mediocre ones richly deserve their also-ran reputation but quite a lot of uncut diamonds are left unnotived and may slip further into oblivion. Some issues I'll discuss in this forum here:-
1. To provide a sometimes biased view on games (specifically PC) which I believe was not receiving enough attention. I don't mean to prove anything and don't need to go all out to do so, but a little knowledge goes a long way.
2. I don't profess to ace every game I set my hands on, but rather mastery of the game techniques and sufficient grasp on getting to the full potential every gamer is entitled to. I suck at most games and never liked Warcraft III and its other spawn. I don't review MMORPGs as they are not my type of games which I enjoy playing with.
3. For IP (intellectual property) rights with regards to the screenshots used in the game, I only use the screenshot feature if allowed/enabled by default in the game and not the common technique of taking a screenshot via the usual method. So all screenshots are legal and are squeaky clean.
4. Where the accuracy of the information portrayed is slightly off tangent, I take responsibilty for the inaccuracies and will only take effort in rectifying them if it leads to making sense in doing it.
5. Unlike most other blogs which shoot out the warning NOT to take its contents seriously, I urge you to read the contents with a degree of honest effort. After all, why bother doing something if you're not serious about it. They probably meant not to get all worked up and emotional over their issues, but then again; if the issues discussed are bound to start a fire, then a conscious effort to tone it down should have been done. Or at least complain to someone who would care to listen to them.
6. I don't advocate software piracy, so buy original and stick to it. It'll be money well-spent and give the programmers and other parties involved their paycheck which they deserve. How'd you accept the fact that you've worked your ass off and expected a paycheck at the end of the month only for the employers to screw up their finances and take off pronto without reimbursing your coffers. I'm not being naive here, but a little thoughtfulness will ensure that the people who produce these games have something to work for.
7. The system which I've tested the games has been outdated for 3 years but still possess a useful 128MB video RAM for some nifty and neat graphics eyecandy. Where possible, the screenshots are of the best quality my system can milk out. If it doesn't reflect the best that the software engine is capable of, try it out on your own.
8. Certain patches/mods and other add-ons might be available for certain titles of which I may not be aware of, or that I've refused to endorse due to certain circumstances which do not permit.
9. I can breach certain technical issues or some game hints in these reviews, but as a 1-man team, sometimes this can fall short.
10. Most importantly, do try out the software which I recommend. Since I don't benefit financially from these efforts, you've got nothing to lose. Some cost a fraction of what they were originally priced at while others are probably freeware.
I'll start passing reviews soon.
Ik hou van Oranje,
ArturV
1. To provide a sometimes biased view on games (specifically PC) which I believe was not receiving enough attention. I don't mean to prove anything and don't need to go all out to do so, but a little knowledge goes a long way.
2. I don't profess to ace every game I set my hands on, but rather mastery of the game techniques and sufficient grasp on getting to the full potential every gamer is entitled to. I suck at most games and never liked Warcraft III and its other spawn. I don't review MMORPGs as they are not my type of games which I enjoy playing with.
3. For IP (intellectual property) rights with regards to the screenshots used in the game, I only use the screenshot feature if allowed/enabled by default in the game and not the common technique of taking a screenshot via the usual method. So all screenshots are legal and are squeaky clean.
4. Where the accuracy of the information portrayed is slightly off tangent, I take responsibilty for the inaccuracies and will only take effort in rectifying them if it leads to making sense in doing it.
5. Unlike most other blogs which shoot out the warning NOT to take its contents seriously, I urge you to read the contents with a degree of honest effort. After all, why bother doing something if you're not serious about it. They probably meant not to get all worked up and emotional over their issues, but then again; if the issues discussed are bound to start a fire, then a conscious effort to tone it down should have been done. Or at least complain to someone who would care to listen to them.
6. I don't advocate software piracy, so buy original and stick to it. It'll be money well-spent and give the programmers and other parties involved their paycheck which they deserve. How'd you accept the fact that you've worked your ass off and expected a paycheck at the end of the month only for the employers to screw up their finances and take off pronto without reimbursing your coffers. I'm not being naive here, but a little thoughtfulness will ensure that the people who produce these games have something to work for.
7. The system which I've tested the games has been outdated for 3 years but still possess a useful 128MB video RAM for some nifty and neat graphics eyecandy. Where possible, the screenshots are of the best quality my system can milk out. If it doesn't reflect the best that the software engine is capable of, try it out on your own.
8. Certain patches/mods and other add-ons might be available for certain titles of which I may not be aware of, or that I've refused to endorse due to certain circumstances which do not permit.
9. I can breach certain technical issues or some game hints in these reviews, but as a 1-man team, sometimes this can fall short.
10. Most importantly, do try out the software which I recommend. Since I don't benefit financially from these efforts, you've got nothing to lose. Some cost a fraction of what they were originally priced at while others are probably freeware.
I'll start passing reviews soon.
Ik hou van Oranje,
ArturV
Saturday, September 09, 2006
'Leidartikel' Reborn
Been using MSN Live Spaces for quite a while now. Several issues I can tolerate, but others like its lack of photo commentary leaves a bad taste in the mouth especially when my main features are to write reviews about PC games of which some titles have vanished into rarities. Other issues like the usual 'this site is not available, please try again later' messages after typing a long entry will force me to save the work in HTML format on any wordpad file and resubmit at a later time. But that's not convenient. All in all, my Space will not vanish and I'll update 'Leidartikel' from time to time, without letting it get obscured.
My PC game reviews are titles which never caught onto the imagination of the general public and while I'll of course preview excellent titles which roll of the tongue easily such as 'HalfLife 2' and the 'Call of Duty' series (makes no sense if I were to write myself into a corner by only championing lesser-known titles), what I had in mind is that of the titles which have, due to either poor publicity or the singular-minded Malaysian (and world gamers') attitude which have contributed to its low popularity. Then there are my 2 cents on titles which have established themselves as all-time favorites; those that make all those gaming hours worthwhile and not spent on loading the beautiful, extensive 3D graphics which is an essential ingredient to make any games these days an unqualified success.
There are also my occasional takes on my other passion:- soccer (football) and of the clubs I support in no particular order; Arsenal FC , PSV Eindhoven, PSG (Paris Saint-Germain), Valencia CF and Bayer Leverkusen. I also take note of Inter Milan but don't actually love the club much. Fellow football fans have commented on my polygamous loyalty on football clubs which might reflect on my 'colourful' love life, but I need only mention that a little variety in life is not a big problem, more so if due to the fact that an interest in football is not to be equated to fidelity in marriage.
I also love the Netherlands football team 'Het Oranje Elftal' and support them like hell. It was damn painful when they did not qualify for the World Cup 2002 in Japan and South Korea but I finally endured enough to see them actually play in World Cup 2006 in Germany albeit in a muted and downcast performance. The title of this blog reflects my undying love for the Netherlands Elftal.
There you have it, the small transition from Live Spaces to Blogger. Whether it's a lucrative partnership is relative to the number of posts in here and if the number of items actually supercede the ones at MSN LS, then I'll stay for good. Have a good day and have a good life.
Ik hou van Oranje,
ArturV
My PC game reviews are titles which never caught onto the imagination of the general public and while I'll of course preview excellent titles which roll of the tongue easily such as 'HalfLife 2' and the 'Call of Duty' series (makes no sense if I were to write myself into a corner by only championing lesser-known titles), what I had in mind is that of the titles which have, due to either poor publicity or the singular-minded Malaysian (and world gamers') attitude which have contributed to its low popularity. Then there are my 2 cents on titles which have established themselves as all-time favorites; those that make all those gaming hours worthwhile and not spent on loading the beautiful, extensive 3D graphics which is an essential ingredient to make any games these days an unqualified success.
There are also my occasional takes on my other passion:- soccer (football) and of the clubs I support in no particular order; Arsenal FC , PSV Eindhoven, PSG (Paris Saint-Germain), Valencia CF and Bayer Leverkusen. I also take note of Inter Milan but don't actually love the club much. Fellow football fans have commented on my polygamous loyalty on football clubs which might reflect on my 'colourful' love life, but I need only mention that a little variety in life is not a big problem, more so if due to the fact that an interest in football is not to be equated to fidelity in marriage.
I also love the Netherlands football team 'Het Oranje Elftal' and support them like hell. It was damn painful when they did not qualify for the World Cup 2002 in Japan and South Korea but I finally endured enough to see them actually play in World Cup 2006 in Germany albeit in a muted and downcast performance. The title of this blog reflects my undying love for the Netherlands Elftal.
There you have it, the small transition from Live Spaces to Blogger. Whether it's a lucrative partnership is relative to the number of posts in here and if the number of items actually supercede the ones at MSN LS, then I'll stay for good. Have a good day and have a good life.
Ik hou van Oranje,
ArturV
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