Blitzkrieg II (Jewel Case) Review

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(More customer reviews)Ok, I guess I get to be the counter point here. Before I get into how much I love this game, let me adress the other reviews.
One reviewer said he had problems running the game on a Vista equiped comp. Well surprise surprise! IMO, Vista isn't, never has been, and never will be a gamer friendly OS (not to mention it's so buggy, it was probably designed by an entomologist). The other reviewer stated that the game was to hard. "Unbeatable" was the term he used. Nothing could be further from the truth. To be fair, I never played the first Blitzkrieg so I can't adress the complaint he had with the control scheme changes.
I've been playing this game for about 3 months now and I love it. I have the XP (SP3) OS on my system and the game runs flawlessly. I have so far beaten the Russian campaign and am about half way through the American campaign. I'll tell you straight up; this game is TOUGH, but hardly unbeatable. Like many RTSs, most scenarios have a trick to them that, once you figure it out, victory is assured.
The level of detail here is awesome. Just about every AFV that fought in the great conflict is here and modeled beautifuly (there are a few notable omissions such as the French Char B and the Soviet KV1, but this is just niggling). Each vehicle is rated for armor on each of it's four sides as well as for gun caliber, velocity and amount of ammo caried (for both main gun and machine guns). Put a Sherman up against a Panther head to head, Sherman dies. Sherman catches the Panther from behind however, dead kitty.
As in many games of this type, infantry is pretty much useless in the open. Get them into buildings however and they become absolutely deadly to tanks. They're also handy for capturing enemy AT and AA guns. Nothing I love more than grabbing a couple of 88s and sending a bunch of Krupp shells right back where they came from.
Aircraft are handled kind of abstractly. You don't have any real control over them beyond telling them where on the map you want them to go. They then fly there, do what ever they do on their own, then leave. Bombers are great. Simply click on a given area of the map then sit back and watch them devastate everything in the area. Fighters are pretty much fire and forget weapons. Once called, they'll automaticaly fly around the map engaging any enemy planes they find. I was a bit disapointed with fighter duels however. Although many different fighter types are modeled, air battles almost always end up draws no matter what kind of planes each side is using. Either both sides annihilate each other or there will one aircraft left on each side which then fly away. Unrealistic to be sure. Ground attack aircraft are blast to use. These things just vaporize enemy tank columns and fortifications. In fact, in one Russian scenario, I used nothing but the ledgendary IL2 Sturmovik (finest GA aircraft of the war) to wipe out just about every German unit on the map! I then rolled my tanks into the objective village unopposed. Scenario over. Sweet.
Another cool feature of this game (which I understand wasn't in the first game), is the ability to assign individual officers to you're units (light tanks, line infantry, etc.). The more action the units commanded a given officer see, the more experience he gets. When he gets enough points, he gets promoted. This opens up special abilities for his units such as the ability to entrench quicker, more accurate firing, moving fire etc. This adds a cool RPG element to the game.
Each campaign in Blitzkrieg 2 is made up of a number of smaller scenarios and one "penultimate" scenario which must be beaten in order to advance the game. The smaller battles can be played in any order although the game will recomend the order in which they should be played. This is important as each battle opens up new reinforcement types that will probably be needed in the next battle, and will DEFINATELY be needed in the big one at the end. The key word here is reinforcements. These are basicaly like the "resources" you would gather in other RTS games. Each battle gives you a set number of reinforcements to win the fight with and they should be hoarded like gold. However many reinforcements you have left at the end of a scenario carry over to next. The idea here is to go into the final battle with as many reinforcements as possible. The more you have, the easier it will be to win.
Overall, this is one of the best games I've played in recent years. The only real complaint I have is that there's no playable campaigns for either the British or the Japanese.
If you like RTS games in general, like WW2 games in particular, and are not running Vista :p, I would whole heartedly recomend picking this up.
Blitzkrieg 2 will give you many hours of exciting and challenging gameplay for months to come!

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Medieval II Total War Review

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(More customer reviews)When I first got this installed and running on my middle-of-the-road system I was expecting it to be a chugging, slow mess. I was happily surprised to find that except for battles against larger cities or against thousands of foes, it runs just fine. I have yet to have a crash, something which in this day and age of "shove it out the door broken and patch it later" game releases is to be commended.
The graphics are beautiful but are not the amazing leap forward like occurred from Medieval 1 to Rome. Think of it more as putting an extra coat of shiny polish on your car. The effects of firing flaming arrows and the pageantry of heraldric colors on the knights and other troops are beautiful to watch. The little movies showing events like weddings and your assassins' antics are often genuinely hilarious (until you've seen them all 100 times). But all that is also just eye candy, there's very little NEW here that wasn't in Rome. Also, the medieval setting has now been done to death in this game's predecessor and other games in the last few years and I'm praying that the next title WON'T be a remake of the original Shogun but will move the series squarely into the gunpowder age, culminating with Napoleon. Enough with the primitive and medieval weapons and tactics.
The AI has been improved marginally, but I am still attacked for ridiculously random reasons no matter the difficulty level I play on. As England I had developed into one of the largest powers on the map and Portugal inexplicably attacked me without provocation despite our neutral relations (not "poor" or "abysmal", mind you) and trade rights. Needless to say they were immediately squashed, but why would they even bother? This is not intelligent AI, it's just annoying AI. Alliances seem to be equally meaningless when they are made with the human and are difficult to achieve unless the AI brings it to you. I have yet to ever form one when I initiate the offer even when it would be a massive advantage to the comp.
Battle AI is more clever at using its archers as harassment and has no hesitation in squashing yours if you leave them unguarded. When outnumbered it does tend to sit there passively as one other reviewer wrote. I have nearly obliterated an entire force with archers while they just sat there in the corner before the general turned tail and withdrew.
Overall, it's a small step forward and the Rome engine is certainly beautiful to watch in action. The Total War series still is unparalleled in strategic enjoyment on both levels but the next offering in the series needs to be groundbreaking in both time period and AI complexity.

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Hearts of Iron Anthology Review

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(More customer reviews)Be Encouraged! This is the BEST WW2 detailed strategy game to date. I have played this genre since the 1970's on board games to computer games.
Be Warned! This is Grand Stategy played on a clean world map, not a "point and shoot" first person. Graphics and sound are good but are not designed to target an "action game" buyer. This is a "board game" done on the computer. This is a Thinking game. It is a "Real Time" game but you can pause time, make decisions, and change direction for units and national management. Then let time go "live" again. The time increment is HOURLY starting 12am 01 January 1936 to 1953 with the "Doomsday" edition, or until 1963 with the "Armageddon" pack. And you can vary the speed of the game so that a day goes by in less than a minute.
Your units are divisional size. Battles are abstract. The computer does the losses and retreats, but you get to attach the best commanders. And YOU develop the tecnology of hardware AND types of tactical knowledge used in battle. The computer doesn't miss a step here. Smaller units CAN prevail over larger ones easily if you manage to develop the crucial details. And the Details here are excellent, as is. However tweeking the coding and cheats are available as well. In short, much customization or moding is possible and is manufactuer condoned. That's how this company's games get better. There is a strong fan base on the web, a large intelligent community. Albeit a better tutorial is needed to get your "feet wet" before diving into this deep pool of strategy.
Details needing attention? Espionage could be better handled. Diplomacy needs more "power". Swifter troop movement by rail before any ground movement needs attention. A possible encirclement or capture of whole enemy divisions is not handled, as they simply retreat very weakend, even through your lines on occassion. One assumes the region has not yet been secured. But weak units can cease to exist through attrition over time if out of supply. All Regions won surrender easily, but Nations do not, and regions gained are rarely traded perminantly for peace and a new "status quo". This again needs to be addressed in Diplomacy with negotiation to consider "national morale" versus unit or Regional morale.
On the whole, Nation Management for Money, Resources, Unit Supply, etc. are well handled and easy to adjust. The Reasearch process for Weapons and Tactics is outstanding with photos of actual people and companies of the time to direct. Leaders of the cabinet are also choosable with photos and personalities of people of the time. Combine this with photos of unit types and technology at that time and you begin to see the fantastic research done to make this product. It includes all countries of the world of 1936! Amazing. And if there is an incorrect photo or two, you can correct them behind the scenes or add your own in the database before your next session. Also amazing.
There are lot's of "what if" possibilities. In one game I played, Nazi Germany did not attack Poland, but successfully Allied with it to fight Soviet Russia! There was no British or French belligerant reaction, and the computer alowed Wendle Wilkie to be elected U.S. president on a non-interventioist platfom! In another game, Japan remained on its own and did NOT attack the U.S. but rather concentrated on China and the oil in South East Asia. No Pearl Harbor! Whatever small complaints, this game is VERY playable, and the product is Five-Star.

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Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday Expansion Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a huge fan of Paradox Interactive. These guys make the perfect games for history geeks like me. Gloriously complex, very playable, with the smack of verisimilitude. Hours of pleasure..
I started war-gaming twenty-five years ago, when I was just a kid in grade school- the Old Avalon Hill era. Hexagon boards, dice, fat rulebooks and hundreds of cardboard unit chits. And far too few fellow geeks to play with. A.H. put out a strategic level European/Mediterranean theatre game called Third Reich. I loved that game. I played WWII out with my little brother, or by playing all factions myself, hundreds of times. Ah, the good old days..
But wait, no. The sepia tones fade to a harsh, merciless grey. I've played HoI2, and this new hyper charged "Doomsday" revision of that glorious game. And there is no comparison. This is Third Reich beatified and transfigured. To heck with the old days.
With HoI2 you can begin campaign play in 1936, 1938, 1939, 1941, or 1944. The diplomatic and military situation being as it was historically at each date. You can play any country in the world - any major power (Germany, U.K., U.S.A., U.S.S.R., France, Italy, Japan) or a lesser power such as Australia, S. Africa, Canada, Brazil, Turkey or Spain, etc. Or you can even play a minor country like Bhutan or Costa Rica - even though they have very little economic, scientific, diplomatic, political, or as a result, military power. Still, if you want to attempt world conquest with say Nicaragua, Switzerland, Tibet or Siam, you are free to.
There are also minor scenarios where you can play out Barbarossa, the Invasion of Poland, Japan in China, the Spanish Civil War, a hypothetical war between Argentina & Brazil, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge).. you get the idea. I'm solely a 1936 campaign game man, myself, though, so I can't speak to the quality of the scenarios.
In the original HoI2 campaigns all end in 1947. Which often cuts the game short while things are still very interesting (Hitler played a very stupid HoI2 game- I mean, taking on the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. simultaneously? While the U.K. is still kicking? Don't you be so stupid. Things could've gone on so much longer.. 988 years longer, vielleicht?) So 1947 is too early an end date.
This new Doomsday expansion corrects that. The new end date is 1953 (the year of Stalin's death.) And a new "Doomsday" scenario is added, beginning in 1945 with Germany defeated. Europe is divided between the Comitern and Allies, and they're at war. Dr. Strangeglove is in the house, ya'll. Yeeehaw!
Armageddon aside, the glory of HoI2 Doomsday is that you can start in 1936, and play through 1953, and absolutely anything can happen. Early Cold War, or Axis world domination, whatever. I mean, you can do all sorts of interesting things (especially if you use the F12 cheatcode "freedom" to change the political conditions of your country more quickly than would otherwise be allowed - Germany can be made communist, the U.S. fascist or communist, the U.S.S.R. a democracy - and all international alliances and national leaders will change..)
The economic and technological aspects of this game are very good- the tech tree is pretty complex, and every country- even the little ones - has a bevy of historic industrial firms and technicians (e.g., Germany has I.G. Farben, Krupp, Siemens, Junkers, Porsche, Rheinmetal, Mauser and individuals such as Guderian, Udet, Goering, Von Braun, Heisenburg, Von Manstein, Raeder, etc. the U.S. has Ford, Raytheon, Oppenheimer, McDonnell Douglas, Nimitz, etc.) who are assigned different tech/doctrinal projects. You can choose to pursue certain lines of technology, and military doctrine and ignore others, try to research them earlier than they were historically, etc.
Economically, each country has an factory industrial base which determines how many units you can produce or support, and which must be fed resources. Resources are obtained by controlling their geographic sources, or through trade with countries who have surplus resources.
Militarily, this is a division level game. The units are assigned historical names and designations (1st Panzer Division, 101st Airborne, K.M.S. Bismarck, U.S.S. Lexington, etc.) You organize them into corps and armies, and fleets. Every unit has a historical commander whom you can reassign and promote, with his own unique skills (Patton, Rommel, Monty, Yamamoto- the whole gang's here.)
Politically and diplomatically you can pick your governmental cabinet. If you dislike your head of state, you can gradually over time manipulate the political & economic climate of your society so that he is replaced. (or you can use the cheat code I mentioned to do it instantaneously.) The U.S., for example, has its historic elections, and F.D.R. can be defeated.. how about a Landon or Wilkie administration?
The axes of your political and economic culture that you can manipulate over time are these: Right/Left, Democratic/Authoritarian, Open/Closed Society, Free Market/Centrally Planned Economy, Standing/Drafted Army, Hawk/Dove, Interventionist/Isolationist. All choices here effect your game play.
One other major change in Doomsday from the original is that they've added an espionage tab to your menu.. you send spies to check out your enemies and neighbors, and get partial and less than fully accurate information instead of HoI2's omniscient all army/navy/air force comparison charts. More realistic, methinks. You also get an idea of what they are researching, which is a nice improvement. Your spies can attempt other missions (assassinate leaders, sabotage projects, foment partisan revolt, etc.) Overall, an improvement, I think.
The A1 is solid, and will usually throw up a challenge. The program is pretty stable, and Paradox is very good about patches and support. Check out Paradox's web forum [..]
In sum: the game is a excellent one. If you play a major power, and stick to the historical script, the war will quite often fall out more or less as things actually did. But what's the fun of that? You could, instead, say, skip Pearl Harbor and take and send the Japanese Imperial Army into Russia instead of China. Or, you could play the U.S. and realize her manifest destiny by conquering all the Americas.. Or you could truly challenge yourself and attempt wide conquest with a middling power such as Turkey, Spain, Nationalist China, Brazil, or Canada.. or try to prosper with even a much smaller power such as Ireland, or a Latin American country like Guatemala. Be creative.
Five plus stars. Buy this game if it sounds at all interesting to you.

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Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday is an intriguing real-time strategy game for the PC that begs some interesting "what if" questions related to World War II. Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday includes all the campaigns from the original Hearts of Iron II that take place in 1936, 1939, 1941, and 1944, as well as a new mission that continues the battle in 1953. The world of Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday is both familiar and strange, with events that often come to drastically different conclusions than they did historically.This version of Hearts of Iron II also includes updates and expansions requested by gamers, with technology, units, and abilities being added for each side to make for a balanced gameplay. What is also intriguing is the ability to resolve the entire conflict through diplomatic means rather than by force -- a trait that sets this game apart from most WWII strategy games. Players can trade weapons and secrets with allies to strengthen themselves as well as their alliances.
This game is reminiscent of the classic WWII board game, Axis and Allies, but has the additional advantages of the computer platform -- more complexity, and real-time gameplay -- that keeps the action non-stop. One particularly unique aspect of Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday is your ability to play from more than just the traditional "big boys", such as the US, UK, Russia, Italy, Japan and Germany; in fact, you can play as any one of 175 countries. You also have the option of which year to start and what specific missions to try, which is especially important as the only way out, other than by winning, is by surrendering.It's also important to choose which technological path to take, rather than simply assigning certain strengths based on your choice of side or nation. Technology is broken down into different categories, such as Air Doctrine, Land Doctrine, Armor and Naval units, as well as the classic and sometimes all-important Secret Weapon programs. In order to make technological progress, you'll need to assign teams to work on specific projects, many of them based on real historical programs. Each team has different sets of skills that allow them to work on different projects, while each project focuses on a different field. The expanded technological tree in Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday even allows you to develop nuclear weapons. Another important factor in this game is diplomacy, in which your choice of allies can say as much about you as who your foes are. The all new diplomatic options and intelligence system lets you steal and sabotage equipment, control mass media, start riots, and even assassinate ministers and leaders.

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