Panzer General
| Panzer General | |
|---|---|
| Studio | SSI |
| Publisher |
SSI Mindscape |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1994 |
| platform | 3DO , DOS , PC-98 , PlayStation , Windows |
| genre | turn-based strategy game |
| Subject | Second World War |
| Game mode | Single player , two player |
| language | English |
Panzer General is a turn-based computer strategy game by SSI from 1994. Technically, the gameplay is similar to the classics Nectaris and Battle Isle : On a hexagonal playing field , which is seen from a bird's eye view , the player moves the individual combat troops one after the other. The gameplay , however, is more strategic and less action-heavy.
Game principle and course
In Panzer General , the player has the opportunity to play World War II on the side of the Wehrmacht . Individual scenarios can also be contested on the side of the Allies. In the German campaign he takes on the role of a field marshal and has control of the entire armed forces. The game is divided into several battles that are completed one after the other. In these campaigns, which are closely based on the historical model in terms of time and geography, the aim is to occupy strategically important points - mostly cities or airports - within a certain number of game rounds using the Blitzkrieg tactics. Depending on how quickly the player manages to capture these points, the course of the game changes as different scenarios follow: If, for example, the attack on Poland in 1939 is completed very quickly, the player receives an extra scenario in which he campaigns in Norway can perform. If the player does not make the rounds in certain scenarios, he gets into another arm of scenarios in which he has to defend himself against the Allied invasion of Normandy and on the Eastern Front against the advancing Red Army . So it can happen that in the later course of the war German cities have to be kept from the approaching allies.
The ultimate goal of the game is to occupy all of Europe, North Africa and North America through efficient use of the Blitzkrieg tactics. The key scenario is the victory over Russia. The campaign that represents the attack on Moscow takes place in different years and with different units, depending on the course of the game, the last being possible for the Wehrmacht in 1943. The invasion of Great Britain also turns out to be one of the most difficult scenarios. If the game is particularly successful, battlefields in which war has never been waged are possible. You can improve the starting point in the long term. For example, it is possible to fight a scenario in the Middle East against the British through a successful campaign in Africa. If the struggle is successful, a new front against Russia will emerge across the Caucasus . Definitely the last of all battles if successful is the invasion of the United States of America .
The round limit increases as the game progresses, as does the degree of difficulty and the size of the playing cards. The sequence of a scenario is always the same: First, the player places his combat units in one or more specified areas on the map. After this build-up phase, he draws his troops - consisting of infantry , tanks , artillery , bombers , fighters and, in some missions, various naval units ( submarines , battleships, etc.) - in the order of his choice and thus leads attacks on the enemy Troops through. Each unit has a limited range of motion, which is also dependent on fuel, weather and ground conditions.
The various units can be bought using Prestige , which serves as currency for this purpose . Prestige is also used to equip units with more modern weapons ( upgrade ) or to bring decimated units back to nominal strength. The player receives prestige points mainly by occupying enemy cities. The individual units are images of actual war equipment from World War II, so the Junkers Ju 87 can be found in the game as well as the Tiger tank . The units are introduced at the correct time and also in the different versions, so that the further developed vehicles such as jet planes are only available in the game in scenarios from 1944 onwards. The units are taken over from scenario to scenario and gain experience depending on the deployment - the more experienced a unit is, the stronger it is in combat.
The troop design is one of the main charms of Panzer General . By maintaining his core units, the player grows closely with his troops, sometimes accompanying them from the attack on Poland to the fall of Berlin . The loss of a long-serving core unit is therefore synonymous with one of the worst setbacks that can be experienced in the game. The ability to upgrade your units with more modern weapons after each scenario also gives the game more depth. Finally, there is also the sophisticated rating system for the units. Around a dozen skills classify the units. The ratings are so finely differentiated that on the one hand they underline the "character" of the military branches. On the other hand, there are also strong differences in the respective strengths and weaknesses, which inevitably leads to the player trying, in line with the Blitzkrieg tactic, to achieve victory by combining his units.
Recognition and criticism
Panzer General was an extremely controversial publication, especially in Germany. On the one hand, it was the first game of its kind that treated the Second World War so realistically and consistently from a war strategy perspective. The first publication of the game landed in Germany on the list of indexed games of the Federal Testing Agency for Media Harmful to Young People for playing down war and National Socialism . The brief descriptions of the missions, in which the player was instructed in a scenario in an emphatically martial manner, were also controversial . The English language version, which was retained for the German version, had a pronounced “German” accent.
Regardless of the historical background, Panzer General is highly valued due to its game depth, realism and the diverse strategic and tactical possibilities of the player. For fans of turn-based strategy games, it is one of the best representatives of its genre, alongside titles such as Battle Isle or Jagged Alliance 2 .
Successors and variants
Due to its success and popularity, numerous successors and variants to Panzer General have been released. Fantasy General shifted the game principle to a fantasy universe. This was followed in 1995 by Allied General (German Panzer General II ), in which the role of the Allies was taken over. In 1997 SSI published Panzer General II (German Panzer General IIID ), which was shown in isometric perspective. In the same year Pacific General (1997, German Pacific Admiral ) appeared and dealt with the US Pacific War against Japan with an emphasis on air and sea battles. People's General (1998, dt. Dynasty General ), takes place in the - at that time still future - year 2005 and is about a fictional war between China (together with some "rogue states") and the rest of the world. Fighting is done with modern weapon systems. Panzer General 3D Assault (1999, German Panzer General IV: Western Assault ) and the sequel Panzer General III Scorched Earth (2000, German Panzer General: Company Barbarossa ) are based on the original game and are set in the Second World War can be played in an actual 3D perspective.
Another, little-known successor is Star General (1996), in which the player controls spaceships and fights in space. However, none of the successors could come close to the success and balance of the game concept of the original.
In 2011, the British software house Slitherine published the unofficial Panzer General successor Panzer Corps , the basic version of which took many units and scenarios from the original game almost unchanged.
In 2013, Ubisoft announced that it was working on the development of a free-to-play version of Panzer-General . The game has only the name in common with the original versions and uses elements of the board game. On May 5, 2014 began for Panzer General Online to Open Beta , a date for the release is not yet known. As of October 31, 2016, the game is no longer available.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Testing Office for Media Harmful to Young Persons: Indexing decision Panzer General
- ↑ http://www.panzergeneral.com/. Retrieved December 3, 2016 .