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The latest and most advanced game from Koios Works, the creators of Tin Soldiers: Alexander, is Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm a turn based strategy game set on the Eastern Front during WWII. The gameplay is similar to the Combat Mission series. Click here to see our full review!

Gameplay: 7.0/10.0

At the beginning of each mission the player is given a briefing about the upcoming battle. After reading the briefing it moves on to the unit selection screen. In this screen the player can see the units that are currently in their army and the ones that are available to be added if they have enough purchase points left. This unit selection screen also gives the statistics for each of the different types of units and a picture of what the unit looks like. This customization is a nice feature of the game, but suffers from the lack of usable information from the briefing to aid in making decisions about what units to select. After the unit selection is finished the mission is loaded and the game starts.

At the beginning of each mission the player is given the opportunity to arrange their units into desired formations before starting the turns. By default the units in each platoon start out in a line, but this may not always be what is wanted. The player may wish to start with the units in a box or wedge formation and this first step gives this opportunity.

Each turn of Panzer Command consists of two parts; orders and reactions. In the orders part of the turn the player gives orders to each of the platoons as to were to move and how to move there. This includes rushing (fast moving without any firing), advancing (slow moving with reaction firing), bounding (half of the platoon moves while the other half provides covering fire), and others. For the reaction part of the turn the player can instruct the a platoon to concentrate fire on a particular enemy unit. This includes which weapon of the unit's to use and which type of ammo. There are several types of ammo ranging from high explosives to armor piercing.

After each of the two parts of the turn the player watches as the platoons carry out there orders and react to the enemy. Each of these observation parts are about forty seconds long and are complete with sound affects of the different units and weapons.

These turns continue until one side has collected enough victory points to win the mission. Points can be collected by destroying enemy units and controlling flags that at positioned at different key areas of the map. The defending side will start with about half the victory points needed, and the attacker will start with none. This was done because the defender starts with control of all the flags and only needs to destroy enemy units while maintaining control, and the attacker must gain control of the flag while destroying enemy units. In other words this makes it easier for the defender to gain victory, because there are no uncontrolled flags that they can capture to gain points.

At the end of the mission a screen is displayed that shows loses to both sides and any accommodations that a platoon has earned. It also shows the experience gained by each platoon and the number of kills that they had. In addition to the display of loses it will also show which units were salvaged after the battle.

This general operation of the game seems to work quite well in supplying a splendid experience for the player. The computer AI is also reasonably challenging and serves has a fine adversary.

A noticeable hitch is the fact that the placement of units in any given map is never changed therefore, so when replaying a the player can remember the unit placement and the mistakes made. But this does have some value if the player wants to try the same setup with a different tactic.

Another displeasure is the lack of ability to simply judge how far your units are able to move in each round, which can make coming up with complex plans somewhat more troublesome. And to add insult -to-injury the path finding of the units causes problems and delays. The units have a tendency to go the long way around, or get hung up behind something. For example, if you have two platoon that cross paths and the units get blocked by each other, then it forms a traffic jam that takes a whole turn or two to get sorted out. The units also seem to like driving through wooded areas more then in clearings or on roads; though this does give the unit better cover, it will slow everything down.

Overall though, Panzer Command succeeds in supplying players with an fascinating gaming experience, despite that certain elements such as movement could have been improved and smoothed out more.

Game Control: 6.5/10.0

The game utilizes a mouse interface with some hot keys. The implementation of the interface goes well with the game, but could have used some more smoothing out. The mouse is always represented by the traditional arrow, even during the game and when giving orders. It would have been nice if the courser changed depending on what was being done or to indicate status of the location its over (move, target, impassable, out of range, out of sight, etc).

The unit and object selection in the game is a bit crude. It only uses thin lined rectangles to show which unit, squad, or building is selected. There is also no click and drag select method, orders have to be given to each platoon independently.

The way that platoon selection is done when giving orders can be confusing. When a platoon is selected only one of the units in it will have a box around it, but orders still apply to all the units in the platoon. Only after general orders are given to the whole platoon can you give each unit in the platoon a slightly different order such as direction and distance of movement or enemy to target.

Despite the short comings of the game control for Panzer Command, it still servers the needs of playing the game, even if it is not as graceful as if could have been.

Graphics: 8.5/10.0

The graphical detail in Panzer Command is remarkably well done. The numerous vehicles and infantry units are all modeled and textured excellently and animate well during game play. The detail of the units truly comes out when you zoom in close to see the battle from the unit's perspective. The only two down sides. There is a lot of winter maps that are mostly white with trees, roads, and building. After looking at the different maps for a long time they start looking the same. The other down side is that if you zoom out to far on the map the units blend right into the terrain, making it harder to get the big picture of the battle. But, it is to be expected when you have gray tanks in a white backdrop.

Overall: 7.3/10.0

Is Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm worth the investment for you? Well, yes and no. If you are a seasoned war-game player, then you would get the most enjoyment out of this title. If you have planed some other war-game titles and are familiar with there nuances, then it is likely that you will enjoy playing this title. If you are new to the world of war-games and/or a casual gamer, then there are other titles out there which can supply you with a more enjoyable gaming experience and have a smaller learning curve. Overall Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm is a noteworthy title worth looking into if you have some time. Perhaps we can look forward to some add-ons to include other theaters of combat like Africa or the western front.

Game: Panzer Command: Operation Winter Storm
Released: Jun 2006
Game Type: 3D Strategy
Developer: Koios Works
Publisher: Matrix Games
Websites: http://www.koiosworks.com/Panzercommand/
http://www.matrixgames.com/game.asp?gid=327
Requires: Windows / Direct3D
Multiplay: E-mail (sharing of data files)
ESRB Rating: Unavailable
Availability: Physical shipment or direct download from Matrix Games
Price: $49.99