Blitzkrieg 2 [PC]

A long time ago, real-time strategy (RTS) games were everywhere in the US. But over time, the need for it shrunk to the point where the only RTS games here were typically high-profile and extremely ambitious. What happened to smaller scale and specialized themes? Thankfully, Europe is filling the void but with the wrong subject matter. They're still mired in the Sturm und Drang of the Second World War.

The latest from Europe is Blitzkrieg II. Its most immediate change over its predecessor is the new 3D graphics engine. Now the action comes to you complete with impressive explosions, weather, lighting effects, and armchair commanders. You can better survey the battlefield using the help of the terrain. Buildings can be occupied, tanks and troops are harder to dislodge, bombing runs can be used to soften the enemy, and bottlenecks can be found and taken advantage of. The camera system, a frequent problem with these kinds of games, is limited in scope -- you can't zoom out far enough -- but this adds some uncertainty to the battlefield so it's forgivable. The camera isn't hard to control, even during the tense firefights.

The game uses reinforcements and commanders. Each mission allows the player a certain number of reinforcement points. These can be spent on needed troops, tanks, or a bombing run. It's been said that a great game design is one that gives the player as many meaningful decisions as possible, and Blitzkrieg II's reinforcement model certainly achieves this goal. In fact, ideas come during the mission, and players might replay missions to try things a different way. That's one solid game design.

Commanders are simply units you can promote, giving them more options and orders (a promoted tank commander can order his units to camouflage or patrol). If you do this, all units of that type perform better and the commander gains experience with each successful battle, rising in rank. This is great for making the gameplay reflect what you like (e.g., if you favor tanks, you can keep calling tank reinforcements to enhance your tank commander unit). But this also encourages players to limit themselves to only certain types of reinforcements, which then encourages bad tactics, making the later stages harder.

It's better to develop a balanced army than to overuse a single type. The game actively and effectively discourages the most obvious bad tactic common to RTS games: the tank rush. Players are still welcome to call in the tanks, loop them up, and fling them at the enemy base, but a competent commander knows to leave a few reinforcement points in reserve. A tank rush can end in ruin against a well timed counter-attack loaded up on anti-tank personnel.

Single-player lets you portray the German blitzkrieg, the US-led invasion or the valiant Soviet defense against the German onslaught. There are 80 single and multiplayer missions, and all are quite good. The manual claims there are over 250 different units and each is specially coded to react realistically on the battlefield. The armor-piercing units know enough to concentrate fire on armored units, but it doesn't mean an infantry unit can seize the guns of their fallen artillery comrades. Instead they point their rifles at the oncoming armor and go "ping-ping-ping."

The two biggest problems with Blitzkrieg II are the music and the artificial intelligence. For a game featuring such deep and rich tactics, the computer fumbles and flails a bit too often with the pathfinding. There isn't enough modeling about how combined arms react on the battlefield. The computer is overly fond of the newbie-friendly trickle-technique, where it never attacks with a convincing army, preferring to send a few units at a time. It makes some use of buildings and terrain -- it does entrench, but never in a way that will seriously challenge players. Suffice it to say the computer does a better job maximizing its forces than it does using them.

The music can be summed up as Muzak-like, and it's perplexing how European game developers think that techno is a good soundtrack for World War II combat. The upside is the music quality might bring back some old-school memories for grizzled gamers of the early '90s era.

While flawed, Blitzkrieg II makes a good single-player wargame because it successfully models the cold ruthlessness of war and the importance of using reinforcements wisely. It's even stronger as a multiplayer wargame simply because an opponent who uses the game's tactical options as well as you do makes up for the game's greatest flaw.