Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

PC : Turn based WW2 goodness in the mold of Panzer General. This promises to be a true classic!

Moderators: Slitherine Core, Panzer Corps Moderators, Panzer Corps Design

VPaulus
Slitherine
Slitherine
Posts: 8311
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:33 pm
Location: Portugal

Post by VPaulus »

Bestgamer.ru
Gameplay: 8.5
Plot: 7.5
Graphics: 8.0
Replay value: 9.0
Sound & Music: 8.5
Overall Rating: 8.3
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... gUcN0R5cMg
kop101
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 84
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:42 pm

Post by kop101 »

dobrodukh
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 7:48 am

Post by dobrodukh »

Kerensky
Content Designer
Content Designer
Posts: 8623
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:12 am

Post by Kerensky »

88% for DLC 39 and DLC 40

http://www.gamershall.de/index.php?p=ar ... campaign40


Google translate gave me this:

In the summer of Matrix Games and Slitherine are presented with "Panzer Corps," a title that is sure to be counted among the strategy bangers of the year. Now, the publishers do with their announcement seriously, deliver supplies to the fans of the game, and bring on a stroke the first two extensions on the market.


With the add-ons are two new playable only on the German side's campaigns called "Grand Campaign '39" and "Grand Campaign '40." This already indicated, what is at stake here: in the 39 campaign, the player must conquer Poland in the 40 campaign on the other hand, Belgium, Holland and France, roll over, to suppress the Western powers.

In principle, there were of course already in the main program, but just not in this epic breadth. For each of the add-ons, at least fourteen fresh fire scenarios, including the battle for Warsaw, the taking of Fort Eben-Emael or the encirclement of the British troops at Dunkirk. The conquest of England is unfortunately not this time provided, however, must be completed after the victory over Poland a few missions in Norway.

With a size of about 200 MB of the extensions are advised surprisingly thick. However, the data packets include a comprehensive update, the "Tank Corps" to version 1.04. upgraded. This patch also available separately brings many changes, including extended scripts for the editor.

For scenario designer should be particularly interesting here, the new trigger system that allows you to define how certain events within a mission AI actions or the arrival of reinforcement units. - Another advantage of the update: The game can now be desired with a German menu and even run German language edition. With the extensions, however, we must continue to take briefing with English texts preferences. It has also been quite the same here no need for a spokesman.


The proven gameplay has not fundamentally changed course. However, the two "Grand Campaigns" some features that enrich the gaming experience significantly. First is the change in wealth on the mission objectives. The slogan was always to conquer previously and repetitive, specific map points, so now the combat mission ever to be protecting their own units, to prevent enemy troop movements by rail, or even take a French general prisoner.

I feel very comfortable as the fact that now stands for gaining a decisive victory of the full number of rounds of each scenario are available and it therefore no longer have a very rigid Zuglimit is subject. However, my impression was, raised the level of difficulty to the campaign playing the full version again. Also, the AI ​​seems to have become somewhat more active. We must expect, among other things, aims to win ingested lose very quickly again, if they are not backed by adequate occupation force.

Another nice innovation is the possibility offered on some maps, enemy equipment such as the heavy French tanks "Char-B" to take over and annex as prey vehicle of their core army. In addition, multiple-choice decisions were implemented, which give the whole course of the greater variability and thus increase the replay value. For example, one arrives at the 40 campaign to a point where one has to choose whether you prefer in the following missions will compete against the British or the French.

Is also worth noting that both campaigns are linked. Although it is possible to play the expansions separately. But who has completed the 39th campaign, must take his lovingly constructed with the same core army also in the next year of the war. The intention of the publishers that will incidentally be only the beginning, as it is for each year planned the Second World War, your own campaign, so that at the end next to the content of the main program, a coherent long campaign with more than seventy scenarios are available.

The next part, namely the "Grand Campaign '41," is already announced and discussed the German operations in the Balkans and the beginning of the attack on the Soviet Union. You may be curious as to whether and when the development team "The Lordz Games Studio" nachreicht been painfully missed the North African theater of war in a separate add-on.
Kerensky
Content Designer
Content Designer
Posts: 8623
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:12 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by Kerensky »

I dunno if this has been posted yet, looks like another review has been posted though!

http://www.strategycore.co.uk/articles/ ... ps-review/

Let's see if I can do this review without mentioning That Game. No, not that one, That One.

Panzer Corps is a hex-based strategy game, incorporating 26 scenarios into a branching campaign spanning 1939 to 1945. You control the Germans as they romp (or not) across Poland, Norway, France, Russia, Italy, and if you do well enough, certain other countries. Wink wink. You're given a range of units that expands as the game progresses, with 400 different units thankfully divided up into 19 classes, and each unit has 20 different attributes. These units fight across 17 different terrain types, through rain, snow, mud, and frost.

As a reimagining of a classic, you can't help but notice all the resemblances. The overall design aesthetic, the screen layout, identical function buttons, it's there right out in the open. It's rather surprising how quickly the evocation of an old design restores old reflexes, and immediately you're flicking your mouse right, to the sidebar, and clicking away...despite the fact you've never played Panzer Corps before (assuming you have prior experience with That Game). You can expand the sidebar to include a unit list, stat panel and reserve list, although with all three turned on, the sidebar then takes up almost half of the screen.

The faux-military design permeates the whole game; officer epaulettes represent difficulty levels, gold-trimmed option sliders, you never come up against a bare menu. The look of the game is complete and polished, and this extends to the detailed units and terrain. Unit models are easy to differentiate, and their strength and status are always visible. Icons are clear and unambiguous, and you're always provided with pop-ups in case your brain strokes off. A lovely little addition are explosions matching the damage done in combat, with sprays of earth for misses and unit-enveloping fiery blooms for complete destruction.

Sound-wise, things are fairly minimal, with appropriate sound effects matching combat developments, and some bombastic rolling music that grandly eggs you on. It's very competently done, and the synergy between the sound effects and visuals when it comes to combat is considerable. Because the game limits itself to sound effects for movement, combat, and damage, less is more, and with each attack, you're on edge waiting to see and hear the result.
Sturm und Drang
The gameplay is probably very close indeed to what you remember, with the complex interlocking of artillery, AA guns, fighters, bombers, tanks, and infantry providing fascinating tactical puzzles to take apart. Artillery and AA guns support neighbouring units on the defence, as fighters protect bombers. Strategic bombers can neutralise cities as tactical bombers strike at enemy forces. Reconnaissance units may be more fragile and yet have an even larger spotting range than you remember. A variety of armour and infantry provide different tools for different tasks, backed up by a selection of AT guns (including the 88mm, which, rather brilliantly, can engage ground and air targets). The Lordz haven't let themselves be limited to merely emulating That Game, though, and have taken everything further, providing more detail and deeper gameplay, enhancing and adding unit functions, and creating a roster that gives you options instead of just culminating in one ultimate unit per class. Bridging units, various flavours of artillery, paratroopers, self-propelled AT and AA guns, rocket-powered fighters, you can pick and choose and put together a core force that you will take all the way through the game.

Prestige is currency, earned by capturing objectives, and you use it to purchase units, upgrades, and reinforcements. Panzer Corps gives you the option of purchasing normal reinforcements, who negatively impact the unit's experience level, or elite reinforcements, who don't. Units gain experience over time, which provides stat improvements, and can also gain medals and heroes, accompanied by random stat bonuses. Not only does this really give your veteran units an edge, it can also result in some truly unique units that you come to value highly, if not identify with (e.g. an artillery unit with +1 Range, enabling it to outrange all enemy artillery, a Tiger unit with +1 Movement, letting it keep up with your Panthers). Customisable unit names help, because although 'Sturmpanzer' is pretty warry, I find renaming it 'Der MurderWagen' to be even warrier, if not a little bit sick and wrong.

New unit types become available as you progress, and existing units can be upgraded, although if they're upgraded to a different unit model the cost is the same as buying a new unit (e.g. upgrading a Messerschmitt Bf 109 to a Focke-Wulf 190 costs the same as a new Focke-Wulf 190). This is a design decision I don't really agree with, but it's not necessarily a bad one. Getting low on prestige in later scenarios can leave you with some hopelessly outdated units, but perhaps this was just my fault at being inefficient with my prestige management. A more serious criticism is that auxiliary units, which only appear in individual battles, are open to abuse by being used as cannon fodder, sparing your core forces.

Most of the maps will be at least vaguely familiar to That Game veterans, albeit here they are far more detailed, with road and rail offering quicker movement options for your units, and with plenty of rivers and mountains and other awkwardly-placed geography in the way, you'll have to make good use of them. The terrain not only looks nice, its effects are strongly felt. Sprawling out across the fields of France, channelling around the Greek mountains, or waiting for a Russian river to freeze, you'll find different maps require quite different approaches. The controls are very simple and economical, and the game plays cleanly and without complication. As you progress, the different terrain, forces, and weather create battles that do feel different, dealing blitzkrieg hammerblows to Poland, titanic struggles in Russia, and struggling under the withering invasion of D-Day. Movement and combat are simple and yet versatile, with each unit able to move and attack once per turn, in any order. Icons handily appear to warn you of low fuel and ammo levels, and there's a handy default unmoved units warning.

Three views are available, zoomed in (the classic view), zoomed out, and strategic, and the game is playable from the first two, although easily most comfortable from the classic view, as the minimap is usually all you need for a strategic overview. Each battle can end in defeat, marginal victory, or decisive victory, with each result leading you down a different branch of the campaign. Combined with the replay value of constructing very different and yet equally valid core forces with which to play through the campaign, five different difficulty levels, weather conditions, supply, and fog of war can all be toggled, I think it's fair to say you can enjoy Panzer Corps several times.

This is not to mention the multiplayer, which offers 14 scenarios specially balanced for two players, as well as the scenarios from the single player campaign, and the developers have included their scenario editor for you to create your own, so any battle they can make, you can (possibly) improve upon. Slitherine's PBEM++ system is integrated into the game, and is painless.

With Panzer Corps, The Lordz have proved that reimagining past classics doesn't have to be a lesson in disappointment. They've taken their inspiration wholeheartedly from That Game, yet without letting themselves be limited by it, having gone on to create something that plays - and, more importantly, feels - just like Panzer General (DAMN IT!), but which is technically better, and does exactly what developers and games as a medium should do, which is: move forward.
Reviewer's Verdict: 8/10
Kerensky
Content Designer
Content Designer
Posts: 8623
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:12 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by Kerensky »

I rather liked this comment too. :)
The Lordz have done well indeed here. And no one should be left wanting, what with the Grand Campaign expansions that continue to be fielded regularly. It's heartening to see such commitment to the game and the fanbase.

::

Blitzkrieged them again, haven't you FA?
DerTroof
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Corporal - 5 cm Pak 38
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 2:57 pm

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by DerTroof »

Latest Armchair General (print version) has another positive (if very short) review.
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

First Panzer Corps: Afrika Korps review just came in from 7IDGaming, giving it a stunning 90%!
Afrika Korps is much better and even more comprehensive than it`s already very entertaining predecessor. The emerging atmosphere is dense and authentic. A "Must Buy" for strategy gamers.
http://7idgaming.de/content.php?167-Sli ... rps-REVIEW

Translation German to English:

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... EW&act=url
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

Very nice Panzer Corps video review:

ScottP
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 96
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:24 pm

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by ScottP »

StrategyPrime gives Afrika Korps 4.5 out of 5 stars!

http://www.strategyprime.net/panzer-cor ... ps-review/
Public Relations Manager
Slitherine/Matrix Games
dobrodukh
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun May 01, 2011 7:48 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by dobrodukh »

dan_hnnng
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Senior Corporal - Ju 87G
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:45 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by dan_hnnng »

My entry into the VideoGameGeek.com for Afrika Korps just got approved. I have entered all entries except the original. They really need screen shots over there and some reviews. Also listed the 3 DMP free unofficial add ons. I got the cover image for Afrika Korps pending for approval. Since I only got the DL version of 43-45 East, they need cover images. DMP's add ons also need an image of an onscreen shot to represent them. I gave all a rating of 9.5! support over there would result in more people discovering this game. :)
IainMcNeil
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13558
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:19 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by IainMcNeil »

Thanks - do you have some links?
IainMcNeil
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 13558
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 10:19 am

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by IainMcNeil »

Thanks! :)
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

Bug Online Magazine (Game Master) – 90% http://www.bug.hr/master/rec/panzer-cor ... 96098.aspx

“An excellent addition to an addictive game”



Dome.fi – http://dome.fi/pelit/arvostelut/panzer- ... rika-korps

"Afrika Korps is really wonderful game for all friends of light wargames."
TheWargamer
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 10:24 pm

PC Game Review: Panzer Corps Grand Campaign '45 East

Post by TheWargamer »

PC Game Review: Panzer Corps Grand Campaign '45 East

http://www.wargamer.com/article/3249/pc ... %2745-east
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

The Wargamer Gazette (French) posted up their review of Afrika Korps: “The game is well made, original, easy to play and will offer you many hours of gaming.”

http://www.wargamer.fr/test-de-panzer-c ... ika-korps/
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

Iain was interviewed on Afrika Korps on StrategyPrime.net:

http://www.strategyprime.net/afrika-kor ... in-mcneil/
lordzimoa
Lordz Games Studio
Lordz Games Studio
Posts: 2417
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Panzer Corps Review/Preview Coverage

Post by lordzimoa »

Positive review of Afrika Korps over at the Wargamer!

“This certainly represents the mobile and back-n-forth characteristics of the World War 2 North African Campaign.”

http://www.wargamer.com/article/3256/pc ... rika-korps
Post Reply

Return to “Panzer Corps”