Codename: Panzers - Cold War

Part Of The recent trend in graphically-fancy real-time strategy games set in the mid 20th century, Cold War sees you in command during the political tension that followed WWII. With NATO and the Soviet Union coming to blows, the stage is set for infantry, tanks and helicopters to go rampaging across Europe.

Free from base-building, your only concern is the acquisition of the game's primary resource, Prestige. This is a by-product of victories large and small. Units can be upgraded, infantry may lob grenades or conjure forth tents and watchtowers, and much of the tactical micro-management we have come to expect is present.

Unfortunately, and despite the Cold War of the title, subtlety and tactics aren't much of an issue here. Equip an APC with a repair kit, and it will repair anything within the repair radius. Couple this with a few tanks, and you have a regenerating bulldozer of doom. The emphasis is very much on armour, with infantry becoming a bit of a nuisance, exposed as it is without any clear implementation of cover besides the obligatory hide-in-building command.

The visuals are pleasing, with diffuse flashes of lightning glowing amid rain and smoke, fire looking suitably fluid and buildings collapsing in gratuitous clouds of dust Sound, too, is well done, with gunfire becoming a muted popping as you move away from the action. All the polish in the world could not mask the nagging feeling of tactical emptiness though, and with Company of Heroes now cheap, it's hard to give Cold War a strong recommendation.