Panzer General

It took a while for me to figure out how to work the controls for this game, but I suppose that's to be expected with a huge strategy game. When you pit one of your forces against those of your enemy, a dose-up view of the battle comes up. This I like. Dude's are getting blown right off the map and you have front-row seats! While this genre is not generally my favorite. I did like the close-up battle screens, and the interface kept things moving at a pretty good pace.

As strategy war-sim games go, this one's pretty darn good. There is a wide variety of actual campaigns to play through, each with its own twists and quirks. The graphics were reasonably impressive, and the sound lacked little. I enjoyed the combat system; however, it takes forever to maneuver your forces into any kind of an interesting position. It was slow-paced and sleep-inducing at times, but otherwise very brainy and challenging...the way war sims should be.

Panzer General is a type of game that the 3DO has been needing for some time. It is very similar in style to Military Madness but with a more realistic bent. Overall, the graphics are about average. but I kind of wish that the battle scenes looked better. The strategies are sound, but the complex game play had me looking for something simpler. This isn't a game you can simply pick up and play. Panzer General isn't for novices. Its depth and detail are for experts only.

Wow! I had to look through the manuals and really read up to get a good teel for this game. I'd say that even those who like strategy sims might have a tough time. There are a lot of neat features and complex strategy to the point of almost being too hard to get into. The more mundane features, such as graphics and controls, are decent. I would recommend this game only to serious war ragers because its realistic and complex scenarios are tough to handle.