Take Command 2nd Manassas review

Take Command: 2nd Manassas is a hardcore strategy game that focuses on just a few days of action during the American Civil War. The setting is the Second Manassas, a battle where the Union was almost brought to defeat as Robert E. Lee broke out of Richmond in August 1862. Despite the rather narrow remit of the game there's plenty of variety in the 18 scenarios on offer as the various engagements put you in both large and small scale defensive and offensive options.

Fans of games such as the Total War series might suffer some culture shock here in Take Command. Firstly it takes time to issue orders and you may often be asked to wait while a courier is sent to you, a courier that may not even arrive. There's a chain of command that requires you to obey orders of your superior on the battlefield. So for example you may be asked to use your brigades to secure the flank of a larger Corps level engagement.

Smart AI

It works the other way too, you'll be asked to play the role of a Corps commander too and have to rely on the abilities of your subordinate officers. Relying on the intelligence of computer controlled officers may seem odd to some, used to clicking on a map and expecting units to do as they're told. Here your officers take time to carry out orders and use their own initiative too. This is welcome as they will react to threats and attempts to outflank or ambush them. Yet at the same time they won't always do what you expect, they may attack a faraway infantry brigade rather than the gun emplacement you wanted them too because the officer doesn't have the same line of site to targets as you do as commander.

In many cases the player's view is limited to an area of the commanding officer he is playing as. Again this comes as something of a culture shock to those of us used to having a more godlike view of the battlefield. There is a map view that shows visible units on the battlefield but unfortunately the game lacks the finesse to allow you issue commands via this map screen.

Klunky Controls

Issuing commands is not particularly easy and where the game's main problems lie. Poor graphical detail and a klunky menu system make it tough to keep control of even small organisations at first. Take for example the problem of moving several brigades of infantry to a location on the far side of a wood. You click the commanding officer then double click where you want him to go. You then give him a formation order that will make the units under his command form up around him. Then you click the option to use roads. Get this in the wrong order and the units won't follow the officer, or he'll take the roads while the grunts trudge slowly in a straight line through the forest.

These kind of problems get in the way a lot of the time and often mean the game is harder than it should be. The AI is pretty damn good most of the time, with officers on both sides showing personalities that means some will be cautious while others are more gung ho. Meanwhile the player has to counter all this intelligent behaviour with a control system that really does leave a lot to be desired.

Poor Visuals

Similarly the graphics are woefully inadequate. Low resolution sprites really aren't what one expects from a game in 2006. This is not merely an aesthetic issue; it's a matter of gameplay. It's very hard to discern what units are up to at times or glean any information from them as the flags lack so much detail.

Another problem is the matter of bugs. There hasn't been enough testing of even simple aspects of the game which means some aspects of the tutorials don't work. I have tried several times but still haven't been able to get the artillery units in the artillery tutorial to do anything. Not being able to complete tutorials of course makes playing the full game rather difficult. There has been a patch released for a game but due to the security on the review copy it won't now run with the patch installed, so I can't tell you how much that improves things.

At the very core, Take Command 2nd Manassas is a very good strategy game indeed. Its slow pace and complex chain of command may make it tough for veterans of more accessible games. But for those who want to get involved in realistic tactical decision making there's nothing much like it available. Technical shortcomings do mar the experience though as does the lack of multiplayer. So it's a game that you might want to try via the demo before you stump up the hard earned cash.