Codename: Panzers – Phase II review

Tanks are brilliant and you’re not allowed to tell us any different. It could cost you your life. You see, what you do not realise if you’re a female is that us men have an unwritten rule which stipulates we must love those big stompy tanks of death and destruction.

How could you not like tanks? Just look at them: mobile sheds with long rods capable of blowing up houses. Any game that gives us the opportunity to stomp around blowing up houses earn special points in our books.

Codename: Panzers – Phase II definitely gets special points.

War! It’s fantastic!

Phase II is the sequel to last year's generally great but overlooked Phase I. Critically acclaimed it was, but Stormregion’s explosive Real-Time Strategy never garnered the audience it truly deserved. Whether Phase II is set to do the same is still a mystery – but here’s hoping it does.

Codename: Panzers – Phase II is split into three campaigns: Anglo-American Allies, German-Italian Axis and the Yugoslavian Resistance (which is only open for play once the previous two campaigns have been successfully completed). Each of these campaigns is split between characters, and each has a different story to tell.

At the beginning of each level you’re treated to that old story copout – the character’s diary. Solemnly, each of the several characters narrates over circumstances involving the horrors of war, the next mission, their families and their friends.

It’s a novel concept but it seems a bit wasted given the fact the characters aren’t especially developed beyond their clichés. For example, the British character you play as has that upper-class, almost snotty accent while the Italian captain is literally a walking pizza (“Mama mia! They-a hit us hard’a!”).

Death and Destruction

Each level is preceded by a cutscene rendered using the in-game engine. It’s sequences like this where you truly appreciate the beauty of the Phase II engine. Up close, though character interaction is a little wonky, the detail is unmissable. In fact, at times, it’s hard not to wish this were a third-person shooter than a RTS.

Each map is beautifully rendered too – with fully functioning whether effects and heat. The rain looks particularly beautiful – especially as the wind blows. The levels set within the African heat are as vacant and desolate as you would imagine, giving the levels a sparse beauty.

What was a little bothersome was the extent to which Phase II kicked our PC’s arse. We ran the game on a Pentium 4 3Ghz Processor with 1Gig Ram and a Radeon 9800 hundred. The best we could settle for was a resolution of 1024x768, with some of the bells and whistles (like the fog of war option and real-time shadows) turned off.

It was still choppy in places – stuttering when the action really heated up – but for the most it looked great. Sticking it on 2xAA helped that, naturally.

A Boy’s Own War Game

But the thing you’re obviously more concerned about – naturally – are the tanks. How many are there? Are they easy to manoeuvre? Do they stomp and roar and blow stuff up with sheer destructive beauty? The short answer is: Oh yes, you bet your bloody backside they do!

Here is a short list of some of the tanks available to you from the Allied campaign: M3A1 Stuart, Matild Mk II, Humber Mk IIs, Crusade. Bishop, Churchill Mk II and Archer. Like we said, that is just the Allied campaign – technically from the British side. These are the kind of behemoth’s you begin with but as you advance the greater firepower emerges.

Which is the same for every campaign, basically. The game isn’t called Codename: Panzer’s for no reason. The game tends to be centred around using your tanks and your on-foot soldiers tactically and equally, but when the win’s keep coming and the prestige builds, you can’t help buying more metal than boot.

And with these tanks you partake in some wonderfully versatile tasks, from defending yourself from incoming waves of enemy, making contact with defective agents, locating your brother and more.

Where Behemoth’s Dare

It’s just a shame the script – written by two of the writers from Law and Order, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and next year's Uwe Boll extravaganza Dungeon Siege – doesn’t have more depth. Coupled with the game as it is, a dense plot may have elevated this into something of a modern classic.

Apart from the game giving our PC a bit of a rough time the story is the only other area where we have to mark it down. The story is there to guide you through the intense carnage however, and it doesn’t plead to be taken seriously. Which is a good thing because it clearly isn’t.

Overlook that, and you have a wonderful WW2 strategy game. Now go buy the damn thing.