brianlala
Posts: 52
Joined: 6/26/2008
Status: offline
|
Here are a bunch of things I have liked and disliked about Operation Barbarossa so far:
1) The developers did a good job of adding flavor to the game. For example, adding comments when you capture a victory hex, good scenario intros, a nice backgrounder on the conflict and the major players in the manual (about 20 pages). This is something that is often missing from war or strategy games (ww2 commander, eu3 unmodded) and to me, when it is missing this takes away from the feel of the game. Thankfully these little details are here in this game.
2) This truly is a Panzer General copy in many ways. I jumped into the "Fall of Berlin" scenario immediately last night without even reading the manual and felt fairly comfortable playing the game. Everything in the game is fairly intuitive. I was attacking in minutes after loading the game up so you really don't even need to read to the manual to get started...if you are familiar with PG. That, to me, is the mark of a good PG clone. (I later read the manual because it helps to make navigating the game and reading unit stats easier)
3) The 3d graphics: Interesting. Haven't decided if I like them or not yet. I definitely like the colors on the map (except for one thing) but don't think I like the unit graphics overall (when they are on the map). The unit purchase screen graphics are nice but on the map it's just too hard to tell the difference between the units when they are the same type (tank, for instance). The planes look great on the map but the tanks...no so much...and the different types of infantry are hard to tell apart as well. Coloring of the units is good (if that makes sense). Overall the grapics are not as good as PG here and a small detractor from the experience. This is obviously a very subjective issue and I can see how some people might prefer the graphics on OB to PG though.
4) Another issue about the graphics. The victory hexes look horrible to me. I know the legal issues in Germany with displaying things like swastikas but the German victory hexes in the game look almost identical to the soviet victory hexes save for the shade of red used on the flags and a little strip of black in the German victory hex flags. Couldn't the WW1 era Germany flag (the black, white, and red one) be used for the German victory hexes instead? Or a Wehrmacht symbol of some sorts? I don't think this WW1 flag is banned because I see it flying above the Berlin zoo (near the kadewe) all the time. My point being, it is hard to tell the Soviet and German victory hexes apart in the game. Definitely a bit of a nitpicking complaint and not a game-breaker by any means but still a minor complaint.
5) Where is Werder in the "Fall of Berlin" scenario? This is one of the most important cities in Germany and of high strategic importance considering that it is the home of baumbluetenfest. Whoever controls Werder controls a major resource of northern Germany (obstwein) and I would have liked to see this great city in the game. I like the inclusion of the districts of Berlin in the fall of berlin scenario though and you can tell that, at least the German portions of the map, were made by someone who is familiar with Germany. This sort of stuff adds a little ambiance/flavor to game.
6) Some of the menu buttons are hard to push (they are sometimes little x's or too small for me and my bad eyes+small computer). Would have preferred a little bigger menu buttons so that my caretaker can push the buttons when I yell at her to open a game menu for me (hitting return is much easier to close and open menus)
7) AI seems acceptable on the defensive SO FAR after a couple of scenarios. Can't comment on the offensive AI yet. The important point here is that this is a very preliminary comment and my opinion might change if I notice easy to spot patterns with the AI (which would be bad) or smart offensive strategies with the AI when/if I find myself on a defensive scenario.
8. Game feels A LITTLE sluggish overall. This is just a little problem and maybe I'm just used to being able to easily (with dosbox) bump up or down the "cpu cycles" to change the game speed of Panzer General. Only other technical issue I had was when I tried to change the shadows from "mid" to "ultra high) and it froze my game. Probably just my computer not being able to handle things and the game has worked flawlessly in the default graphics mode so overall I give OB an "A" on technical issues.
9. I have a feeling I'm going to wish there were more campaigns and/or scenarios in this game. My fav East Front scens and campaigns are end of war German fire brigade type scens fighting a delaying action or trying to open up a pocket (like at korsun or stalingrad). I don't know if there are any of these types of scenarios in game. I would have loved to see a "Fall of Berlin" scenario playing as the German side as well considering that this is my favorite PG scen and I still play it to this day.
10. My tentative grade for this game based solely on gameplay (and not value, which considers costs as well) is a B. I'll note that this grade could fall up to one grade level to a C or rise to an A- after playing it more and when I can make a determination of whether it has PG-type longevity to it. Most likely my final grade will be somewhat different. I should also say that I do enjoy PG and its iterations so I am predisposed to liking these types of games. If you don't like PG, I can't say whether you'd like this game or not.
On to value: The least I can say is that this isn't a release like we've seen from some other developers recently (cough cough) where the game is unplayable or there are game-breaking bugs. The game works out of the box (err, download) and plays nicely so far. I feel I will get (at minimum) fair value for my $35, which is the mark that I use to judge whether I'll buy another game from a particular developer again.
|
Printable Version
My random thoughts on the game (aka first impressions) - 
RE: My random thoughts on the game (aka first impressions) - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread