Brief Review

[O.O. Howard]

Be aware of a few things about Commander.

It is not a shoot em up game. It is more like WW2 chess on a big map of Europe. There are no explosions or cut scenes. This is a war game. It feels alot like Panzer General. It has a nice easy feel, a tank is a tank and infantry is infantry. There are some games when the unit make-up is so complicated you cant tell what the piece is actually for without spending a few minutes studying the unit. Not this game.
Here is the learning curve and your enjoyment of the game summed up in three phases.

1) It takes about 2 minutes to start playing and enjoying. When you first start, this is one of those games where you cant stop playing it at 1:00 in the morning.

2) A week or two later and playing against the AI is pretty boring

3)Then you play live online and its back to staying up until all hours for 'just one more turn'. I dont know how long that lasts yet, I am still enjoying it, but I am getting a little bored of it though. Not to say it is off the hard drive. It will stay there for a nice 'beer and pretzels' type of wargame experience.

Two thing to understand before you buy
A)the game is not complicated
B)its a set piece start, with a WW2 plot progression.

So dont expect tremendous variety, or really long lasting explorations of places or tactics. On the other hand, you can dig right in. You will actually finish this game many times. The AI (at least on the first patch) has some weak spots and you find yourself playing with some self made limitations to try to make it more interesting.

The game works fine. Has not crashed once for me. I had to 'run as administrator' to get it to start and had some confusuon about hooking up online. But it is very stable, not a single crash during solo or multiplay.

Overall the game was pretty expensive but provides good value. We have had loads of fun online and have actually finished the game 3 times. You cant say that some games. Quite worthwhile.

But if you dont plan on multiplayer i think the game is definitely expensive. $70 is a bit steep for a week or two of really fun game time. Unless you got money to burn.

[Bossy573]

That's a fair summary for the most part. I do find the tactical and strategic options to be more expansive than you suggest, and the AI on the higher difficulties uses its advantage well in Europe and Russia but (for version 1.00 to 1.02) but is sleeping in Africa.

[IainMcNeil]

Great - glad you are enjoying it

[Happycat]

ORIGINAL: O.O. Howard

It will stay there for a nice 'beer and pretzels' type of wargame experience.

Two thing to understand before you buy
A)the game is not complicated
B)its a set piece start, with a WW2 plot progression.

I assume that you refer to games against the AI in the context of "beer and pretzels"? This game is a wonderful PBEM experience, if your opponent is competent and creative.

Also, I would say that the game is as complicated as you want to make it---while the interface and mechanics are uncomplicated, I find that in PBEM games, against a good opponent, the game can become very complicated in terms of making strategic decisions (spend my limited resources on MORE tanks, or BETTER tanks, for example)

And inasmuch as a "set piece start" is concerned, the game is very moddable, and it is not difficult to alter the "starting lineup". In a game I am playing with Stauffenberg, we changed the Polish defensive setup, among many other things, and it totally changed the flavor of the game.

Otherwise, I agree with your various comments---not that you need my agreement for your validation

[O.O. Howard]

[font="times new roman"]Modding is not something i have ever done. Are these mods stable? any good? easy to load up? I cant tell. The last time i downloaded a player made mod I couldnt get the game to start at all(not Commander, but a different wargame) so i am shy to download mods unless they are 'official'.[/font][/align][font="times new roman"][/font] [/align][font="times new roman"]As far as multiplayer, i havent done the pbem yet. i have played live over the internet and its really fun to watch the other guy's moves. Its a hoot. [/font][/align][font="times new roman"][/font] [/align][font="times new roman"]I think i made a mistake concerning my final statement. It might look like i am advising against the game. A better ending would have been these lines just above it [/font][/align][font="times new roman"][/font] [/align]""Overall the game was pretty expensive but provides good value. We have had loads of fun online and have actually finished the game 3 times. You cant say that some games. Quite worthwhile."[/align] [/align]The online fun online i refer to is multiplayer. [/align] [/align]Now i have a question. There were some strategic games from the old days that made random maps. Wouldnt it be a blast to play a strategic game like this with random maps, like Empire, with random major and minor countries? Is that possible? Probably not, but that would increase replayability by tenfold! [/align] [/align]Sorry for the small print above. i dont know how i did it or how to change it. 

[/align]

[Vypuero]

Some modding is as easy as changing text files!  For instance, if you want some different values for units, you can open the text file and just change it.  Its best to paste it into Excel and change it, then paste it back, because it lines up in Excel better so you can see where the values fit.  The game editor can also be used but is a bit more complicated.

[Major Victory]

[[/quote]

I assume that you refer to games against the AI in the context of "beer and pretzels"? This game is a wonderful PBEM experience, if your opponent is competent and creative.


[/quote]

Its even better if your opponnet is blind & drunk!

[YohanTM2]

ROFL

ORIGINAL: Major Victory


[

I assume that you refer to games against the AI in the context of "beer and pretzels"? This game is a wonderful PBEM experience, if your opponent is competent and creative.


[/quote]

Its even better if your opponnet is blind & drunk!
[/quote]