This game is a blast! :o)

[MarsRobert]

I can't remember the last time I played such a fun and satisfying game. It is a real gem and a joy to play! It sort of reminds me of a cross between John Tlller's WW2 Campaigns series and Sid Meier's Civilization Five. I get that same fun tactical bang-bang shoot em' up feel that I did the with the JT game, although with far fewer units to manage and much simpler game mechanics. Concerning Civ, I believe the Panzer Corps designers were heavily inspired by the revamp Firaxis did with the units and combat for Civ5. That is, they took what was a high-level strategic game and gave the combat more of a tactical flavor. Very abstract? Certainly. But IMHO the idea works as well in Panzer Corps as it did in Civ5, and makes for an incredibly fun game.

Also, I love the RPG elements like the units leveling up and the hero recognition. It definitely gets the player to care about their units, much the same way that you would about characters in a standard RPG game like Fallout. And of course I enjoy the between battle organizational time where you can upgrade your equipment and purchase additional units. Anyway, at its core I think the designers made Panzer Corps a very multidimensional game, and I would definitely like to see more of this kind of thing from other game publishers.

In any event I think Lordz/Slitherine/Matrix have something very special here. I haven't had this much fun with a PC game since, well, Starcraft! Sorry ;o) Also, I could envision a lot of mainstream gamers really digging Panzer Corps. I think its appeal could go well beyond the hardcore war gaming grognards.

BTW, although the game soundtrack is nice, I've turned it off and instead have all those great German WW2 songs playing in the background like Erika, Lili Marlene, the Panzerlied,and Zehntausend Mann. Definitively gets me in the spirit of the thing!

[IainMcNeil]

Thanks for the comment!

I dont think the team have played Civ V yet, I know I have not had time

I think similarities may be the ideas Civ has borrowed from pervious classics such as Panzer General. I really do need to check it out at some point. I love Civ!

[Greybriar]

Yes, the game is great MarsRobert. But haven't you ever played Panzer General or Panzer General II?

Civ5 indeed! [8|]

[Rudankort]

Come on, isn't it the goal of Panzer Corps to try to bring new players into this genre? In fact, feedback from a person who is not familiar with PG series is very valuable. Thanks for posting MarsRobert!

PS. I love Civ too, I wish I could work on a game in this genre too some time in the future.

[MarsRobert]

Iain - Wow, I thought everyone had played Civ5 by now. ;o)  It's probably the best installment in the entire long celebrated history of that game series.  Again, I think the abstracted tactical combat on the strategic map works beautifully in both Civ5 and Panzer Corps.  Also, as far as 'borrowing' ideas is concerned, I think the great Sid Meier said it best: "In the PC gaming world designers liberally borrow ideas used in other games, and this is a good thing as everyone benefits." 

Graybriar - I hate to admit it, but the great Panzer General series somehow slipped past me back in the day.  I was probably too busy playing Civ2, Starcraft, Age of Empires, and The Operational Art of War.  ;o)  Come to think of it, there were a few great classics that I never got around to playing like Master of Orion. 

Rudankort - Thanks for the kind comment.  Yes, I think Panzer Corps is so much fun that by rights it should draw new fans to war gaming.  I could see a lot of people playing it whom might not ever touch something like War in the East or Conquest of the Aegean.  Also, yes, it's no accident that the Civilization series is one of the great PC game franchises of all time.  I think multidimensionality, re-playability, and empire-building are what makes it, and my gut feeling is that the Lordz designers had these key concepts in mind while creating Panzer Corps.  FYI, with Panzer Corps you actually are in a sense building an empire over the course of a long campaign, especially as regards the leveling up of units you carry over from battle to battle. 

BTW, another thing I think Panzer Corps does very well is simulating the strategy and tactics of the blitzkrieg.  Although tanks in the game can sometimes run in to trouble when they get too far ahead of the infantry and the artillery (remember the Russian counterattacks at the Yelnya River in 1941?), and tanks are not always the best assault units, they're great at quickly getting to important places before the enemy with (usually) enough strength to hold out until the infantry can come up.  Of course the battle of Kursk proved that the best defense against the blitzkrieg was the defense in depth.  But I digress.  ;o)            

[Hex]

ORIGINAL: MarsRobert

Iain - Wow, I thought everyone had played Civ5 by now.

Why do you assume that everyone likes Civ5 or the genre in general or has the patience or more importantly, the time?

[jomni]

I have not played Civ5.  Only Civ4.

[MarsRobert]

Hex - I think you were taking me too seriously.  I was not being totally serious with my comment about thinking everyone has played Civ5, hence the ;o) emoticon.  The only reason I mentioned Civ5 in the first place was because one of the first things I noticed about Panzer Corps was how similar the combat system was to the revamped combat system for Civ5 (and this is by no means a bad thing).  

I am, however, scratching my head a little at your comment about not having the time.  It doesn't quite ring true, and I found it mildly insulting.  I mean, if you didn't have the time for games then you wouldn't be on this forum.  If you're talking about Civ5 in particular, it takes far less time than the average war game.    

[Hex]

ORIGINAL: MarsRobert
I am, however, scratching my head a little at your comment about not having the time. It doesn't quite ring true, and I found it mildly insulting.

You totally lost me on that one. [&:] It's a well known fact that the game is time consuming, just Google: civilization "time consuming". Already the manual is 230 pages. So yes, that's a reason for some people not to play Civilization or even games like Gary Grigsby's War in the East because of their lack of time. Your mistake is that you translate this into "People who have more time, have no life". Btw, there is no such thing like "mildly insulting", how can something that is insulting be mild? [:'(]

[IainMcNeil]

Ok lets keep this civil and on topic or we'll have to lock it up.

[fuelli]

Back to initial statement of this thread: I had big expectations with regards to the things that have been puplished prior the game. Yesterday I got my copy, started the tutorial and yes all my expectations have been satisfied. Really a fantastic job of bringing back the fun and fascination of PG[&o]