Matrix Games Forums

Thought I'd paste my tactical Wargame Facebook comment here.

"Achtung Panzer Operation Star

With the announcement of Matrix now selling the game I fired the beast back up to today. I haven't played it since the last two patches. I have to say the improvements are superb esp in the strategic mode. I also love the fact when you order an assault your squad automatically goes in fire and movement. It's amazing to watch. The inf behaviour and formations is something Battlefront could learn from. I still feel CMBN is a more grog like combat sim, however APOS does certain things alot better and it has a strategic layer. I do miss not be able to replay the last minute as in CMBN as I know I missing out on some awesome action most of the time. If APOS was WEGO with replay I'd be very happy indeed. CMBN modded vehicles look alot better than APOS ones and also I find everything rather small in APOS but then it has to be that way due to the massive battlefields. If you haven't bought it yet, I suggest you do. This from an RTS hater aswell!"

I will add that the UI takes time to learn. I blew the hell out of my own troops through Arty but I quickly worked it out and was OK after that. The thing is the game gives you so many order options which can make it confusing. Again I forget the Icons and make sure that I have the settings set where I auto select a whole platoon then press spacebar and there are all the orders you need.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I actually like the vehicles in APOS better than CM. The physics of vehicle movement in APOS is astounding. passengers on Tanks and in halftracs actually bounce around as the vehicle traverses rough ground. I've had tanks slide sideways on a hillside it was trying to climb or go across. I've had halftracs with everyone dead continue to creep along even on fire until it stopped on the base of a tree. The Pine Forrest are incredible. The houses and buildings are almost photo realistic. The camera can't going inside a house but you can move close and look in a window and see a soldier crouched at a window peering out. There is lots of Blood. Wounded soldiers have blood on their clothing. Compare the trenches and foxholes to CM. (not picking on CM) There are burned out hulks of tanks and black burned bodies from previous battles lying about where the fell. The snow melts away from burned vehicles about ten yards or so. Bomb craters, trenches, destroyed houses all remain the entire battle. I can go on and on. The best thing is the howling of the wolves and dogs at night as you peer out across the frozen expanse of the Ukraine with the wind in the trees as you wait for the sound of approaching Tanks. Utter desolation...It goes on and on and on....I'm telling you these Russian boys know what they are doing. Got to get home to crank it up again.

I agree with you. On everything except the vehicles. If you check out ARIS vehicle mods they are superb. I think the smallness of everything makes CMBN feel alittle more up close and personal.

Apart from that looks wise APOS is far more realistic. I still feel CM is more grog like under the hood. Also most of the APOS awesomeness is missed as you very rarely zoom in, unlike CMBN which has WEGO plus it's overall bigger graphics but alot smaller battlefields.

If you read my OP you will see I think it has alot that BF can learn from.

I actually watched a Soviet bayonet the driver of a halftrack that was attempting to run away. Did not shoot him, but baynoted him. I don't think you see that sort of detail in competitive products. On the other hand, I do wish I could record the entire battle, so I could watch various different actions going on at the same time.