First impressions:
30 seconds in I was looking around the start screen. The game had unzipped and installed just fine. I was a bit surprised it ran windowed by default, but since I run I dualscreen, that suits me fine. Checked resolution and sound and turned off the music.
5 minutes in I was playing the tutorial campaign. I was plesantly surprised you get a whole campaign in witch to learn how to play. With core units and everything!
15 minutes in I was still on the first mission. The interface was familiar enough from PZG that I didn’t make to many mistakes. The “left to select, right to do” threw me a bit though. I love the fact that I can move unit A, then unit B, then attack with unit A and then attack with unit B.
After an hour I was still on the tutorial and loving it. The only thing missing was a timer for desisive victory, and an option to keep fighting after all VP’s were taken. At this point I had gotten used to the UI and the basic mechanics of the game.
Performance:
The game runs smoothly on my gaming rig. A few graphical screwups that have been mention by other testers, but other then that I haven’t run into any bugs yet. Overall the game is suprisingly stable and pollished for a beta.
(My machine is a AMD Phenom 2 x6 1055t @ 2,80 GHz with 8 GB RAM and Radeon HD5860 gfx-card. I run Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit.)
Usability and UI:
The basic UI is fine. The “left to select, right to do” took some getting used to, but it’s fine. I do miss an easier (more intutitve) way to call up detailed unit stats and more informative mouseovers.
It’s hard to follow what’s happening during the AI’s turn, esp with planes. A more detailed report after every combat (on my turn as well as on the AI turn) would be great.
PBEM/MP:
Haven’t gotten around to trying this yet. Hotseat would be nice though.
Other thoughts:
Being an old PZG-veteran I was surprised by some of the battle results. Air power can still work over AA and armor can stand against AT with a lot more success then I’m used to. Also, I miss a screen dedicated to my core army, where I can see all my cores at once, and upgrade them without having to go in and out of screens all the time.
During the totorial the AI would attack one of my infatry units that was backed up by two artillery units. It did this with two different infantry units over two turns. The only result was that my arty spent 4 amo and both the AI’s infantry were decimated…
Still, all in all, one of the coolest games I’ve palyed for a while. Loving it.
-A
Feedback after 1 day of playing
Moderators: Slitherine Core, The Lordz, Panzer Corps Moderators, Panzer Corps Design
Hello,
After a day I report some additional bugs/ issues:
-It happened once: I started Panzer Corps, everything seemed to be normal except the sound and when starting/loading any scenario/campaign, I couldnt make any move. I restarted the application and everything worked fine.
-On Norway scenario, some hexes turned black when the ground turned MUDDY.
-I noticed the XP view doesnt show anything on the unit list at the deployment phase.
-After a couple of playing, during the Calais scenario, the stats/unit list buttons didnt respond.
-Kiev scenario: after playing for a couple of hours, I noticed some delay in the sound effects. Also when a German infantry unit was attacking something, the Rifle shots didnt sound. After a while, on end turn, the dialog "are you sure?" didnt pop out. In order to end the turn, I had to alt+tab to windows and back to the game, where the dialog appeared in the top again. Finally, on Victory, it crashed. Thanks for the autosave! it worked fine!
- I noticed a white frame appear when I press 'C'.
For the game play, It is disturbing that there is no visual mark of what unit has moved or not (and not shot) OR what unit has shot or not (and not moved). There are 4 combinations but the game seperates these to {has moved and shot/reiforced} and {all others}. Later when a player controls lots of units, it is very difficult to combine multiple unit movements and shots while the "random" next unit button doesnt help.
Also, I have a recomendation for the game realism:
- I noticed that bunkers are very tough. One would expect pionners to be more effective to static defences.
After a day I report some additional bugs/ issues:
-It happened once: I started Panzer Corps, everything seemed to be normal except the sound and when starting/loading any scenario/campaign, I couldnt make any move. I restarted the application and everything worked fine.
-On Norway scenario, some hexes turned black when the ground turned MUDDY.
-I noticed the XP view doesnt show anything on the unit list at the deployment phase.
-After a couple of playing, during the Calais scenario, the stats/unit list buttons didnt respond.
-Kiev scenario: after playing for a couple of hours, I noticed some delay in the sound effects. Also when a German infantry unit was attacking something, the Rifle shots didnt sound. After a while, on end turn, the dialog "are you sure?" didnt pop out. In order to end the turn, I had to alt+tab to windows and back to the game, where the dialog appeared in the top again. Finally, on Victory, it crashed. Thanks for the autosave! it worked fine!
- I noticed a white frame appear when I press 'C'.
For the game play, It is disturbing that there is no visual mark of what unit has moved or not (and not shot) OR what unit has shot or not (and not moved). There are 4 combinations but the game seperates these to {has moved and shot/reiforced} and {all others}. Later when a player controls lots of units, it is very difficult to combine multiple unit movements and shots while the "random" next unit button doesnt help.
Also, I have a recomendation for the game realism:
- I noticed that bunkers are very tough. One would expect pionners to be more effective to static defences.