Gamespot Review!

axlroselm · Post by **axlroselm** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:25 am

it is a good read: 8/10

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/panz ... Btitle%3B1

Obsolete · Post by **Obsolete** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:04 pm

Well I don't know, some of these reviews always crack me up how many authors have to keep putting (Nazi) in brackets and making a disclaimer how they are not promoting nazi-ism and so on. I thought we were getting over the over-bearing PC age, but I guess not. Surprised that no one has apologized to the feminists yet why there isnt' enough female leaders, but perhaps the reviewers haven't played well enough to earn their leaders (this is my feeling from some of the reads).

I guess I just miss the old days when wargame reviews were just that, wargame reviews, no one used to have to apologize to the homosexual community for not having enough pink & purple tanks.

I guess I'm even more anti-PC biased than ever this year because our city has managed to ban even Halloween since.... anything you do is supposed to be offensive to possibly someone who immigrated here.

MrsWargamer · Post by **MrsWargamer** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:16 pm

Banned Halloween?

I will stop before I begin offering my thoughts on that matter.

I can understand the hesitancy on all things nazi though, Germany has laws to ensure that garbage never happens again without a decent fight first.

patriot14 · Post by **patriot14** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:14 pm

Have to agree with the Nazi paranoia. I don't think I ever felt, "Gee, this feels good, and just think what were doing with the Jews, gypsies and handicapped!", while playing. The German War Machine is just one of the most potent in history and their style is copied by militaries even today. Yes I’d much rather play as the Brits or Americans (sorry Russians, still bitter about that Communist thing you did) and feel pride in what I was preventing; but I’ll wait for the next version for that!

The thing I actually like best about the review is the avoidance of the "Beer & pretzel" "rock, scissors, paper" stigmas and comparisons. I’ve drank beer and ate pretzels doing a lot of things, but never thought it was a bad thing. And rock, scissors, paper? Yes, if you add the complexity of suppressing the rock so the scissors cut through it, or adding an ambush eliminate so your paper gets torn to shreds by a rock. I think the simplistic terms are best left for any game I just have to wave a wand at to be good and my grandmother can play…..

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:28 pm

Nazism and neo-fascists are not exclusive to Germany. And we'll not fight them buy closing our eyes. History mustn't be erase. More than with any other political measure we'll fight them by not forgetting, by not censoring and above all by facing them.

TheHucks · Post by **TheHucks** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 5:35 pm

This thread may be the greatest game of telephone ever. We went from "Gamespot review" to "The Threat of Nazism Today". Good job!

In short: Nazis, bad; 8.0 from Gamespot, good.

soldier · Post by **soldier** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 5:42 pm

Its worth mentioning that the symbol is offensive to some, and holds a lure to others. I'm not against showing it but if some in Germany feel there are good reasons not to, then that's air enough... anyway its topic for a different thread or forum maybe

WabeWalker · Post by **WabeWalker** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 6:59 pm

The developer should be proud of this review.

Gamespot basically said that Panzer Core is Panzer General 2011. If you ask me, this game is just a total success. I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing PG back in 94 when I was at university (I'm now the CEO of Coca Cola), and it's wonderful to be playing this game 'again' (not that I have much time, mind you - I golf a lot, and make big decisions about cola flavorings, and of course the ladies are constantly coming at me).

Just a wonderful game. A genuine gift. I hope the developer makes some money from this. IMO, they HAVE TO put this up on Steam and the other digital sites, such as D2D.

patriot14 · Post by **patriot14** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:04 pm

WabeWalker wrote: I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing PG back in 94 when I was at university (I'm now the CEO of Coca Cola), and it's wonderful to be playing this game 'again' (not that I have much time, mind you - I golf a lot, and make big decisions about cola flavorings, and of course the ladies are constantly coming at me).

Obviously your decisions in PG helped carve your way up the corporate ladder. It's amazing you have time to be browsing gaming sites, but I bet you have an assitant who does it for you, right?

Coca Cola and Nazis in the same forum topic....outstanding!

Tarrak · Post by **Tarrak** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:47 pm

Gamspot wrote:Panzer Corps' few failings--annoying sound effects and dated visuals--don't diminish all of the things it gets right.

Hmm well the visuals aren't fancy 3D stuff but imho thanks god for that. Some things like adventures or turn based war games simply do not need 3D, rather on the contrary but i guess that's up to everyones preference. What totally confuses me is the complaint about the sound effects. I think they are rather good and fits the game well .... what the hell do they expect?

TheHucks · Post by **TheHucks** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:53 pm

Graphics are a funny thing. I always feel like they just shouldn't be judged unless there's something specifically wrong with them. Like, technically wrong, as in the fail to operate for some reason. "Whoops, someone forgot to make eyes for this human" type failures. Graphics are just part of the production design to me. "Limbo's graphics are pretty simplistic, but it's easy to argue it has impressive production design.

Honestly, while playing Panzer Corps I literally said, out loud, "Oh hey the made little city graphics!", and smiled and went back to kicking Poland's ass.

axlroselm · Post by **axlroselm** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:43 am

i dont have any problems with graphics, though they could be better. but this genre isnt about graphics. strategic depth is top priority and i think devs achieve that. but honestly i like to see weather animation like rain and snow. imagine Frozen North with Snow falling from the sky. soooooooooooooo sexy...

TheHucks · Post by **TheHucks** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:46 am

Hmm, yea that'd be an interesting add, along with appropriate weather sound effects. I approve of your post!

Obsolete · Post by **Obsolete** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:14 am

What totally confuses me is the complaint about the sound effects. I think they are rather good and fits the game well .... what the hell do they expect?

Good question. I know originally we had only one generic sound for tanks. But it seemed wrong for heavy tanks to feel like some junker that fell of the assembly lines at Ford & Detroit Motors, so .....

We got some deep diesel sounds for heavy tanks, etc.

I guess that wasn't good enough though

generalgonzo · Post by **generalgonzo** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:34 am

To the graphic topic:

if you wanna play some similar game on smaller scale (fewer units) just go out there and grab "BBC Battlefield Academy" also from Slitherine!

2nd WW in hexes and round based with decent 3D graphic, but the look of the units is a bit abstract.
Have a try....

lordzimoa · Post by **lordzimoa** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:01 am

I agree in a sense that no compared to LA Noire or Total War the graphics we use are not the latest state of the art. So in that regard the reviewers state correctly the graphics are not at par. Another discussion is, if the graphics for a game like this are bad, I believe by building the 3D models and than producing 2D renders of them, with nice lightning, shadow and camera angle, gave us the perfect classic result, but with a modern touch.

In essence PzC is a hex based tactical board wargame but with many hundreds of different pieces, we wanted the style to be classic and a style that just works best to reflect the game design.

We could have gone full 3D, with moving riding tanks, smoke and dust , leaving tracks, moving turrets, a commander hanging out of the tank catching his binoculars, on a full 3D map size 1 on 1. But what you have there is World of Tanks... playing one on one in a real world.

The design of the game is to imagine a hex is a 10 km zone and with your unit that represents a regiment, battalion or corps that starts at the edge of that 10 km zone, than penetrates it, fights within that hex, defeats the enemy and destroy, make it surrender or let it retreat and take control of the whole hex zone.

In other words a very big abstract process. To support this design, your graphics have to be able to evoke that feeling, so we use big unit cards sliding over a smaller 2D board, and that is helping making it "abstract acceptable". But at the same time making sure the units are very detailed and recognizable as you have hundreds of types, the reason why unit-counters on this game will not work.

If you have an abstract game design, your graphics adapt. Design meets form. I strongly believe in this and I think a lot of game developers just used 3D for the sake of 3D on this kind of games, as the public demanded it and those game failed as they were loosing the original point.

For the sounds we use authentic SFX for most weapons, so a .50 calibre sounds like a .50 cal. A Mauser rifle, is the bold action sound of a Mauser, a Stuka screams as a Stuka, a Tiger uses the sound of it`s Maybach engine, a MG 42 is the chainsaw sound of a real MG 42... So I think it is cool. I suspect not all reviewers realise that.

Maybe the SFX are a bit too loud on default, and the music a bit too soft, but that is my personal opinion, we have volume sliders to adjust it to everyone`s taste!

Cheers,

Tim

generalgonzo · Post by **generalgonzo** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:19 am

lordzimoa wrote: Maybe the SFX are a bit too loud on default, and the music a bit too soft, but that is my personal opinion, we have volume sliders to adjust it to everyone`s taste!

Cheers,

Tim

No, it´s perfectly right! I even turn up my 5.1 surround sound to hear that great sounds of guns, mg´s and moving tanks. You made an excellent job with the units sounds!

lordzimoa · Post by **lordzimoa** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:32 am

The Panzer Corps 2D renders are made from 400 full 3D models, and their polycount is on average around 800-1500. The ships actually a couple of thousands.

All units are in fact made and available as 400 full 3D units.

axlroselm · Post by **axlroselm** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:39 am

cool!!!

plz add rain and snow animation as DLC or for Expansion. if possible.

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:00 am

axlroselm wrote:cool!!!

plz add rain and snow animation as DLC or for Expansion. if possible.

Probably it wouldn't work. It could clutter more some hexes. Some ideas are cool but in practice they don't work well.
But only seeing we could be sure.

lordzimoa wrote:In essence PzC is a hex based tactical board wargame but with many hundreds of different pieces, we wanted the style to be classic and a style that just works best to reflect the game design.

And you've made that perfectly. Exactly like how it should be done.