What would you want to see in a new Allied General?
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:30 pm
Let's talk about an Allied General remake. I am quite fond of the old game, though not as much as Panzer General, it is still a beloved old classic.
One thing that made Panzer General and Panzer Corps so special is the way it starts off slowly either in Spain or Poland and then builds up to Norway, the Low Countries, France, England, the USSR, and then finally the USA. It builds toward a steady crescendo which is one of the things that makes the campaign work so beautifully. You have a small initial force, and two or three easy battles you can use to build them up, and then you get thrown into the fire with France and even moreso after that. It is a quality that the non-German campaigns in PG2 lacked. For example, if you played as the British, you were thrown into the invasion of Italy right off the bat with a huge, pre-made army. Allied General at least attempted to maintain the slow escalation of the campaign but not nearly as well as it's predecessor. From a gameplay perspective, following the historical course of World War II as the Germans naturally works very well.
With the USSR, this pace can be reasonably accomplished by starting off with the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan, Poland, Finland and THEN Barbarossa. The Western Allies are more difficult. You can have some easy battles with the British against Italy, as Allied General attempted to do in their first one or two scenarios, but after that you are thrown into some tough Afrika Corps campaigns and with this option you lost the ability to participate in the battle of France in the Western Campaign.
The other thing that Panzer General had that Allied General lacked was fun and imaginative ahistorical scenarios. The way the campaign worked, you could potentially invade England or capture Moscow or even invade the USA! That is really exciting stuff! Allied General doesn't seem to have any possibilities that are quite as exciting. A speculative Allied Invasion of Norway (Operation Jupiter) just isn't as much fun. It could be a core challenge of the Panzer Corps team to think of speculative scenarios that the Allied player could try to shoot for that might rival those of Panzer Corps.
I also wonder if it would be better to have separate games for the USSR and US/UK? Maybe a Panzer Corps: Red Army and a Panzer Corps: Western Front or something?
One thing that made Panzer General and Panzer Corps so special is the way it starts off slowly either in Spain or Poland and then builds up to Norway, the Low Countries, France, England, the USSR, and then finally the USA. It builds toward a steady crescendo which is one of the things that makes the campaign work so beautifully. You have a small initial force, and two or three easy battles you can use to build them up, and then you get thrown into the fire with France and even moreso after that. It is a quality that the non-German campaigns in PG2 lacked. For example, if you played as the British, you were thrown into the invasion of Italy right off the bat with a huge, pre-made army. Allied General at least attempted to maintain the slow escalation of the campaign but not nearly as well as it's predecessor. From a gameplay perspective, following the historical course of World War II as the Germans naturally works very well.
With the USSR, this pace can be reasonably accomplished by starting off with the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan, Poland, Finland and THEN Barbarossa. The Western Allies are more difficult. You can have some easy battles with the British against Italy, as Allied General attempted to do in their first one or two scenarios, but after that you are thrown into some tough Afrika Corps campaigns and with this option you lost the ability to participate in the battle of France in the Western Campaign.
The other thing that Panzer General had that Allied General lacked was fun and imaginative ahistorical scenarios. The way the campaign worked, you could potentially invade England or capture Moscow or even invade the USA! That is really exciting stuff! Allied General doesn't seem to have any possibilities that are quite as exciting. A speculative Allied Invasion of Norway (Operation Jupiter) just isn't as much fun. It could be a core challenge of the Panzer Corps team to think of speculative scenarios that the Allied player could try to shoot for that might rival those of Panzer Corps.
I also wonder if it would be better to have separate games for the USSR and US/UK? Maybe a Panzer Corps: Red Army and a Panzer Corps: Western Front or something?
