Codename: Panzers First Impressions

Codename: Panzers is an upcoming World War II real-time strategy game that falls into the middle ground between wargame and real-time strategy. Though it's billed as a real-time strategy game, it does not involve any of the base-building or unit-construction associated with traditional real-time strategy games. Instead, like a real-life military commander, you will be given a certain number of infantry squads and vehicles at the beginning of a mission, and you'll have to employ them properly to accomplish your objectives. And though the game will feature amazing levels of historical accuracy and detail--enough to make a veteran wargamer proud--it's not being designed to be a wargame. Instead, Codename: Panzers is being developed to be a beautiful and fun strategy game that any gamer, including beginning ones, could enjoy.

The game is being developed by Stormregion, a Hungarian developer whose previous credits include the humorous real-time strategy game SWINE. Codename: Panzers is Stormegion's attempt to tell a more-serious and interesting story. You'll follow the adventures of various "heroes" who represent each side in the war, and you'll command German, Soviet, American, and British units in battles. You start off playing as German Wehrmacht officer Hans von Gröbel, a real-life figure, at the start of the invasion of Poland in 1939. Gröbel's story, and that of the other heroes, will be told through more than 100 cutscenes and diary entries.

Stormregion felt that it had to develop a graphics engine capable of rendering in-game scenes, because prerendered cutscenes take the gamer out of the experience. In-game cutscenes aren't unusual in most real-time strategy games, but what Stormregion has in mind is much more ambitious. To tell a personal story, the game needs a graphics engine capable of rendering both the traditional top-down look of real-time strategy games and the close-up, lifelike characters found in adventure games. For example, in one scene, you'll watch as German infantry storm into a building to wage a firefight against the partisan fighters inside. One soldier will even jump on a table to shoot at the enemy. This animation is delivered in such a way that it looks like it belongs in a prerendered cutscene. However, it's actually rendered in real time.

Prior to beginning a mission, you'll be able to requisition units at a warehouse, and you'll be able to purchase new units--provided you can afford them. You earn requisition points by completing primary and secondary mission objectives, as well as by uncovering secret objectives and destroying the enemy. During the warehouse phase, you'll also be able to equip existing units with special equipment. You can give an infantry squad an inflatable raft that it can use to cross a river, or you can give it mine-detecting equipment so that it can clear minefields. And as a neat gesture to those gamers who don't know the difference between a T-34 and a German 88, Stormregion plans to have a "testing ground" that will let you take any unit or vehicle on a "test-drive." Without leaving the warehouse screen, you'll be able to maneuver the unit on a small battlefield, and you can shoot at dummy targets to get a feel for its capabilities. This should help familiarize new gamers, who might otherwise get scared by all the detail, with Codename: Panzers' units and vehicles.

Once you've finished requisitioning new units, you'll start a mission. Even at this early stage, it's clear that the game is quite beautiful. Everything is rendered in impressive detail, from the vehicles to the buildings and environment. The illusion is aided by the fact that objects move correctly, thanks to the built-in physics engine. As a result, trees sway in the wind, while tanks and vehicles rock on their suspensions. (The development team actually went so far as to analyze the suspension systems of many tanks and vehicles to determine the relationship between vehicle weight and suspension.)

Everything in the game will be destructible, save for the terrain itself. Tanks can knock down trees and fences, and artillery and bombs can gut towns and buildings. Damage modeling will also be very accurate. In fact, Stormregion is going to such depth that it is using historical data to model the thickness of armor on vehicles. Unlike other real-time strategy games, where machinegun-equipped infantrymen can destroy a tank with massed fire, firing a machine gun at a tank in Codename: Panzers will only scratch its paint. To destroy a tank, you're going to need something that can hurt it, such as another tank, a bazooka, or a panzerschreck team.

The Joy of the Russian Front

You'll be able to use a tank's invulnerability to most infantry weapons to your advantage. In the game, you'll command tanks and vehicles individually, but infantry will always be grouped into squads automatically. This is to cut down on micromanagement and to make it easy to throw infantry into the fray. So when you're on the attack, you can attach a squad of infantry to a tank, and the infantrymen will run behind the tank, effectively using it as rolling cover for approaching enemy lines. This was a tactic that was used to great effect by both sides in the war.

In urban battles, infantry can storm and garrison buildings. Upon entering a building, the roof will fade away, thus giving you a top-down look into the interior. The interiors are well detailed; rooms are nicely furnished and have brightly-colored wallpaper; and stairwells have wooden banisters. If there are defending troops already inside, you'll see your infantry battle it out for control of the building. Once they have control, they can run to the windows to shoot at enemies outside. In fact, if there's an enemy tank rolling by, infantry will run from window to window to keep it in view so that it can be fired upon.

All units can gain experience over time. There are five ranks of experience, and each time a unit reaches a new level, it gains special bonuses and capabilities. For instance, a unit can receive more health points or better weapon accuracy when it is promoted. It is, therefore, to your benefit to preserve your force as best as possible, because a handful of hardened veterans are worth more than a bunch of green units. Stormregion is also being very careful to make the combat experience realistic. As units maneuver on the battlefield, they may hear vehicles they can't see. In these cases, icon will appear on the screen indicating where the sounds are coming from, so you'll be able to tell what kinds of noises they are. For example, an icon will let you know if you hear the sounds of motor engines or the sounds of lots of men on foot. Only when one of your units is in visual-detection range--and can identify the target--will the icon change to an actual unit.

While the game runs in real time, you'll be able to both pause the game to issue orders and accelerate time to speed up lulls in the action. There will be a full day/night cycle as well as weather effects, such as fog, rain, and snow. The conditions will dictate your units' lines of sight and detection ranges and may also hamper close air support. If there's fog on the battlefield, planes may miss their targets. If there's too much fog, air support may be completely unavailable.

Codename: Panzers will include around 30 missions, which will be spread over three campaigns. The German campaign will run from the invasion of Poland to the siege at Stalingrad in 1942. From there, you'll pick up as the Soviets, until the fall of Berlin in 1945. The third and final campaign will let you play as the Americans and British during the liberation of France in 1944. All the campaign missions will be playable in cooperative multiplay. Stormregion is still being a bit quiet about its multiplayer, but it is aiming to support up to 32 players. Additional multiplay modes will include defend and attack, as well as the traditional capture the flag.

The game certainly looks impressive at this point. The graphics and physics engine, along with the fully destructible environment, look very promising, and the game looks like it's trying to meld the realism and tactical challenge of the Close Combat games with the storytelling and action of Warcraft. We'll find out how successful Stormregion is when Codename: Panzers ships later this year.