Panzer General Allied Assault Review:

The Panzer General games have been around a while, with the first one coming out in the mid 90s. They are virtual card games that were traditionally played on a hex game board but Panzer Generals: Allied Assault uses the simpler looking square game board set up. The campaign puts players in the boots of an American general and is based around the events of D-Day.

Gameplay:

Considering it's an arcade title, there's a great deal of information to take in, which can be a little bemusing at the start. Learning the rules and the order of play will come with practice and initially it seems complicated, but by the second or third mission everything seems to fall into place. The player starts off with 10 cards, a mix of actual units which can be placed on the game board and some attribute & ability cards. The units available in the game will be familiar to any avid WWII gamer and each unit will have certain statistics, for example light vehicles will fare well against infantry but their attack and defence against tanks or artillery will be low. Getting the game started is a matter of laying down some units into position, most maps wont have combat until at least the second turn. Once units are deployed, the attribute cards can be used, some are reserved for combat and the rest will be used during other times, such has giving health, removing a few random cards from the enemy or damaging enemy units with a bomb run. Using cards costs Prestige points, these are gained depending on the number of tiles that are controlled on the board, with extra points being awarded for special tiles.

After getting to grips with the game, it becomes more fun and the combat system works well. Careful planning and decision making skills will be needed as the favour of the battle can turn quickly and it can all go down hill. If combat is initiated, usually the attacker will go first. If there are friendly units on adjoining tiles to the enemy, then they will give support bonuses which increase the over all attack, the same with artillery, although they have a range of more than one tile. Having a back line full of artillery gives a great advantage, although once in a while the enemy will pull out a card which cancels the artillery support. Attack and defence bonuses are also handed out depending on the terrain on the occupied tile. Combat cards are used in the first stages, such as the aforementioned card which cancels support, then once both players play no combat cards you are given a sort of last ditch chance to save or gain some points by sacrificing any of your cards. This means the prestige value of the card will be added to the relevant attribute (defence or attack). Crucial tiles will bring tension and a little fear, trying to calculate if sacrificing that 4 point card on an enemy that really needs to be destroyed, but then the computer plays a 7 point card, saving them from annihilation. After the card stages, there is only the dice roll left which can secure that single point which will make all the difference. The computer animation of the dice roll is pretty pathetic, but it will either give a zero or a plus or negative number which gets added to the attack tally.

Graphics:

Basic visuals but average for arcade games. The board game look comes off well and the mini battlefield is nice to look at. The detail is good enough to serve its purpose of showing aspects of the terrain. Considering it's based on a board game, not much can be expected.

Audio:

Little to nothing to say as there is only the odd explosion noise and a very quiet soundtrack, nothing which will annoy the neighbours.

Longevity:

There are almost 20 campaign missions to get through which will give achievements and new cards along the way, it's hard to say exactly how long one mission will take as turning points are common, which means replays are frequent. The skirmish mode and Xbox Live mode means you can take on other people and play as the Germans.

Overall:

Panzer Generals: Allied Assault is an impressive little game, the battles are challenging but also rewarding. At times you will question the computer's abilities when the dice goes against you, but then praise it for screwing over the enemy. It can be quite frustrating sometimes if a bad set of cards are given to the player, because you don't have direct control over the units it seems like the game is cheating. The feeling of deciding to sacrifice a high value unit, predicting if it's worthwhile in the long run is almost nail biting. The pacing of the game might be too slow for some, but the game does well to create enough variety to keep it feeling fresh. Don't let the fact that it is a card game put you off, this is one addictive arcade title and has more intense moments than plenty of the shooters and action games out there.