Panzer Command : Kharkov – impressions
eddys...@hotmail.com
For the last couple of evening I’ve been playing Panzer Command :
Kharkov – here are some impressions :
- I was not the only one who thought their previous game “Operation
Winter Storm” was a bit meager and when you now go over the features
and content of PC:K there’s no doubt that *this* is the game they
wanted to make all along. Why PC:OWS then ? Pure survival economics –
their previous ancients games were not exactly a big success and they
would have gone bust if they had given in to feature creep and hadn’t
released PC:OWS as a stop-gap. Should wargamers who bought PC:OWS feel
cheated then ? I don’t think so, there’s the “upgrade” offer to PC:K
for owners of PC:OWS and though there was the occasional grumble in
the forum most gamers seem to realize the realities of wargame
development. Red Devils over Arnhem to Highway to the Reich and
Uncommon Valour to War in the Pacific are other examples of such an
approach.
- Basically it’s the same game, only wherever you look there’s been
enhancements. From the AI pathfinding to the 3D representation of the
vehicles, to addional commands you can give to units. Add to this more
vehicles, more maps, more scenarios and you’ve got a beautiful
package. It’s a very intuitive interface as well, so there’s hardly a
need for anyone to consult the manual to get up and running.
- Why did they call this “Kharkov” ? There’s scenarios there for
Operation Konrad and a number of others which have no link to Kharkov
afaik.
- In the heat of the battle I’m always forgetting whether I’m in the
first 40 second phase or in the second 40 second “reaction” phase,
with unpleasant surprises as a result. However I don’t see this as
detrimental because it adds to the fubar effect of wargaming. It still
feels a bit unnatural though as in my mind I’m always playing turns of
40 seconds – a leftover from my Combat Mission days probably - not
alternate order and reaction phases.
- Map scale and FOW are not overly realistic, but from a gaming pov it
seems to work. What I absolutely, positively hate is “unseen” panzers
popping up 50 yards from your troops but that’s not the case in this
game. This is possibly due to the internal rules of the game being
based on tabletop rules – the combat and movement rules have thus
already been “debugged” on the tabletop before getting transferred to
the pc.
Minor niggles :
- The automatic battle generator is a separate application, started
from the menu, where you can set some options and which generates a
scenario for you. So you set some options and click “go” after a
couple of seconds you get the message that the scenario has been
generated and you click “ok”. And wait. And wait some more. Nothing
happens. I was expecting the game to auto-start the just created
scenario but that’s not the case. It generates a “Random – created on
xx/xx//xxxx” scenario file in the list of scenarios. Aaargh. Why can’t
the message on the “ok” screen read : “your scenario has just been
created and can be found in the scenario list” ?
- Camera controls : whenever you drive the camera into the ground, it
is automatically tilted to a 45 degree angle, so when you zoom out
again you get a birds-eye view of the battlefield even if your camera
was level before. No doubt this was done so beginners wouldn’t get
lost but it’s extremely annoying when you want to have a look at the
vehicles from ground level and you move just a bit too close to the
ground.
- Startup options : when you select a different screen-size, refresh
rate etc, these settings are not kept from game to game – you have to
re-enter them every time
- Panning the camera with the mousewheel / middle mouse button is a
bit iffy – could be my clumsiness - so I use the <shift> button – I
realized that if it weren’t for this single button I wouldn’t use the
keyboard at all while playing.
The latest info on this game is that there’s another patch coming out,
but frankly I haven’t seen the need for one – as stable as a rock and
no anomalies detected.
For a real review here are some links
Review : http://jaguarusf.blogspot.com/2008/05/panzer-command-kharkov-review.html
Review : http://pc.ign.com/articles/868/868910p2.html
Review : http://www.armchairgeneral.com/panzer-command-kharkov-pc-game-review.htm
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Tom Brown
post. I think your review is even better than those "pat" reviews because
you are on this ng all the time, and I for one have found myself agreeing
with you on many issues. I will be purchasing this game when I get back
from my trip to NY next week because your description of it convinced me. I
had been looking at this one for awhile now but for some reason I couldn't
seem to take the plunge. Putting your "2 cents" in every once in awhile on
games you actually purchase and play is a great help. Keep it up!
<eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a64ac077-c578-45a0...@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
Richie Rich
news:a64ac077-c578-45a0...@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
> - Startup options : when you select a different screen-size, refresh
> rate etc, these settings are not kept from game to game – you have to
> re-enter them every time
You don't have an LCD? If you used an LCD you wouldn't have to change those
settings because everything looks better at the native res so the game
would run the same res and refresh rate as your desktop.
Giftzwerg
@tampabay.rr.com says...
> I don't know why you give us links to "real" reviews at the end of your
> post. I think your review is even better than those "pat" reviews because
> you are on this ng all the time, and I for one have found myself agreeing
> with you on many issues. I will be purchasing this game when I get back
> from my trip to NY next week because your description of it convinced me. I
> had been looking at this one for awhile now but for some reason I couldn't
> seem to take the plunge. Putting your "2 cents" in every once in awhile on
> games you actually purchase and play is a great help. Keep it up!
Yeah, I'd rather have Eddy's review ... but more links to more reviews
is always A Good Thing, no?
KHARKOV is a really decent game, too.
--
Giftzwerg
***
"Senator Barack Obama said Thursday that he might 'refine' his plans for
a phased withdrawal from Iraq after meeting with military commanders
there later this summer."
- NY Times
"The left should brace itself: Obama's going to be pro-surge, pro
troops, and pro-victory by this time next month."
- Michael Goldfarb
HR
LOL at the phases. Are we too impatient;) I forget too. Oh fuk I'm screwed
I can't move:)
But it's my own impatient fault but it does have a nice FUBAR effect:)
<eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a64ac077-c578-45a0...@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
eddys...@hotmail.com
> "eddyster...@hotmail.com" <eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote innews:a64ac077-c578-45a0...@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:
>
> > - Startup options : when you select a different screen-size, refresh
> > rate etc, these settings are not kept from game to game – you have to
> > re-enter them every time
>
> You don't have an LCD?
I do
> If you used an LCD you wouldn't have to change those
> settings because everything looks better at the native res so the game
> would run the same res and refresh rate as your desktop.
Agreed - but this puppy here tested to see if a different user-choice
is kept from game to game and how the game looks in different
resolutions :) - for a real thourough review I'd have installed it on
my widescreen portable as well but as it says in the title
"impressions" - not "review".
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
eddys...@hotmail.com
> LOL at the phases. Are we too impatient;) I forget too. Oh fuk I'm screwed
> I can't move:)
I wonder how many of us are suffering from this affliction ? :)
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
HR
Then again I did read we're stupid :)
<eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:943c24d1-f27e-4f6b...@h17g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Laryngoscope
> - Why did they call this “Kharkov” ? There’s scenarios there for
> Operation Konrad and a number of others which have no link to Kharkov
> afaik.
The beta test team added some of their own scenarios which were
then included for release. The "main" Kharkov fixed campaign was
finished for some time prior to the completion of the random campaign
generator. Perhaps it should have have been called "Kharkov+"
> - The automatic battle generator is a separate application, started
> from the menu, where you can set some options and which generates a
> scenario for you. So you set some options and click “go” after a
> couple of seconds you get the message that the scenario has been
> generated and you click “ok”. And wait. And wait some more. Nothing
> happens. I was expecting the game to auto-start the just created
> scenario but that’s not the case. It generates a “Random – created on
> xx/xx//xxxx” scenario file in the list of scenarios. Aaargh. Why can’t
> the message on the “ok” screen read : “your scenario has just been
> created and can be found in the scenario list” ?
It is documented in the manual how the random battle generator works,
but you are right in as much as I should have given the user clearer
instructions in the popup post generation. I will add your suggestion to
the next update.
> - Startup options : when you select a different screen-size, refresh
> rate etc, these settings are not kept from game to game – you have to
> re-enter them every time
This can be very irritating if it afflicts you. I found that the problem is
video card driver related however. I had the exact same problem but
it went away with an Nvidia driver update some time ago. I don't know
if it is an issue with current ATI drivers.
> - Panning the camera with the mousewheel / middle mouse button is a
> bit iffy – could be my clumsiness - so I use the <shift> button – I
> realized that if it weren’t for this single button I wouldn’t use the
> keyboard at all while playing.
Definitely your clumsiness :-) Seriously there is room to improve
the camera control as you have noticed. I personally don't use
the keyboard at all. My biggest beef with the camera is that I would
prefer a proportional "drag" pan system to the older style screen edge
"fixed" pan system.
RS