Overall, Blitzkrieg definitely has potential. The mechanical issues of path finding and AI can hopefully be remedied before release.

The Second World War just screams for video game re-creation. With such a large-scale confrontation, involving so many countries, it seems that a game that puts you in control of period-accurate units in historically correct campaigns is a shoe-in. In March, Nival Interactive looks to provide the WWII goodness with its new RTS Blitzkrieg.

On paper, Blitzkrieg looks promising. 3 campaigns with 21 missions taking place in Africa, Russia and Europe, over 200 types of vehicles, 40 kinds of infantry and more than 250 objects and buildings (all destructible) lay a respectable groundwork for any WWII RTS.

The game play in the preview version of Blitzkrieg is fairly straight-forward. The player commands action from an isometric view. Each campaign (Allied, German or Soviet) is divided into missions, and each mission is divided into several objectives. These objectives consist of things like taking a town, air-dropping a sniper behind enemy lines to assassinate a commander or building a bridge with engineers to open an attack route. After a short briefing on the historical state of affairs, the main mission is presented.

The player picks the artillery and tank units he would like to use from the “Order Upgrades” menu. Also available is a personal dossier that rates the player on various skills like tactics, and art of war. With the successful completion of missions, these attributes are raised, which in turn raises the players rank, making new units available. Once the player has selected the units he wishes to use, the game begins.

The missions are randomly generated in the correct context, and some additional units are supplied. There is no resource management during game play. The units that the player has in the beginning are the units they have to work with. If the player loses a unit, they’re out of luck. Fortunately if a unit is damaged, or runs out of ammunition, it can be serviced by a repair truck or a supply truck.

Therefore it becomes vital to protect supply lines and vehicles. Also it is possible to capture enemy equipment, so if the player finds themselves lacking in a certain area they can stage a raid and gain a little extra whoop-ass.

Missions are fairly open ended as far as tactics that can be utilized. Air assaults can be staged. Artillery can provide long distance attacks. The sniper can be sent for reconnaissance and a little sniping. To be successful, the player must coordinate action across all of these areas. The run and gun technique just won’t do it. Patience and tactics are required.

Generally the scout is used to reconnoiter an area. Then artillery is used to soften enemy defenses. Once enemy anti-aircraft guns are destroyed, air raids can be executed, followed by tank and infantry clean up. Missions tend to be fairly lengthy.

Where Blitzkrieg hopes to succeed is in providing a realistic simulation of World War II weapons and tactics in historically accurate battles. Unfortunately the preview version of Blitzkrieg is not without shortcomings. Friendly unit path finding is terrible. In fact, on several occasions my units would wedge themselves between two buildings so tightly that they couldn’t get out, or have such a hard time getting through environmental objects that they would just move back and forth in the same spot.

More than once vehicles would get in such a tight group that they would get stuck on each other, forcing me to abandon those units. Also the AI is questionable. It was not uncommon for my infantry to come into contact with a tank, and instead of finding cover, rush headlong into fire. While these problems did not happen enough to seriously detract from the game, having to constantly worry does effect the enjoyment level.

The biggest problem I had with Blitzkrieg was the repetition. While missions do become more complex, they generally just require the completion of more of the same few objectives. By the end of the campaign I found myself actually getting angry at having to complete the same objectives that I had just done two missions ago in a different location. Hopefully these issues will be ironed out by the time the game ships.

I feel that I would be remiss if I did not mention the similarity of Blitzkrieg to Eidos Interactive’s Panzer Claws in terms of theme and game play. While RTS games taking place during WWII are not a new idea, the similarities between these two games are a little hard to ignore. I guess if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Eidos should feel pretty good about themselves.

Multiplayer is also available via LAN or online. There are two types of multiplayer games: sabotage and capture the flag. The game will also take advantage of the GameSpy Arcade client, so expect no shortage of available online games.

The game is being published by CDV Software Entertainment. CDV is responsible for the publishing of Devine Divinity, Project Nomads and the Sudden Strike series.

Overall, Blitzkrieg definitely has potential. The mechanical issues of path finding and AI can hopefully be remedied before release. The problem of repetition in missions may be a bigger issue.

Preview by Zack Stromberg.