Administrator
07-16-2006, 10:41 PM
Panzer Tactics DS
Nintendo's double-screen portable is finally ready for its own WWII game.
by Nix
July 14, 2006 - The Nintendo DS has covered a surprisingly large span of genres in its early days as a system, but two that it hasn't had much of just yet is Turn-Based Strategy games and WWII-based games. Strategy games in general, the DS could use a lot more of. It's not that the system has gone without -- DS has already seen strong titles such as Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Age of Empires -- but because of the portable's unique touchscreen set-up, strategy titles work out particularly well on the DS when customized for the console's strengths and horsepower.
Recognizing the need for strategy titles (as well as the relatively young target demographics that other DS strategy games have aimed for), publisher CDV is bringing its years of strategy gaming expertise to the handheld. The company is well-known for turn-based and realtime strategy games such as the Blitzkrieg and Codename: Panzers franchises. For its first DS effort called Panzer Tactics DS, CDV and developer Sproing are dedicating themselves to bringing realistic war simulation to the handheld, and are cutting no corner in the process -- not only does Panzer Tactics refuse to "kidify" its historically accurate designs and encounters (with only a little bit of compromise in simplifying unit structures for a console gamer since there's not a full-sized PC to play on), but the game also delivers a robust feature set that includes full online multiplayer support in addition to its comprehensive single player campaign.
In the very early preview version that CDV brought by the office this week (which is still heavily being tweaked and experimented with for default settings, graphic display, unit designs, effects, and all the rest -- the team is just now settling on what it likes and will be rejecting on its ideas and designs, with continuing builds to be much more complete in the coming weeks), Panzer Tactics DS is certainly leaning on the strengths of the DS. The double-screen set-up handily keeps you out of having to manage pulldowns or second screens to see all of the details about your unit and terrain. Simply click anywhere on the hex field, and the top screen unfurls an entire page packed with data. On a unit alone, you can see its fuel & ammo levels, its strength, its skill points, what type of terrain it's settled in (whether it's entrenched and fortified or ready to move) and whether that is advantageous to the unit's skills, and little bits of detail about the historically accurate unit type and a large image of the unit itself. Tapping an empty space on the grid shows the type of terrain that it is and gives hints as to what units might be good in that type of block.
Control of the game is also rather simple. Using the DS (you can also switch to the D-Pad if you feel the need), you simply drag a path for the units. This is a turn-based game rather than a realtime strategy game, so you don't need to be exact with your paths, but there is a correction system that bumps your lines into a more simple path. Once it's set, the unit will move to that space on the hex field, and will await your next command -- you can assign it to wait or engage in battle with a surrounding unit. A predictor up top will tell you before you commit to a space or a battle what your chances are once you engage in battle -- this is war, so be prepared for casualties, but go for the best move when you can. Battles are attack/counter-attack, and also have built-in logic, so Artillery may be able to team up and fire upon the opponent for a double-strike, or a Bomber may be able to drop a payload on a Soldier unit without taking a scratch. Encounters take place on a simply animated battlefield map (much like Advance Wars), with moving units shown on screen as well as a larger image of the unit type that each side of the battle is bringing to fight.
Panzer Tactics DS sticks to history closely, with leeway taken in simplifying the game just a bit. There are three factions in the game (Germans, Russians, and US/UK Allies), and each has its own story campaign to play through across 12 missions per faction. Difficulty settings are available, but each faction's campaign is also balanced for difficulty and history -- Germany, for instance, begins with the invasion of Poland and is basically the easiest battle to play through, while the Russians battle back mid-war and have a tougher campaign, and the Allied campaign picks up with the US joining up during the darkest days of the war. A whopping 150 units (air, sea and land) are available across all the factions, and each is unique to the faction involved. Each will have its own graphic, sound effect, and skills. To simplify the process of picking units, the game uses a historical timeline to introduce new units types and replace old ones -- as the Tiger Tank is "invented", all of your older types of tanks (provided they match the level for a Tiger) will be replaced with the superior tank. You'll get to see everything that fought in battle, but you won't have to deal with pages and pages of menus to do so. Missions are set out with primary, secondary and even bonus mission objectives, so there's always something to strive for as you play though.
Gameplay in Panzer Tactics DS will certainly seem familiar to turn-based strategy fans, but CDV is adding some unique features to this game while also relying on tried-and-true features. Your faction will keep a "core unit" that you carry from mission to mission as the base of your army. These units will be powered up as you play, and can be traded in or reinforced as you go. There is also a General system where you can assign a chief officer to a unit to give it special powers or strengths. Balancing unit building and general hiring is a crucial part of the game's challenge in the deeper stages. A 3-day weather forecast shows you what you can expect for your next battle (although you can't always count on meteorologists), and since weather affects battle strategy, you will want to plan ahead as you pick out your units. Also unique here is a "Commando" unit, a special army type that is invisible to all opponents and factions until it's used. The Commando will be able to devastate most units with its attacks, but after that, it is a spent unit that can only evade, and players will have to determine from there what to do next since capturing and/or destroying a Commando unit yields big rewards for opponents. A robust Tutorial system is also built into the game -- not only are there 10 missions of pure training sessions, but there is also a continuous Mentor with you that tells you what might be your best play in each encounter.
Outside of single player Campaign mode, there is also the hotly-anticipated multiplayer offering. Panzer Tactics DS features multiplayer for up to four players to play either online or locally (all players must have a cartridge to play), and there's even a HotSeat mode where two players can trade one system and game back and forth to play an encounter. CDV is planning a robust online mode, including a player ranking ladder and a special cheater-beater where gamers who have been dropped on still earn the Prestige points that they had earned -- there's even a Save mode in multiplayer (even online, although the developer is still working out how players will negotiate to continue games and how many players it makes sense to allow into a multiplayer game save scenario.) 10 unique multiplayer maps have been drafted for this mode, and maps for multiplayer and single-player stages are tremendously big -- 4 to 8 screens across -- so encounters can take a good deal of time to battle through.
Much of the gameplay of Panzer Tactics DS was early, and we weren't able yet to put full 2-hour battle sessions in just yet to make sure that this all works out in battle as it does on paper, but this DS game certainly sets its sights high. This being the first online strategy game alone makes it a game to watch for on the horizon. Panzer Tactics DS will be available late in 2006.
Nintendo's double-screen portable is finally ready for its own WWII game.
by Nix
July 14, 2006 - The Nintendo DS has covered a surprisingly large span of genres in its early days as a system, but two that it hasn't had much of just yet is Turn-Based Strategy games and WWII-based games. Strategy games in general, the DS could use a lot more of. It's not that the system has gone without -- DS has already seen strong titles such as Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Age of Empires -- but because of the portable's unique touchscreen set-up, strategy titles work out particularly well on the DS when customized for the console's strengths and horsepower.
Recognizing the need for strategy titles (as well as the relatively young target demographics that other DS strategy games have aimed for), publisher CDV is bringing its years of strategy gaming expertise to the handheld. The company is well-known for turn-based and realtime strategy games such as the Blitzkrieg and Codename: Panzers franchises. For its first DS effort called Panzer Tactics DS, CDV and developer Sproing are dedicating themselves to bringing realistic war simulation to the handheld, and are cutting no corner in the process -- not only does Panzer Tactics refuse to "kidify" its historically accurate designs and encounters (with only a little bit of compromise in simplifying unit structures for a console gamer since there's not a full-sized PC to play on), but the game also delivers a robust feature set that includes full online multiplayer support in addition to its comprehensive single player campaign.
In the very early preview version that CDV brought by the office this week (which is still heavily being tweaked and experimented with for default settings, graphic display, unit designs, effects, and all the rest -- the team is just now settling on what it likes and will be rejecting on its ideas and designs, with continuing builds to be much more complete in the coming weeks), Panzer Tactics DS is certainly leaning on the strengths of the DS. The double-screen set-up handily keeps you out of having to manage pulldowns or second screens to see all of the details about your unit and terrain. Simply click anywhere on the hex field, and the top screen unfurls an entire page packed with data. On a unit alone, you can see its fuel & ammo levels, its strength, its skill points, what type of terrain it's settled in (whether it's entrenched and fortified or ready to move) and whether that is advantageous to the unit's skills, and little bits of detail about the historically accurate unit type and a large image of the unit itself. Tapping an empty space on the grid shows the type of terrain that it is and gives hints as to what units might be good in that type of block.
Control of the game is also rather simple. Using the DS (you can also switch to the D-Pad if you feel the need), you simply drag a path for the units. This is a turn-based game rather than a realtime strategy game, so you don't need to be exact with your paths, but there is a correction system that bumps your lines into a more simple path. Once it's set, the unit will move to that space on the hex field, and will await your next command -- you can assign it to wait or engage in battle with a surrounding unit. A predictor up top will tell you before you commit to a space or a battle what your chances are once you engage in battle -- this is war, so be prepared for casualties, but go for the best move when you can. Battles are attack/counter-attack, and also have built-in logic, so Artillery may be able to team up and fire upon the opponent for a double-strike, or a Bomber may be able to drop a payload on a Soldier unit without taking a scratch. Encounters take place on a simply animated battlefield map (much like Advance Wars), with moving units shown on screen as well as a larger image of the unit type that each side of the battle is bringing to fight.
Panzer Tactics DS sticks to history closely, with leeway taken in simplifying the game just a bit. There are three factions in the game (Germans, Russians, and US/UK Allies), and each has its own story campaign to play through across 12 missions per faction. Difficulty settings are available, but each faction's campaign is also balanced for difficulty and history -- Germany, for instance, begins with the invasion of Poland and is basically the easiest battle to play through, while the Russians battle back mid-war and have a tougher campaign, and the Allied campaign picks up with the US joining up during the darkest days of the war. A whopping 150 units (air, sea and land) are available across all the factions, and each is unique to the faction involved. Each will have its own graphic, sound effect, and skills. To simplify the process of picking units, the game uses a historical timeline to introduce new units types and replace old ones -- as the Tiger Tank is "invented", all of your older types of tanks (provided they match the level for a Tiger) will be replaced with the superior tank. You'll get to see everything that fought in battle, but you won't have to deal with pages and pages of menus to do so. Missions are set out with primary, secondary and even bonus mission objectives, so there's always something to strive for as you play though.
Gameplay in Panzer Tactics DS will certainly seem familiar to turn-based strategy fans, but CDV is adding some unique features to this game while also relying on tried-and-true features. Your faction will keep a "core unit" that you carry from mission to mission as the base of your army. These units will be powered up as you play, and can be traded in or reinforced as you go. There is also a General system where you can assign a chief officer to a unit to give it special powers or strengths. Balancing unit building and general hiring is a crucial part of the game's challenge in the deeper stages. A 3-day weather forecast shows you what you can expect for your next battle (although you can't always count on meteorologists), and since weather affects battle strategy, you will want to plan ahead as you pick out your units. Also unique here is a "Commando" unit, a special army type that is invisible to all opponents and factions until it's used. The Commando will be able to devastate most units with its attacks, but after that, it is a spent unit that can only evade, and players will have to determine from there what to do next since capturing and/or destroying a Commando unit yields big rewards for opponents. A robust Tutorial system is also built into the game -- not only are there 10 missions of pure training sessions, but there is also a continuous Mentor with you that tells you what might be your best play in each encounter.
Outside of single player Campaign mode, there is also the hotly-anticipated multiplayer offering. Panzer Tactics DS features multiplayer for up to four players to play either online or locally (all players must have a cartridge to play), and there's even a HotSeat mode where two players can trade one system and game back and forth to play an encounter. CDV is planning a robust online mode, including a player ranking ladder and a special cheater-beater where gamers who have been dropped on still earn the Prestige points that they had earned -- there's even a Save mode in multiplayer (even online, although the developer is still working out how players will negotiate to continue games and how many players it makes sense to allow into a multiplayer game save scenario.) 10 unique multiplayer maps have been drafted for this mode, and maps for multiplayer and single-player stages are tremendously big -- 4 to 8 screens across -- so encounters can take a good deal of time to battle through.
Much of the gameplay of Panzer Tactics DS was early, and we weren't able yet to put full 2-hour battle sessions in just yet to make sure that this all works out in battle as it does on paper, but this DS game certainly sets its sights high. This being the first online strategy game alone makes it a game to watch for on the horizon. Panzer Tactics DS will be available late in 2006.