One of the more noticeable titles in the said genre over the past years was Codename Panzers: Phase One. In fact, it's only been out for roughly a year. With a name like that, it was always obvious it would receive at least one follow up. Staggeringly enough, Codename Panzers: Phase Two is that game. Phase Two gives you the choice of three campaigns; Allied, Axis and Partisans (Yugoslavian resistance). Each of the three tends to take place during different periods of the war, with some overlapping character developments. Each country has its own General, or hero character, who gives you a prologue diary entry to each mission. Nothing like a little bit of substance and character development, eh? The locales throughout the campaign are very varied, with battles taking place in various parts of Europe (Germany, Italy, etc), although there is a strong focus on North Africa at the outset of both the Allied and Axis campaigns. The Partisans campaign is fairly unique, as is the fact that the Axis campaign has a lot to do with Italy rather than Germany.
Fighting in the desert. Get used to it.
You usually have several main objectives to complete each mission, one of which usually resulting from another. For example, you have to capture and occupy an opposition base, and then defend it from counter attack. Optional and secret objectives are also available, but they do actually serve a purpose. Completing each objective adds to the amount of 'prestige' you receive at the end of each mission. You can then use this prestige to buy additional units for your next mission, which is absolutely paramount if you want to be successful at the game.
As you would expect with a sequel that has had less than a year of development time, the basic gameplay remains the same. You group your army with a mouse box, and then you right click on the enemy you want them to destroy. The catch being that you don't have a base, so you cannot produce new units. You have to do everything with your initial force. Usually you will get a set amount of air strikes and artillery rounds (neither of which are especially damaging), as well as the occasional reinforcements, but these are rare. Because of the limited resources, it's imperative you strategize as much as you can. Strikes will have to be fast and efficient, with maximum firepower, as you are usually outnumbered. While your 'hero' characters bring with them offensive and defensive bonuses – they are nigh on indestructible - they cannot quite defeat an entire army themselves. If these tough odds weren't tough enough already, vehicles also carry a set amount of ammunition that has to be topped up every now and then. Phew. Make no mistake, this is not an easy game. Those frustrated easily need not apply.
The series has some fairly nifty unique tricks up its sleeve. For example, running low on tanks? Get some flamethrower units to attack an enemy tank. It will heat up to high levels, causing the crew to jump out and run for it. Wait for it to cool and hey presto, you have a new thank! For once, infantry are also totally helpless against tanks, just like real life. Unless they are rocket or anti-tank soldiers, they won't even attempt to fire on it. While it does mean the class is actually fairly weak, it's at least quite realistic. You can control whether infantry stands, crouches or lies down, which makes them harder to kill and spot, allowing them to creep up on an enemy force. One of the better new ideas in Phase Two are night battles. All units have their vision cut dramatically, so in order for them to see, they must switch on those headlights. Problem is, this gives the enemy a little headlight icon on their screen, giving away your position. Nice. You can also pause the game and speed it up as appropriate, which is appreciated in those hectic battles and slow periods of running infantry across a map.
See those icons? Attack!
Phase Two is, aesthetically speaking, quite pleasing. It is only when you can zoom up close to the battle that you can see just how different various units are - the different amounts of tanks available are particularly outstanding. Cut scenes are delivered in real time, with the obligatory old, distorted filter over the scene. Infantry are extremely well animated when you zoom in. You can see how hard they struggle to move stationary artillery guns, how they move when crouched and so on. However, there are two problems here. You can't really zoom out far enough, so getting a good view on the big picture of the battle can be quite difficult. The other problem is that it looks just as good as it did a year ago. While this isn't a bad thing as such, it's just that you expect some sort of advancement.
Voice acting in Phase Two is among the most stereotypical seen in gaming history. The Italian hero routinely says “mama-mia” when commanding him in battle. The accents may be convincing, but they are a bit insulting with dialogue. Sound effects are quite good though, with reasonable oomph behind each barrel of artillery. The score is quite appropriate, if not entirely unremarkable.
With three fairly strong campaigns, Phase Two should last you quite a long time. However, the difficulty varies greatly. Games should start off easy and get harder, right? Not here. One mission can be reasonable, the next can be outrageously tough, and then be followed up by a cakewalk. In any case, the game on the whole is quite difficult, so the campaigns will take some time to complete. On top of this is a scenario mode, which breaks up things nicely as always, and a multiplayer mode. At the time of writing, this wasn't what you would call especially active. But, cooperative and competitive play types are promised. Of course, the skirmish mode is ever present.
Kaboom.
Codename Panzers: Phase Two is a more than acceptable game. The campaign mode is quite interesting, with three different takes on World War II. The gameplay itself is strategy heavy - tank rushes are still always the best bet, but usually, you don't have that many tanks to do it with, so some thought is required. The game is also fairly damn hard because of this. However, the biggest problems with the game is that it plays identically to last year's game (with a new story and a few other minor changes), and is in a genre that was oversaturated long ago. Ask yourself, do you really want another World War II RTS game? If the answer is yes, then this game is for you.
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