Panzer General II

This is the first in, hopefully, a series of reviews of favourite games, new and old. Panzer General II was released, I believe, in 1997. This means that, at the time of this review, the game is seven years old. That is ancient history in the world of computer games, but believe it or not, there is still a significant community still playing this game. I know because I happen to be a part of that community.

When the orignal Panzer General was released 1994 it turned the gaming industry on its ear. It was a game in a genre that had become marginalized since the days when the IBM PC virtually destroyed the strategic simulation board game industry. It was a "war game" harkening back to the golden age of war games in the late 1970's and early 80's.

Those classic "board games" were played primarily on cardboard maps with often hundreds, literally, of little square cardboard playing pieces ("chits"). The maps were most often what are called "hex maps" - divided into hexagons in the same way that conventional graph paper is divided into squares. They often took hours just to set up, and days to play, and the rules often were the equivalent of a short novel in length. They were alot of fun, but alot of work, and ate up alot of time - and probably resulted in more than one divorce

Panzer General took the concept of those board games, but did all the hard work for you. It used hex maps, and the computer equivalent of cardboard chits, but you didn't have to worry about a gust of wind blowing away several days of game play, and there was no arguing over the rules, the computer took care of all of that for you. And Panzer General sold, and sold well, it was one of the best selling computer games of its time.

However, there was one notable difference between Panzer General and many of the old classic board games, it kept things simple. There was just enough satisfying detail to hold the attention of the hard core wargamers, but it was simple enough to learn in half an hour and the interface was highly intuitive and easy to use. Almost everything could be accomplished by pointing and clicking.

The subject matter of Panzer General also factored largely into its success. The world continues to be fascinated by World War II, and this game appealled to the part of us that is fascinated by the machines and mechanics of modern warfare. Panzer General sanitizes the history of WWII by simply not dealing with the horror. Yes soldiers in your units die, but they are just numbers, and there are no gas chambers, no starvation, no fire bombings...

Panzer General II was the second generation in that series of games, and of all of them, the one most destined to become a classic. Everything that made the original Panzer General a success was still there, but it looked better, of course, and it added game features, such as leaders, that made the game even more interesting and more addictive, if that is possible, than its predecessor.

So what are the drawbacks? Why doesn't Panzer General II get a perfect score? Well, it has a number of issues. The first has to do with what, in part, made it so successful, its simplicity. In my opinion the game could have added more detail and realism without losing the simplicity that was such a fundamental part of its success. The simplicity and elegance lies in the user interface. It should have been possible to add much more detail and realism, while still keeping the simple interface which made the game so accessible.

Computer game designers in general, with a few wonderful exceptions, don't seem to have grasped the concept that the wonder of computer games is that they can be as compicated and detailed as you can possibly make them, but still be simple and satisfying to play, as long as the interface is simple. Computers make compexity and detail possible because they can do all the hard, nitpicking work that is the inevitable consequence of a high level of detail, leaving the player free to enjoy the experience without needing a PHD to figure out the rules.

The other major problem that Panzer General has is the AI (artificial intelligence). To put it bluntly, the game is a stupid, predictable player. Now I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on the creators of Panzer General, because it has lots of good company. There are very few, if any, games that I have seen where the computer AI is smart, creative and challenging. Most of the dificulty in computer games as we know them is created allowing the computer to overwhelm its opponents with numbers.

The game isn't challenging because your opponent is smart, it is challenging because your opponent has access to resources vastly outnumbering your own. The only truly brilliant computer AI I have ever seen is found in computer chess games. If other game designers would only realize how much better their game would be if they payed as much attention to their AI as the creators of computer chess games do. Ah well, some day perhaps...

So why then is this game still being played, eight years after it was created? Most of the answer has to do with the community that has grown up around the game. As it the case with so many classic games these days, Panzer General has attracted a dedicated, brilliant community of modders. There is a link below to one of the most active Panzer General communities, but just Google "Panzer General" and you will find many many more sites.

Despite its flaws, Panzer General II is without a doubt, a classic in its genre, if not the classic in its genre of historical simulation, turn based strategy games. No other similar game has reached the audience that this game has, or has had the staying power that this game has. Even though it was created for Windows 95, it still runs well on Windows XP, and if you want to purchase it, as is the case with so many hard to find things, you can buy it cheaply on eBay.