User Reviews (1 - 11 of 43)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

so sad...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: August 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

i wrote this email to the us Associate Producer, Codename: Panzers & English Language Community Manager on July the 29th, as i reccognized that he asked the english speaking community to make "good" reviews @amazon, (there is still no new fix):

"If everyone were to write their comments about this game @ amazon.com, I am convinced, that you will loose EVERY multiplayer related customer for this game. The multiplayer is really not good, still not fixed (you can still cheat, any more than six players the game crashes, no real artificial intelligence visible of the computer steered opponent etc...).

There doesn't seem any movement here at all, maybe you can help out and push your colleagues in Germany to remove all those annoying bugs during multi play.

The worst thing is: CDV stopped talking to the community, they don't answer questions and just say "we are fixing the problems", without saying which problems they recognized...to the community this just seems to be a case of `tell them we are working on it and then at least they will shut up'

If you buy a game, with that many errors and missing features and a then get a publisher who stopped talking to the community, you'd probably also feel cheated, like me and many other people in the German Multiplayer scene."

i wrote this mail, after the german support did not answer.
the answer from those producer was some "la la la", saying nothing with many words... but hey, it was an answer *g*

the game is now 2 month on the market in germany and the multiplayer bugs are still not fixed. also there is still no sign of an "AI", every reaction is just scripted ...

and CDV pretends in some german software magacines "that everything is fixed and working properly" ... LOL is the only thing you can say about that. read the german cdv-board.de for further informations...

very sad, the game looks really great, but it plays bad.

nothing more to say, sit, beta test for cdv and wait for the patch... if there will ever be one...

To less for todays standard in RTS

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: July 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Hello,

i played at least the AO'Games, WC3 and Comand & Conquer Generals + ZH and must really say that the SinglePlayer Modus is "ok" in relation to this other RTS games but also a fact is, when you like to play Multiplayer (i think most of us would do that) with this game i couldn't suggest this game. Until there wouldn't be several patches for the multiplayer modus (so sty tunend). The main problem is that everybody could change the prices for his vehicles and soldiers =/. With this problem I only could warn you to buy it and i will rever to other games (ground control 2 for e.g.).

yours
cb

A lot of bugs

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 11
Date: July 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought the German version and I'm really pissed off. Unfortunatelly this game contains a lot of bugs. I have already invested more than 10 hours into making the game run on my PC (reinstalling drivers, changeing IRQ settings, etc). To no avail - it still crashes or freezes within 5 seconds.
Lots of other users of the German version seem to have the same problem (see forums). The newly released patch does not change the situation. Take care! Tom

Lovely to look at, but totally un-realistic in play...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: October 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Firstly PC wargames seem to fall into 3 catagories:-

Firstly the first-person shoot-em up variety
- and there have been some fantastic games in this genre recently, including front-line command and incredibly atmospheric calll-of-duty command.

Secondly there a the more strategic games - like suddenstrike and blitzkreig - which (especially with mods) seemed like a much more stragic view of combat - where you control cool-looking groups tanks and soldiers into combat....moving and positioning all your troops for a killer attack...

Its in the third new group that code-name panzers falls, trying to mix the latest of 3D graphics with WW2 RTS, with an emphasis on tactics/strategy...

While I truly love this genre of game, this game is a very mixed effort with often very good graphics (although looking a little unrealistically shaded at times), and lovely effect scenere...

What unforgivable is the total lack of realism...
making the exact same mistakes that many of its predicessors make; only making them far-worse...(in part no doubt due to its detailed close-up graphical engine that does'nt really lend itself to long-distance panoramic shots of combat...)

Firstly the graphical are often a feast to look at....
Tanks drive, well pretty much like tanks would!
troops move more the way you'd expect, and it looks like one of the nicest graphical engines Ive seen for sometime in this genre...

Whats really disapointing is its almost total lack of realism...

The top German tanks (the king-tiger) can no-longer take out allied tanks with one hit [even on the easiest level!], heck they can barely shoot half way down a city block...?
Even worse your prized example of German engineering are vunerable to relativly weak enemy tanks....
(when anyone who's even watched footage knows just how deadly and almost invunerable these tanks were...!)

Mobilile artilery barely sends a shell any further,
when in reality it ought to be able to shoot miles away
(or at least to the edge of the screen please!)
but now seems strangely innefective...

The famed german anti-aircraft/tank guns, the 88 (see it in the series "Band of Brothers"!) which could destroy almost any tank at long-range with a single shot...now it can barely shoot half way down the block, and strugles to kill trucks at close range!!

Air-support might be 1940s era, but strangely it seems to arrive within seconds (something not even modern US airpower has mastered!) so one wonders if these chaps couldnt teach the US govt a thing or two..!

Heavy Artilerly is incredibly accurate (it sure wasnt in reality, it killed masses of our own troops!) and impotent
(a large arty shell on a tank could really ruin your day!)

I could go on and on, but it would seem in there relentless drive to make it fab looking they've forgotten about why we play these games...

Those who dont care at all about history can play Warhammer 40000, but those who do love the feeling of been able pretend for a minute "what if I was there..." - but with this game I get the feeling from the go that Im just playing a nice-looking arcade like game...

No-one expects a game to model reality too exactly (being hit at 2km wouldnt be much fun either!) but this is truly ridiculous... unless someone comes out with a reality mody I cant even be bothered playing this game...

Until then I guess I'll have to dust off SuddenStrike and
waiting for Wartime Command to come out...
IN the video that looks fab and apparently they've focussed more on the realism front...(which wouldnt be hard!!)

Overall - 2 stars, although I was tempted to give it one for making so many elementairy mistakes...

Imho - for the war-game RTS player...avoid for now...

Unimpressed

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After playing Blitzkrieg{Which I love}, I'm not overly impressed with the game. The AI doesn't seem to realistic. I sat and hammered on a russian armored car with a Tiger tank and it took about 6 or 7 shots to kill it! This is not how it worked out in real life, a Tiger would kill a T-34 in one shot let alone an armor car. It seemed to be the case throughout the playing experience. Blitzkrieg was a much better game for shot to kill or game realism. Also bought version 2 and it is worse. The graphics are great and the cut scenes are ok but if you want realism I would think twice!

It's sucks

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 26
Date: October 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Totally agree with mark. After games like Soldiers: Herous of WWII, Blietzkrig - this game is totally unrealistic. Just another arcade. Forgive me for my bad english.

Only tried the Demo so-far, but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: October 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If there was a lot missing from the Demo in terms of interface and ability, then that was a poor marketing decision by the developer - They always say First-impressions are EVERYTHING.

What I saw and tried to use was not at all as good as I expected. I've only played the Demo, however; The game has been out in Europe for a bit now, and they could have improved/updated the Demo if it didn't reflect the actual game's quality and functions.
Newcomers to the RTS WW2 game may find this title very enjoyable. It IS different from most RTS titles out there in both good and bad ways. But the only way to fully appreciate this fact is to play as many others as possible. There ARE RTS games I would consider better regardless of Codename: Panzers merits. Saying that, this game is an excellent "starter", though seasoned RTS fans may find the same flaws I did once the "Eyecandy-Wows!" wear off.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this game is "Phase One" meaning that it's sure to become a series like many others have. These games usually evolve and improve with each build. I have read some very reasonable criticisms of the first Blitzkrieg game and they seem to have listened and made dramatic improvements with the sequel, "Blitzkrieg - Burning Horizon", and the follow-up, "Blitzkrieg - Rolling Thunder" should follow this trend.

PROS:

- Lush 3D landscapes - They really put a lot of time and energy into this part.

- Better than average Sound, maybe better with high-end Sound Cards and Speakers. Sound FX seemed decent to say the least.

- Well done "Dead". The blood wasn't bright red but a more realistic crimson. And the corpses seemed more random than in other games which repeatedly use the same figure in the same "dead" pose.

- Adequate visual detail to vehicles. Adheres to the standards presented by other games. It may exceed them but it's hard to tell off hand.

- Figures seemed to move realistically, though the Prone shooting postion was incorrect (legs close together, not spread- out)

CONS:

- Limited array of voices for the characters and figures. This may be a limitation of the Demo, but still. First-impressions and all...

- Inconsistant uniform details (at least in game-play): If you're gonna' brag about it, follow-through all the way. The US characters would make any Re-enactor/Living History buff livid.

- Difficult to see and understand GUI. Seemed overly-simplistic and vague. Critical buttons/menus not well-placed if extant.

- Settings options limited - compares poorly to Blitzkrieg or Combat Mission.

- Minor anachronistic details, such as a Cross ball-point pen (1947 and not yet in a matte finish), etc.

BOTTOM LINE:

Not a complete waste of time or money. Entertaining for some, disappointing for others. Those on tight budgets who want a game to bite into may want to try the demos of this and other RTS games first.

This is just my own opinion and observations on this game like any review, mind you. And again, I have only played the Demo version so-far, thus my opinions and observations may be inaccurate.

I was hoping for better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: April 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Had graphic card issues right off the bat. And by the looks of the forums, I wasnt the only one. Luckily I was able to fix mine, and pass the solution on.

Im not happy with the game, not what I was expecting for a 3 disc install. Could be easier gameplay. Possibly FPS feature.

Rock solid Singeplayer, weak Multiplayer

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Overview - what it's all about

Codename Panzers is a real time strategy game that features the early phase of WW2. The campaigns deal about the invasion of eastern Europe by the Third Reich.

There are 3 different campaigns in the game: Germany, Russia and Allies. All of these reflect the actions from the individual points of view. This means if you play Germany and have to Blitzkrieg into Warszawa you may also play the opposition and have to prevent the Germans from achieving their goal.

Technical - Graphics, Sound & Music

The graphics and artworks of this game are outstanding. I've never seen such a beatiful animated infantry before.
The weapon sounds are quite cool, either. I play the game with a surround headset (Medusa 5.1), and am quite impressed how well the sounds are distinguishable coming from the different directions - depending on the angle you turned the free 3D moveable game area.
The music supports the athmosphere very well, too. All units give voice-feedback when you issue new orders and the voices are very well done.

Into the action - Singleplayer

The singleplayer game is clearly the main feature of this game. Also CDV, the publisher, promotes the multiplayer part very heavy, the singleplayer experience is the reason for me to give it 4 "Fun-Stars". It would have been 5 Stars if wayfinding routines of the troops were better. Sometimes troops just don't move the way you want, the way that was shortest. This can lead to situations where you have a large group of enemies spotted, want to roll them over with the tanks you got, and the tanks are arriving at the scene one by one and are slaughtered by enemy gunfire like lambs on a shambles. This accounts to MP, too, of course.

There are three different difficulty levels you can chose from. The difference is whether or not you get reinforcements after missions and whether or not they are already trained units or fresh meat.

At the beginning of (almost) each mission you can buy troops for prestige points you earned in previously mastered missions. Troops that earned experience in fights are brought into the next mission, too. These are quite vital, because they do more damage and stand enemy fire longer then untrained ones. The missions develop as you progress - new goals and situations are scripted in and intermittent cutscenes bring the story forward. Most of the missions are well-balanced, with one or two exemptions where it sometimes seems a bit unfair regarding what the enemy has and what you got against them.
All in all this makes up for a new class winner in WW2 RTS games. It makes fun to replay the missions, because there are eastereggs to find, surivive with more veteran units at each level end and additional and secret goals to master.

Units can be combined (move infantry into transports, link an artillery to a truck), you can capture enemy tanks by burning the crew out with flamethrowers and a lot of other nice things like ordering a group of units to follow a spearhead unit.

As call-in support you can order Stuka attacks, bombardements, artillery, recon planes and paratroopers.

Skirmish Mode

In this mode you can play against the computer artificial intelligence (AI). Well, there simply is none. The computer rushes with all of its troops to your starting point and lets the match end in about 5 minutes. No further comment on this here. I took this into account with the 3 Star Rating i give in the overall rating.

Well, theres Multiplayer, too...

I played the actual patched version (1.60) and was crestfallen in consideration of the great qualitative difference between SP and MP. A one-on-one match can be fun, but as soon as you want to play in teams you are out of luck. A 3-3 or 4-4 match simply crashes back to desktop all the time. What a pity for this great game.

In fact, the only multiplayer experience I really enjoy with this product is the coop mode, where you can play SP missions together with your pal. In that mode we divide the troops so one plays the tank squad and the other one artillery and infantry - most of the time such a match can be played to the end without a back to desktop or data mismatch. The ESL League banned the game for its open cheater holes (the .pak resource file can be altered client-side and has impact on MP sessions) until the game has a worked over multiplayer part.

Conclusion

If CDV works over the Multiplayer part, the AI and the wayfinding routines it would get my 97% rating as one of the best games I've ever played. Until then, I can only recommend it for its good SP experience and tell anyone to forget about MP as far as he wants to play it seriously.

Moving mouse in demo is no fun

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've played 2 demos of this great-looking game, and in both, movement with the mouse was nigh-impossible. It seems to be a second behind where you move it, therefore when you move your mouse to a specific location, it goes wildly past where you wanted it to go. Looking at the map and issuing orders sucks because it is so hard to steady your moves/targeting.

I have a very adequate computer, so I am vexed as to why this is happening. I really want to enjoy this game! Awesome graphics, great voice-overs, cool units, seems historically accurate, no resource management....just pure battle tactics and blood and explosions! Very cool!

Has anybody else experienced this mouse movement problem with the demos? If so, please email me and tell me what the problem is. I really hope I can play this game and fully enjoy it. If the full game has this same problem, it will be thouroughly unenjoyable and completely unplayable for me.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next 

Actions