CODENAME PANZERS PHASE TWO Item Preview remove-circle. SINGLE PAGE PROCESSED JP2 ZIP download. Download 1 file. TORRENT download. Download 12 Files download 5 Original. IN COLLECTIONS. Computer Game Manuals. The ARCHIVE.ORG Manual Library. Additional Collections.

By Simon Graves

These days you can't throw a rock in a software store without hitting a World War II RTS. True story. While fans of flight sims and adventure games would love to enjoy this kind of variety, the sheer number of options does create some problems in terms of identifying the high quality titles from the 'me too' schlock that surrounds it. One of last year's more impressive offerings was Stormregion's Codename Panzers: Phase One. The title suggested that a sequel was a good bet and, sure enough, here we are nearly a year later faced with Phase Two.

Before we talk about how enjoyable Phase Two is, we have to address an issue of semantics. For some gamers the term sequel usually creates an expectation for some sort of innovation in terms of mechanics or visuals. Gamers who are expecting a substantial reworking of the Panzers model are going to be disappointed. Those who approach Panzers as a sort of stand-alone expansion or a giant mission pack are more likely to be satisfied with this latest offering.

Where Phase One showcased the European conflict, Phase Two moves the action to the Mediterranean area of operations specifically through North Africa and the invasion of Italy. One campaign has the player leading Germans and Italians, another the English and Americans, while the final campaign (available only after the other two are completed) puts the players in charge of Yugoslavian Partisans.

Players of the first game (or of RTS games in general) shouldn't have too much trouble picking up the basics here. It's a standard right-click affair at heart but there are a few subtleties to consider. The interface is very slick, giving you access to lots of options within an easily readable format. Rather than forcing you to manage hundreds of units (like Sudden Strike or Blitzkrieg), Codename Panzers: Phase Two gives you a powerful set of dozens of units. This means that your army is easier to manage overall but it also means that you'll have to be more careful with them since you'll have fewer of them.

Even though the scenery is different, the overall mission design should seem very familiar as well. As the player fights through missions designed around the historical operations (Tobruk, Husky, etc.), they'll discover that the missions are a bit tougher this time around. As before, the mission stories revolve around hero units and are revealed through letters home and in-game cutscenes. The cutscenes are still a little stiff, sure, but the grainy filter and the overall shape of the plot still go a long way towards keeping you interested in the context of the missions themselves.

Not surprisingly, the missions themselves are the real draw here. Rather than tasking the player with wiping out all the enemies on the map, the missions in Codename Panzers: Phase Two are instead focused on more limited goals. You'll sometimes simply need to hold out against an enemy attack until reinforcements arrive. Other times you'll have to intercept and destroy a certain number of enemy vehicles en route to a key location. Still other times you'll be tasked with capturing a town square. Though the maps themselves aren't overly large, the specific nature of the objectives leaves lots of room for interesting tactical planning. Better still many of the missions shift you from offense to defense, or swing back and forth between small unit infiltration and massive set piece battles. A wide range of optional and secret objectives adds to the replay value here.

You'll want to make a point to grab as many of these extra objectives as possible in order to earn yourself more prestige points. These prestige points can be used to buy new units before the next battle. These new units can also be outfitted with certain bonus items that enhance their combat options. Since your units can gain experience and carry over from one mission to the next, you'll find that these green troops, when looked after properly, can grow into indispensable battle-hardened veterans. Adding mine detectors to infantry for instance makes them better able to scout ahead of your vehicles.

Codename: Panzers is a World War IIvideo game created by Hungarian game developer StormRegion. It launched in 2004 to generally favorable reviews. The series entered its second iteration in July 2005 with Codename: Panzers Phase II. A Codename: Panzers Phase III was originally planned, but no longer appears on the official website. It was followed by Codename: Panzers – Cold War. The first two games of the series don't work on 64-bit operating systems due to driver incompatibility of StarForce Protection, however the DRM-free versions available on GOG.com does not contain this issue. But the GOG version relies on VC Redist 2015, which has persistent issues on many computers. Codename: Panzers was intended to be a three-part series portrayal of various conflicts of the Second World War.

The current publishing rights of the franchise belong to THQ Nordic after they acquired the intellectual property rights from the defunct publisher, cdv Software Entertainment.

Gameplay[edit]

Like Soldiers: Heroes of World War II and, to a lesser extent, Blitzkrieg, Codename: Panzers focuses on managing groups of troops, tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery and destroying the enemy or capturing objectives. The game abstracts concepts such as supply, repair, and air support without doing away with them entirely, and belongs to the real-time tactics genre more than the traditional wargame/simulation genre.

Units gain experience throughout the single-player campaigns and can be bought/upgraded between missions and added to the player's personal 'army' that travels with him from scenario to scenario. Completing mission requirements and optional objectives gives the player 'Prestige' points, which can be accumulated to upgrade existing units or used to add new units to the player's core force. Additionally, many missions provide the player with extra units to complement their core army. Also, the player is most often responsible for keeping alive a single 'hero' unit.

Units include a variety of infantry, armor, and artillery used by each nations' armed forces in World War II. While the main focus of the game is in controlling tanks, artillery units provide long range fire while infantry units can be used to engage other infantry and garrison buildings for added defense. Damage is modeled on a health bar system, although vehicles have additional armor plating to weaken before taking damage. Players are also required to maintain their vehicles using ammo and repair trucks. In addition to regular units the player can control, the game provides players with indirect fire support. In missions, players can direct a limited number of precision dive bomber strikes, paratrooper drops, carpet bombing runs, reconnaissance planes and off-map artillery.

Story[edit]

The first game (Phase I) focused on three campaigns: German (led by Hans Von Gröbel), Soviet (led by Aleksander Efremovich Vladimirov), and Western Allied (led by Jeffrey S. 'The Buck' Wilson and James 'The Gent' Barnes). The German campaign begins with the Blitzkrieg of Poland, France and then the invasion of the USSR, with the final campaign mission at Stalingrad. The Soviet campaign begins with the turn at Stalingrad and ends with the Battle of Berlin and the capture of the Reichstag. The Western Allied campaign begins with Operation Overlord and the Normandy landings, and includes battles such as Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. The game features realistic representations of tanks, artillery units, air forces, and infantry from Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and Poland. It also features Yugoslav partisans fought in the German campaign when the player moves through a rebellious area of Nedić's Serbia.

The second game (Phase II) focused on three campaigns: Axis (the same leader as in the first game with Dario DeAngelis, the Italian leader), Western Allied (the same leader as in the first game), and Yugoslavian Partisans (led by Farvan 'Vuk' Pondurovik, sometimes misspelled as Fervan). The Axis campaign follows the Italian Dario de Angelis and the Afrika Corps through the North African Campaign to the First Battle of El Alamein. The Western Allied campaign begins at the Second Battle of El Alamein, and includes Operation Torch, the Battle for Tobruk, and the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, then finishes with the Allied campaign in Italy, including Anzio and the Battle of Monte Cassino. The Yugoslav partisan campaign focus on combat in the Balkans with Soviet assistance.

Cast[edit]

The following have performed voice work in Codename: Panzers - Phase I:

• Steven Blum - Randolph Churchill
• Steve Bulen - James Barnes
• David Cowgill - Hans von Gröbel
• Kirk Thornton - Dario DeAngelis
• Peter Weller - Jeffrey S. Wilson

Reception[edit]

Codename: Panzers currently holds an 81% rating on the critic review aggregator Metacritic.^[1] The game was a success in Germany.^[2] It also received a 'Gold' award from the Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento ^[es], indicating sales above 40,000 units in Spain during its first 12 months.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^'Codename: Panzers at Metacritic.com'. Retrieved 2011-04-15.
2. ^https://web.archive.org/web/20040803205036/http://www.focus-home.com/news.php?article=183
3. ^'Galardones aDeSe 2006'(PDF) (in Spanish). Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento. July 2006. pp. 7, 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 23, 2006.^{[circular reference]}

External links[edit]

• Codename: Panzers Phase Three Community Official mod of Codename: Panzers Fans
• Codename: WarMachine Community Codename: Panzers Phase Three Red Version of Codename: WarMachine Community.
• [1] subsilvers private codename panzers forum