This game is a masterpiece of modern armor simulation put together by actual tankers which simulates the real thing. It is realistic and it is used a simulator in the Army. The tactics are real, the physics are real, the sounds are real and even the gun sights are real!
Ok, so the suspension stays stationary and your troops don't have faces on them (big deal!). The game simulates the condition of battle, not paltry details. It is not a role-playing game.
I take my hat off to the people that put this together.
But I do have some critiques...
The scenarios require you to kill EVERY SINGLE LIVING THING inside a given objective zone to be declared a winner, otherwise you might suffer a MAJOR DEFEAT. Give me a break guys! If you have masses of your vehicles inside the objective, you are a winner. If the area in front of you is littered with enemy wrecks and you are holding your position, you are a winner, okay?!!
Also, you are given a very short time to gain your objective. This comes from the Blitzkrieg, gung-ho, jet pilot mentality so prevalent both inside and outside of the military nowadays. You are expected to advance quickly upon the enemy and gain your objective or you are considered ineffective.
Everytime I met the scenario time requirements, I ended up losing half of my force, which I would not call a successful MAJOR VICTORY by any means. An M-1 costs $4 million and experienced veteran crews are priceless, so no, NOT a MAJOR VICTORY.
Real tank battles are not as exciting or as fast moving as some of the scenario writers would have us believe. They involve of a lot of movement by advancing carefully from cover to cover, then creeping out to engage the enemy.
If it is the flashy, move quick, blitz attack this simulation is drumming into the heads of those drilling on it, then get ready for some heavy casualties on the real battlefield!
Last but not least (as players might have noticed) the artillery is a major headache.
Tank formations get decimated by artillery in this game.
The sound of artillery falling on my company pretty much signals the end of the scenario because it knocks out your tanks' 'gadgets' (thermal sights, computers, laser rangefinders, stabilized sightes,) without which I might as well be attacking with a platoon of Shermans!
I dunno, but I would think all that sophisticated stuff would be protected by armor.
Granted, its supposed to be the new advanced artillery which is composed of bomblets, heat-seeking grenades and such, but still, if you think an armored division has enough supply tail to be dragging tons of this artillery ammunition around, you have a fantasy concept of war.
And the enemy artillery is as good as US artillery (I guess we lost the technical race after all!)
So what you have are tank formations just wallopping themselves into mush with artillery (APCs are immediately destroyed by it).
I can see the 'heads-up' the designers are giving by including this new tank-busting super artillery, but the truth of the matter is that it won't be as widely available as the game represents (we would run out of it).
The only way you can avoid artillery is to keep moving (which is sometimes not wise in the face of the enemy) or spread your tanks out so wide they can no longer be controlled as formations.
A valid point guys, but how about granting the player some super-spread out formations so he can counter the artillery barrages?
In summary, I must just say it is a stupendous simulation which is a bit flawed on the victory conditions and on its dependence on omnipotent artillery.
If you want to know what a tank battle is like, however, plug in your helmet and hang on!
This is the real stuff!
