A WWII RTS, Codename Panzers walks a fine line between realistic gameplay and arcade action. From what I’ve seen of the demo, it pulls it all off very very well.

Soldiers are seperated into squads of 7 riflemen, 2 machine gunners, 2 medics, 2 flamethrowers, etc allowing you to issue commands to groups instead of individuals. Squads can be ordered to take buildings, flamethrow tanks - and in something quite new and nice man guns such as artillery or antitank guns. Although your tanks come with their own crews, your support jeeps and infantry carriers sit dormant until comandeered. This is also true of the heavy anti-tank and artillery guns which means that when you’re engaged, you’re forced to manage manpower and guns. Do I send the rifle squad up on point, or have them wheel the anti tank gun into an ambush position? In once instance I stuck my medics on the artillery gun and gave support fire to my retreating main infantry force. Maybe thats against the Geneva Conventions, not sure, but damn those guys sure know how to blow stuff up.

Your large guns are pushed by infantry or towed by your halftracks. In all it truely feels like you have a living and breathing mechanized squad rumbling through the maps.

In another unique game design mechanic, vehicles have both armor and hitpoints ( realistic ), but only the later can replensihed by the mobile repair vehicles (arcadish). Units also have limited ammunition that can be restored at ammo dumps located throughout the map. The units you bring into a mission are the only units you’ll get, so there are times when you’re forced to send units into your reserve while they reload and repair….

… which should make battles more dynamic if it weren’t for how static the enemy defenses are. There are very few enemy units actively searching for a fight. Most simply wait for you to discover them and then open up a barrage until you retreat or leave them a smuldering pile of poo. So although you sould be missing your tank while it’s rearming in reserves, instead you’re delaying your advance until it rumbles it back up to the front. I hope this has to do with the level being simplistic for demo purposes, and not a reflectiong of overall game design.

In the end the demo is a blast. A mix between Generals and Close Combat, each unit is a different tactical tool at your disposal. You’ll end up leading with infantry instead of your armor (to hunt out ambushes) which to me is a big step in RTS gameplay. The graphics are breathtaking, the sound is above par, and the production values are high. The game has gone gold and should be shipping soon.