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Impressive gameplay. Playing a turn based strategy title after quite some time, the feeling of stepping into familiar territory was there. Granted, you can find our review on 2K game’s Shattered Union in our site but to be honest Commander has all the elements of past-time great games. First of all the scale is on the corps/army level which means that every icon on the map signifies a corps of at least 20,000 to 30,000 men strong. Thus, there’s no room for special forces such as paratroopers which might seem disappointing at first glance but you have to realize that you’re leading armies into battle and not battalions. The main goal is to capture a nation’s capital in order to annex it and to win the game you’ll have to take hold of all the major nation’s ones. Thus, Berlin, Rome, Budapest and Bucharest are the main Allied targets with Paris, London, Washington and Moscow for the Axis. In fact, even if you do manage to pull off a successful Barbarosa, the USSR’s capital will be moved to Perm, thus requiring to stretch out your forces to subdue the Red Bear. It might seem a simplistic approach but trust me, it works like a charm. So, there’s the goal, how can it be accomplished? Simple, by massing an overwhelming force of highly advanced troops and smashing through your enemy’s defenses! In Commande Europe at War, the player is in charge not only with tactical decisions and strategic placement but with production and research as well. Truth be told, the game focuses on the most enjoyable aspects of a grand strategy game while leaving the more mundane tasks such as supply and diplomacy aside. That doesn’t mean that supplying your troops doesn’t make a difference though since on top of the usual unit statistics such as attack/defense/movement and attack range values, there’s the effectiveness variable as well. What does that mean? To put it simply is how well supplied a unit is and the amount of ‘hardware’ that’s available to project effectively on the battlefield at a given time. Thus, you’re better off if you have your corps fighting well above 50% efficiency which is easy to distinguish since it’s color-coded. Hence, units that have their numbers in white color are at above 50% efficiency, with yellow, orange and worse still red numbers are at lower than the minimal optimum combat efficiency. That variable can be lowered by combat, reinforcements, upgrading a unit with newer equipment, repairs and worse of them all, being completely surrounded by the enemy. And you really, really don’t want that to happen to your valiant troops since they are pretty much doomed in the hands of your foes. Moving around troops and fighting is not all that’s in it for Commander though. Research plays a big part in the game, and the player will be able to choose from Infantry, Armor, Naval, Airforce and General/Industrial fields, while having the option to further specialize the field of expertise by means of Research Focus Points for each of the major nations. Thus, you can as the Allies have the US focus on air power, the UK in ASW and the USSR in tank and infantry research. However, care must be taken to develop more than one sector before you come into a nasty surprise of facing JS III tanks with meager PzIV’s or highly advanced Elektro submarines with outdated mid-war destroyers. Truth be told, the research adds an extra layer in the game increasing not only its replayability but its overall gameplay as well. As for diplomacy, it’s limited to declaration of war actions but in all fairness there’s really no need for complex diplomatic engagements. The main element of the game is combat so diplomatic measures take the back seat and rightfully so. But that’s not all. Besides individual corps and armies, you’ll be able to attach a commander in your formations further enhancing their combat capabilities and in tandem with good quality troops it can lead to very powerful units. Be warned though that in heavy combat there’s a chance for your officer to be injured, thus taken out of action for a significant amount of time. A very nice feature that unfortunately doesn’t extend to naval and air units since your commanders are available only for land forces. Nevertheless, a very nice addition to an already very good game. With respect to Commander’s available scenarios, there are different points in the second world war that you will be called upon to lead your troops ranging from 1939, 1940, 1941 and 1944. Variety is there and it could only get bigger with a few well polished community mods and scenarios, if not add-ons released from Slitherine. A few issues but nothing game-breaking. However, there are a few issues mostly with the game’s AI, which does seem to be lacking when controlling the Axis. Granted, it does strive to conduct extensive U-boat raids on convoys but still, it doesn’t touch the minor European nations such as Norway, the Balkans. Moreover, it rarely launches successful North Africa campaigns, focusing on France and Russia alone, resulting in a spent Wehrmacht within the first couple of months in operation Barbarosa. In addition, the lack of intuitive and exploitative ‘thinking’ from its behalf leaves a few bullet holes in the single player experience. It has become common practice for example to leave the entire British Isles undefended and transport all the available British land units to North Africa since the AI very rarely launches a successful Battle of Britain, let alone a Sea Lion operation. As for historic authenticity, there are special date triggers that affect gameplay based on historic facts such as the Finnish War, Pearl Harbor which results in the US joining the war or the Tripartite Agreement for Hungary and Romania to join the Axis. Keep in mind though that the game’s scope and scale would make a more detailed historical approach bulky and cumbersome, resulting in a more historically accurate but less enjoyable game to play. To summarize, if you overlook a few AI issues, Commander Europe at War is a very enjoyable game. Turn Based Games are back! The game’s scope allows for a shift in focus than the typical battalion level, thus adding that much needed degree of flexibility and strategic thinking. Keeping the traditional turn based theme, it solves issues with the strange real time or simultaneously moving engines that tried to make TBS games more ‘interesting’. Quite frankly, games of this scope should only be played in TBS format in order to keep track what’s going on. It’s being a long time since a light wargame turn based strategy game has being released, able to follow the footsteps of Panzer General series, the genre’s holy relic. Commander Europe at War is guaranteed to bring hours of enjoyment in turn based strategy game fans and newcomers alike. It’s about time we see a game worthy of Panzer General’s legacy! Crazy George
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Commander Europe at War 
