Blitz Burning Horizons

Rating:
Summary: Great start for RTS..
Review: I really took a chance on buying this game since I hadn't read any of the reviews on it yet. I had recently gotten a copy of Sudden Strike 2 (also by CDV) and noticed that the interface was similar, so I calculated that it must be from the same team. Right next to it at Best Buy was Soldiers: Heroes of WW2. Thankfully, from everything I have read, I made the right choice in buying Blitzkrieg! Burning Horizon. And it was $10 less.

I was right, it's basicaly an evolution of the Sudden Strike series, which is among my favorites.

There are only a few things I find in fault. The objectives can in fact be a bit fuzzy until you are issued new orders during a scenario, then you have to really readjust your unit positions and whatnot. And aside from the twitchy "pathfinding" of the units, the armor has a bad habit of shooting EVERYTHING, including units you need to capture. But you compensate for this by using different tactics. Vehicles and sometimes troops can get stuck for no apparent reason, and it takes a lot of effort to free them if possible. Sometimes they stay stuck. Some say it's the 2D landscape versus the 3D units, but this happened with Sudden Strike too, which was all 2D. And I haven't had it happen yet with Combat Mission, which is all 3D. *shrug* They get stuck.

There are a lot of nice touches as improvemnts from the Sudden Strike series, like being able to call in various air support, weather and losses providing. In fact, you can multitask and bring in all of them - carpet bomb one position while strafing another, meanwhile transports reinforce you with paratroopers as fighters keep enemy fighters away. That's fun.

If you want stark realism, try one of the Combat Mission series. If you're looking for a bit of realism with a slight arcade feel and enough balance to employ some complex tactics, this game may be good for you. I liked it. But I like a lot of them and this is one of them.

Should be noted that any shortcomings of the first "Blitzkrieg!" in terms of the AI, were revised and updated for "Burning Horizon". Significant changes were made, so if the first one was discouraging, give the sequel a try.

Rating:
Summary: Good but weird
Review: I totally enjoy the Blitzkrieg series. I have each game plus the add-ons. Burning Horizons is awesome but has some weird bugs. My trucks often do not resupply on their own and I have to constantly direct them toward supply depots causing me grief. Also, the mission objectives seem unclear causing the player to do things that do not go along with the objectives. I have even received some mission objectives in German! A patch would be great for the bugs listed. Otherwise I love it. There are lots of things to smash so even my artillery is gaining elite status. As with all the Blitzkrieg games the one thing I cannot stand is not knowing exactly HOW to increase my rank other than trying to gain the best stats I can.

Rating:
Summary: Good but weird
Review: If you enjoyed the original Blitzkrieg PC game, you will probably find Burning Horizons to be even better. You can play a German campaign which encompasses all the actions that Erwin Rommel was involved in, which is a lot of fun. It is much different than the original game that had only 3 or so mission variations. In this campaign, there is a lot of variety in mission goals and execution, with each one being different from the one before. It really makes the game a lot more interesting, as you never really know what to expect. In addition, you can win medals for especially valiant actions on the field; for instance, some of my infantry won the Iron Cross for stopping a tank assault with only some captured howitzers. Besides the campaign, there is also a collection of single-player missions which range in complexity and difficulty. You can now play in areas as diverse as Norway, the Pacific, Ethiopia, and Singapore. There seems to be more of an emphasis on air power in this game as well. It can really make a big difference early on in the game. Overall, if you liked the first game, you will probably love this one. It is not nearly as repetitive as the original, and is much more fun. A down side is the fact that you only have the German campaign, there are no Allied or Russian variants to compliment it, but it is made up for by the list of single-player missions that you can explore. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A worthy successor to the original
Review: If you enjoyed the original Blitzkrieg PC game, you will probably find Burning Horizons to be even better. You can play a German campaign which encompasses all the actions that Erwin Rommel was involved in, which is a lot of fun. It is much different than the original game that had only 3 or so mission variations. In this campaign, there is a lot of variety in mission goals and execution, with each one being different from the one before. It really makes the game a lot more interesting, as you never really know what to expect. In addition, you can win medals for especially valiant actions on the field; for instance, some of my infantry won the Iron Cross for stopping a tank assault with only some captured howitzers. Besides the campaign, there is also a collection of single-player missions which range in complexity and difficulty. You can now play in areas as diverse as Norway, the Pacific, Ethiopia, and Singapore. There seems to be more of an emphasis on air power in this game as well. It can really make a big difference early on in the game. Overall, if you liked the first game, you will probably love this one. It is not nearly as repetitive as the original, and is much more fun. A down side is the fact that you only have the German campaign, there are no Allied or Russian variants to compliment it, but it is made up for by the list of single-player missions that you can explore. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Really good game!
Review: This hame will be really intence warfare. just like the first Blitzfrieg. Like its predecessor, Burning Horizon is actually a real-time tactical game. You do not gather resources, nor do you build a base or construct a gigantic army like you would in a conventional real-time strategy game. Instead, you're given a fixed number of assets at the beginning of the mission to accomplish your goals, much like a real operational commander in war. From that point on, it's all up to you to orchestrate your infantry, armor, artillery, and air units into an effective combined arms force.

Though the game still uses a 2D graphics engine, much like Microsoft and Ensemble's Age of Empires real-time strategy games, Burning Horizon does allow for a huge amount of interactivity with the environment. Virtually everything can be blown up, including buildings and bridges; it's just a matter of providing enough explosives. Trees and forests can be flattened by tanks or artillery fire, and the ground can become pockmarked with craters. This is the kind of game where you'll have to destroy a village to save it, and it seems surprisingly satisfying to do so.

As with Blitzkrieg, the units in Burning Horizon can gain experience over time, so it's important to try to keep them alive instead of throwing them into the grinder. The more experience a unit has, the more capable it is. Furthermore, high-level units will unlock special upgrades. Burning Horizon will support up to eight players in multiplayer, but the designers aren't including any new multiplayer options because the expansion focuses mainly on the single-player campaign. The single-player campaign should have about 20 to 30 hours of content. This is a MUST BUY game for the real strategy fans!!!

Rating:
Summary: Really good game!
Review: This hame will be really intence warfare. just like the first Blitzfrieg. Like its predecessor, Burning Horizon is actually a real-time tactical game. You do not gather resources, nor do you build a base or construct a gigantic army like you would in a conventional real-time strategy game. Instead, you're given a fixed number of assets at the beginning of the mission to accomplish your goals, much like a real operational commander in war. From that point on, it's all up to you to orchestrate your infantry, armor, artillery, and air units into an effective combined arms force.

Though the game still uses a 2D graphics engine, much like Microsoft and Ensemble's Age of Empires real-time strategy games, Burning Horizon does allow for a huge amount of interactivity with the environment. Virtually everything can be blown up, including buildings and bridges; it's just a matter of providing enough explosives. Trees and forests can be flattened by tanks or artillery fire, and the ground can become pockmarked with craters. This is the kind of game where you'll have to destroy a village to save it, and it seems surprisingly satisfying to do so.

As with Blitzkrieg, the units in Burning Horizon can gain experience over time, so it's important to try to keep them alive instead of throwing them into the grinder. The more experience a unit has, the more capable it is. Furthermore, high-level units will unlock special upgrades. Burning Horizon will support up to eight players in multiplayer, but the designers aren't including any new multiplayer options because the expansion focuses mainly on the single-player campaign. The single-player campaign should have about 20 to 30 hours of content. This is a MUST BUY game for the real strategy fans!!!

Rating:
Summary: Worthy of your time
Review: This is actually an expansion / sequel to the highly praised Blitzkrieg. A tight WWII Real Time Strategy that is praised for its authenticity and tight game play. This Burning Horizon expansion centers around the battles of German General Erwin Rommel, most famously known as "The Desert Fox". These 18 missions are based around historically `accurate' conflicts so the history buff might get some juice out of this. Where Blitzkrieg and this expansion set themselves apart from all the 'click and move' strategic war games glutting the market, is how the game has done away with resource building and extensive micro management.

Each scenario begins with a pre-determined amount of troops, artillery and vehicles. It's up to the player to maximize the strengths of each unit while strategically making up for their weaknesses to ensure a victory.

Or maybe just have a damn good scout.

While a bit tedious, one good sniper can slowly decimate the whole map-making it easy for your troops to roll in later and clean up. Air support (both yours and the enemies) is a bit unbalanced (or maybe too real). A few well chosen air strikes can pretty much end some battles before they begin. But these are minor gripes as the game play holds all the charm of traditional RTS, but focuses so much more on fighting and strategy rather than trying to build up the big army that just runs over the enemy. A wide variety of troops, heavy infantry, Anti-Aircraft guns, tanks and aircraft lend to an array of options to accomplish goals. And with the ability to man enemy armaments after you've killed the soldiers you can increase (or replace) your own army. If the player can keep losses to a minimum, troops can are promoted to a higher rank, improving their abilities.

Although the interfaces are a bit small, there are a lot of adjustments that can be made to each unit. Fortifying their position, advancing defensively or storming an object all can affect the tide of a battle. The AI is fairly predictable and downright stupid against snipers. Again, a single scout can literally sit there and drop soldiers one by one as their companions stand around seemingly oblivious to the 6, now 7, now 8 dead comrades that keep dropping near them. But even with that advantage (scouts are only available on certain scenarios), I found I had to rethink / restart my attack strategy numerous times.

The game even keeps track of your efficiency, (including restarts) and awards you promotions and medals accordingly. The learning curve is a bit steep (even with the easy to follow tutorial) and after all, this is an expansion, so the developers are assuming the player has some experience with the RTS genre and control scheme. While the multiplayer mode was left off the expansion (?), this does come with a map editor for you closet map building geeks. So if you don't like the missions presented, you can build you own. A feature becoming quite common in the RTS genre.

I had a great time with this, even though I didn't play the original (which I guess is MUCH longer, but game play and graphics are very similar). Challenging maps, rich with some authentic historical facts to set up the battles and the lack of having to worrying about continually building and replacing troops made this a standout RTS title well worth the time.