Rating: 
Summary: so and so...
Review: 1) Unit control and movement>
Sometimes is very hard to select a certain unit and if you have infantry droped on the ground, you can forget about driving a tank trhough that area...it takes ages.
The unit never "think" ahead...they wait until an entire platoon drive into some trees, they bunch togethere there and get stuck...than it takes 10-20 seconds to get unstuck...even if you help them by commands. Imagine you have a bunch of Il-2 on your tail...BY BYE TANKS
I understand that a novice when given a "back" command will turn a tank on the spot even while under fire instead of backing-up to a safe position, but you cannot tell me that a 3-4 years front veteran tanker will do the same.
And more of this.2) Game design. Real eye candy indeed as regarding the looks.
As for "strategy", missions and maps...after a while all of them are looking the same. NO MISSION EDITOR 3) Fire/attack rules. A german tank had WAAAYYYY better optics and IT HAD A RADIO! So, a PIII, PIV, even more PV or VI, would have 1.5 better seeing range than a T-34 for example. Not to mention the fire accuracy, german tank crews when in a PIV (from Ausfuehrung G up), PV or PVI were a feared enemy on any front.
A Tiger had slow transverse movement for its turret but the crew compensated with moving the entire tank when needed. Not in the game.
4) Someone called "WWWII buff" praised the "historical corectness" of this name. WAY OFF AND NOT TRUE>
a) KV2 was more like a howitzer on a tank chasis (like the british Bishop, etc) Thus, it should have the "ranged fire" or "saturation fire" as the other guns have. Very heavily armored, to destroy it, the germans were using AT guns to disable the tracks and then, depending on the front situation, were calling heavy artillery to destroy it or were seaking up to it to drop grenades inside.
b) The T-34 models are messed up. Please search www.battlefield.ru for more info.
c) The "naratives" before mission are heavily biased, especially regarding the eastern front...
d) MOST IMPORTANT: messed up historical accuracy, even when playing on normal (historical accurate)
The germans had very good tanks/infantery and AT gunnery, achieving more with less
The russians depended heavily on artilery preparations before atacking...huge number of guns, all kinds. Huge numbers of infantery, tanks and war materials also...not to mention the Sturmoviks.
The allieds owned the skies, especially after Normandy, nothing could be moved without a JABO cleaning the place. So so tanks, good ranges artillery and infantery NO WAY: T-28 tanks, Maus or IS-3...Maus 128mm gun incredibly weak!!! 4) Unit selection: I played the german campaign twice until the end, on normal and hard and could not get a Tiger...the last mission I have Panthers, and a Jagdpanther (or tiger, not sure), but not PVI or more important, no Koenigstiger under my command (the ones which are the core units) I could continue, but no space left...overal, nice game to own if you like RTS, a little heavy on "mouse control"...takes a lot of mouse movements to coodinate in assault, weak in strategy, but eyecandy.
No D-day map! Suden Strike had one!
Rating:
Summary: so and so...
Review: 1) Unit control and movement>
Sometimes is very hard to select a certain unit and if you have infantry droped on the ground, you can forget about driving a tank trhough that area...it takes ages.
The unit never "think" ahead...they wait until an entire platoon drive into some trees, they bunch togethere there and get stuck...than it takes 10-20 seconds to get unstuck...even if you help them by commands. Imagine you have a bunch of Il-2 on your tail...BY BYE TANKS
I understand that a novice when given a "back" command will turn a tank on the spot even while under fire instead of backing-up to a safe position, but you cannot tell me that a 3-4 years front veteran tanker will do the same.
And more of this. 2) Game design. Real eye candy indeed as regarding the looks.
As for "strategy", missions and maps...after a while all of them are looking the same. NO MISSION EDITOR 3) Fire/attack rules. A german tank had WAAAYYYY better optics and IT HAD A RADIO! So, a PIII, PIV, even more PV or VI, would have 1.5 better seeing range than a T-34 for example. Not to mention the fire accuracy, german tank crews when in a PIV (from Ausfuehrung G up), PV or PVI were a feared enemy on any front.
A Tiger had slow transverse movement for its turret but the crew compensated with moving the entire tank when needed. Not in the game.
4) Someone called "WWWII buff" praised the "historical corectness" of this name. WAY OFF AND NOT TRUE>
a) KV2 was more like a howitzer on a tank chasis (like the british Bishop, etc) Thus, it should have the "ranged fire" or "saturation fire" as the other guns have. Very heavily armored, to destroy it, the germans were using AT guns to disable the tracks and then, depending on the front situation, were calling heavy artillery to destroy it or were seaking up to it to drop grenades inside.
b) The T-34 models are messed up. Please search www.battlefield.ru for more info.
c) The "naratives" before mission are heavily biased, especially regarding the eastern front...
d) MOST IMPORTANT: messed up historical accuracy, even when playing on normal (historical accurate)
The germans had very good tanks/infantery and AT gunnery, achieving more with less
The russians depended heavily on artilery preparations before atacking...huge number of guns, all kinds. Huge numbers of infantery, tanks and war materials also...not to mention the Sturmoviks.
The allieds owned the skies, especially after Normandy, nothing could be moved without a JABO cleaning the place. So so tanks, good ranges artillery and infantery NO WAY: T-28 tanks, Maus or IS-3...Maus 128mm gun incredibly weak!!! 4) Unit selection: I played the german campaign twice until the end, on normal and hard and could not get a Tiger...the last mission I have Panthers, and a Jagdpanther (or tiger, not sure), but not PVI or more important, no Koenigstiger under my command (the ones which are the core units) I could continue, but no space left...overal, nice game to own if you like RTS, a little heavy on "mouse control"...takes a lot of mouse movements to coodinate in assault, weak in strategy, but eyecandy.
No D-day map! Suden Strike had one!
Rating: 
Summary: Redundant
Review: After the initial glow wore off, it was apparent that there is very limited replayability here. The canned 'random' missions are essentially the same over and over again, and the historical missions are identical every time. A branching campaign as in Panzer General 2 would have been infinitely more interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: This game will be the CFS of the strategy games.
Review: As many people know, microsoft's CFS and Flightsim series are famed for their ease of modification and flexibility. Blitzkrieg promises to be even more flexible with its editing programs. This game has the accuracy and complexity of Close combat and the playability and pure style of Red Alert 2. The only con I can see to this game is the system used for reinforcements and aircraft.
And to all you other pilots, it IS fun to get your boots dirty once in a while.
Rating: 
Summary: AN AWESOME GAME!!!
Review: Feel the sting of battle with the game that's worth every penny!
Since seeing Blitzkrieg at Gamespot and buying it here at Amazon, Blitzkreig has become one of my favorite games. Blitzkrieg masterly blends superb historical accuracy with top-notch graphics and tops it off with intense fighting that's both fast and fun.
First off, the historical accuracy of the game is very well-done. As a major WW2 buff, I was impressed at the accurate depictions of tanks like the German Panther and Soviet T-34. The developers actually visited military museums in Moscow to bring extra detail to the 3-D vehicles in the game. Also nice was the adding of lesser-known tanks like the German Nashorn and British Matilida.
Second, the graphics are amazing, all told, the graphics are awesome and impressive.
Third, strategy is required. You must develop a plan of attack and then execute it with troops, tanks, artillery and aircraft. The game is somewhat easy to play, but the missions are challenging, especially the tougher 'historical' missions.
Fourthly, Blitzkreig has a lot of 'cool' aspects too: your infantrymen can throw grenades at tanks to destroy them, you are able to capture and use enemy artillery, you can use paratroopers and you get so many cool vehicles to use.
Blitzkrieg is not perfect though. My beefs with the game are mainly with the supply and repair system, a nice touch, but it's flawed due to its slowness and cumbersomeness. Also, the so-called 'random' mission, played prior to the 'historical' missions, are basically the same mission over and over again.
But despite Blitzkrieg's flaws, it's a very enjoyable, a very tough and a very addictive game that blows Sudden Strike clear out of the water. Get ready, battles rage from Russia to North Africa and from Finland to France, so don't miss out on the fun and excitement that is Blitzkrieg! I highly recommend it to history buffs, wargamers or to anyone craving fun. It's worth the...bucks!
Rating:
Summary: Eagerly Awaiting The Release!
Review: Finally a WWII RTS that looks good! Finished playing the demo and it is (1) very fun, (2) historically accurate, (3) easy to play. The balance is right between these three. The battles look like they could have some epic scale. Definitely reccommend it for anyone that likes war games or RTS.
Rating:
Summary: fun but simplified and inaccurate
Review: First of all, I loved the game. I probably spent way too much time playing with the tanks. The game looks great, the music is tolerable, voice samples are awesome and it's great that the keyboard controls are set up space-wise, not by abreviation (the grid of icons you can mouse over is arranged the same way as their representations on the keyboard).
plenty of reviews on the graphics already but not too many people mentioned the voice samples. I'm russian so it's good to hear actual russian voice samples, not someone just reading stuff off a script typed out in english. the slang from the soviet forces is great, reminds me of the older russian war movies. the allied forces' voice samples were a bit plain on the other hand. can't speak for the germans, at least it's not english with an overdone german accent.
the game is NOT historically accurate. not to spoil anything but the Maus tank didn't appear at the battle of the bulge as far as i know. the IS-3's weren't used in combat against the germans, no british jet fighters, etc. the game's biased, pretty much all of the allie's tanks will have their butts handed to them by the panzers. actually by just about everything in the game. if you're securing a town in an allied campaign, you have to work for it. hop infantry from house to house supporting them with tanks and artillery. on the other hand, you can pretty much send a few T-34's into a town and they'll wipe out most everything they come across.
the thing that bothers me in the game the most is the lousy AI. the units will always trip over themselves. even infantry will get lost walking around a building. trying to get any more than 4 or 5 tanks into formation is hopeless. vehicles will often get stuck against each other and it takes some effort to get them on their way. given a choice of targets the units will as a rule of thumb fire at the wrong one unless directed explicitly. faced with a supply truck, an heavy AA gun and some infantry hole up in a house a tank will usually blast the crap out of the truck and then move on to the house (if it's still around at that point). it's pretty easy to "cheat" and be cheap. sneaking a sniper over to a target and spotting for artillery is just fine but you can also do this with infantry. move up a few feet, whip out the binoculars, blast away with the howitzers, repeat. nothing wrong with this per se but you can beat the whole game this way or at least the parts where you have artillery that can blast away unharased.
the game isn't very detailed. sudden strike seems to give you a lot more flexibility. blitzkrieg doesn't let you take over enemy vehicles, choose placement inside a building, etc.
To the point, the looks, sound, control and details are great. the play could be a good deal better. the simplicity isn't a bad thing but it's there. Nival isn't big on historical accuracy (see Silent Storm) so don't rely on this game for academic info. But chances are, the game will be fun. Try the demo.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, Not great
Review: I am a WWII history buff and I know plenty about many facets of warfare during WWII, and although this title has it ups and downs, i think it only manages a fair rating due to some major drawbacks. Pros:
1. Good graphics. The Sudden Strike series was all 2-d, this time around, only the scenery is 2-d... all tanks are modeled in 3-d rendered onto a 2-d map... but, don't get me wrong, they got some good people working in the graphics department at CDV.
2. Solid performance, no crashes, no problems.
3. Campaign system which takes you through 1939 Poland, 1940 France, to 1941-1945 Russia. Different setup, I must say. Cons:
1. I don't get this one, you can shoot off 1 round from artillery, and it will be registered on the map in a blimp on everybody's map (ie: sound contact)... Okay, kinda realistic, kinda not realistic, but with the AI, that 1 shot means that the AI knows EXACTLY where your artillery is... Say good-bye to those 105s! They know thee EXACT position of your stuff, from only ONE shot... give me a break. It makes artillery nearly useless in player vs. AI! 2. Inaccurate stats of weapons - perhaps a gamebalance issue? Why exactly is the long barreled 75 and the short barreled 75 rated the same (in terms of penetration)? Why is the short barreled 50 and the long barreled 50 not differentiated? Why is the long barreled 50 rated the same as the... gasp... 37mm.. (in terms of penetration)... Honestly, now, W T F !!! 3. I don't mind the campaign scenarios in the way they are set up (entirely)... but, come up, get real... you have to "win" scenarios to be entitled to upgrade your equipment to the standard of that era... Example: You have to "win" a scenario in the 1941 Russia campaign to "be able to upgrade" your PzIIIEs into PzIIIJs... Okay, so you go into the scenario with a year old equipment (37mm guns) instead of the standard (50mm guns)... by the time you win the only 2 scenarios required to pass the campaign, you go to the next campaign with... the standard equipment for the previous era... but whats this, you now didnt even need to win those scenarios cause your gonna be entitled to freely upgrade them in the next campaign which is only 2 scenarios away! W T F! You should be entitled to USE the equipment standard to THAT era in WWII, not the previous era. W T F were they thinking!?!?! 4. To save time on building maps, this game intigrates an interesting way of scenario maps: Make several smaller designs, and then toss them together! Basically, each map just takes a few pieces and puts them together to make the map. Your not really playing a new map each scenario, your basically just playing the same tiles tossed around in a different way. Okay, so bascially its the same thing every time. Great idea, maybe? Maybe, but for me, I would rather see some more interesting unique map designs for each scenario rather than just randomly tossed together maps each time. Plus, this setup lowers the replay value a degree imo. 5. Aircraft is a bit wierd... each player gets the same # of air strength, which is split into Recon, Big Bombers, Small (dive) bombers, Fighters, and Paratroopers... Its perfectly evenly balanced (each # of calls available for each team)... In fact, its a tad bit TOO balanced for a war game. Not to mention fighters have a 95% chance of winning over everything else... constantly. It's just... wierd. All in all, it isn't a horrid WWII game... I have seen worse... But I have also seen much much better, like Combat Mission. I wouldn't rate it totally out of the question, maybe a 3.5 is a better assesment of this title. Overall though, I'm glad I got it for 30$, as its not worth much more than that.
Rating:
Summary: Great Demo
Review: I can only compare it to Red Alert, my previous favorite RTS game. Blitzkrieg is much more realistic and detail-oriented. There are 200 vehicle types available, and they seem to accurately reflect actual historical weapons. The terrain is interactive: houses and trees can be blown-up, bridges can be built, trenches dug, etc... You can call in air support in the form of one of the following options: observation plane, fighters, heavy bombers, ground attack planes or paratroop transport. Playability is good, though some of the support units need to be micromanaged to be effective. Laying a minefield takes forever because engineers have to be directed to lay each mine. Also, repair and re-supplying vehicles have to be directed to specific vehicles. Ironically, the fighting units are more autonomous, you give them a fighting posture and they'll respond to the enemy accordingly (engage, ambush, ignore, etc...) Air units are more abstract. You pick one type of air support at a time and select a target. Bombers decimate ground units, but are quickly dispatched by fighters or heavy AAA. While playing the third battle, I ended up in an artillery dual with the computer. It reminded me of recent battles fought in Gulf I & II. You engage the enemy, then clear the area before their artillary starts landing. With a scout and the Russian's heavy artillary, you can easily destroy everything on the map.
Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: I got my hands on the German version by chance and I already finished the game. I'm impressed. Graphically the game is well-done. The tanks look like their real-live counterparts (the creators of the game visited the Moscow museum and made sure that all the tanks in the game are as big as, colored as, etc as the exhibits there). Infantry ducks and aims when shooting with a rifle. Airplanes dive, strafe and carpet bomb. Everything is beautifully done, and yet the engine is quite light. The game will run well even on older computers. The gameplay is very, very fun. The game is incredibly realistic without becoming boring. The player is forced to combine all the WW2 weapons by the game itself - without softening the enemy defenses with artillery and airplanes it is hard to mount a succesful offensive. Attacking with tanks only is generally a bad idea since 3-4 well camouflaged AT guns (especially monstrosities like the German Flak88) can stop 10+ tanks easily. Thus the player is forced to combine tanks with infantry (comfortably enough one can make the infantry climb on the top of the tank and thus transport them) since infantry fares quite well against AT guns.
Furthermore there are trenches, which are quite effective at stopping tanks since the infantry inside is reasonably well protected against them. If the tanks try to roll over the trench the infantry usually manages to break their tracks thus rendering them immobile. All this is done very easily in the game because of the intuitive and simple interface.
All the major engines of destruction of WW2 are present in the game - starting from the Panzer 3, Mathilda and BT tanks, going through the Panzer 4, Sherman and T-34 and ending up with the fearsome Pershings, Tigers and IS-2. There are even some tanks not used in the war - the Russian IS-3 (it started for the front in May '45) and the German Super Heavy Maus (which never went beyond a prototype). This is just the tanks - there's also Messerschimdts, Stukas, IL-2s, Yaks, Spitfires, Liberators and what not. A note on the way damage is calculated. Each unit in the game (though it matters mostly for tanks only) has front, back, sides and top armor. When a gun is fired, if the target is hit the game makes a check whether or not the armor is penetrated. If not the target suffers no damage. This makes the combat very realistic. One can really feel the power of say the Russian IS-2 tank with its 122 mm gun when it wastes a Tiger in one shot. One feels fear when he see the German Elefant going against 5 tanks and wasting them with one shot each without getting more than a few scratches - simply because it's armor is so thick mere 75mm guns can't penetrate it. A few words on the campaign structure - it consists of 'chapters'. Each chapter has some random missions (at least one must be played) and a historical mission. The random missions are randomly generated missions where you have only your 'core' units available. These core units are tank/artillery crews that can advance in experience as your campaign progresses. You can upgrade them. For example my tank crew, commanded by Sergeant Shoholov started with a meager T-27 light tank in Finland '39 and proudly assaulted Berlin in a brand new IS-2 titan.
The Historical missions are, well, historical missions. One good thing I noticed is that there is pretty much no historical inaccuracy. For example in Poland the German army hardly has any Panzer 4s while in the '42 missions (Kharkov) they have mostly Panzer 4s. Same with the infantry - in the beggining almost all infantrymen are armed with rifles. Towards the end there are SMGs, MGs, AT rifles, Bazookas and what not. Multiplayer is fun too. There's flag-match and assault. In assault one side defends and the other attacks (no reinforcements available) while in flag-match the side with more flags gets more reinforcements. I tried it, it's fun. Some more maps would be good though. In conclusion I'll note that the version I played is 1.00. The English language release will be version 1.01. I believe that it comes out somewhere in the middle of May.
This is a very good and stable RTS game, much superior to Command&Conquer generals (for example) which I would recommend to anyone interested in the genre or in WW2 in general.
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