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.The Wargamer

Minimum Req.: P3 450Mhz, 64MB RAM, 16MB video card
Reviewed On: P4 2.5 GHz, 512 Meg RAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

Blitzkrieg was as much a puzzle title as it was a strategy. It was clear that there were certain things that the developers wanted the player to do to complete objectives, but they also allowed a little room so that some imagination could be utilized. I likened it to playing with G.I. Joes as a kid: half the fun is the anticipation of the big battle; in this case, putting units in place, making sure supplies are adequate, grouping them up, and then assaulting. Normally the initial assault would fail, but during subsequent tries the player would learn how the computer was set up and reload to try again. Each time the computer would change to meet the player's new tactics, but only slightly, allowing for a pattern to emerge for the player to follow to victory. While I knew that wasn't the best way to design a game, the mechanics won me over - the way artillery, mechanized units, infantry, and air played such integral and intertwining roles, I couldn't help but love it. Now comes the standalone expansion, Burning Horizon, which is a bit of a step back from the two-year-old Blitzkrieg.

Following the career of one Erwin "Desert Fox" Rommel, players will take to Africa and engage the British in some of histories most famous encounters. Of course, his career will span much more than his fights with The Desert Rats, but I'm not sure how much farther players will get because of the game's difficulty. There are six chapters in all, with each containing missions that can take hours to complete. There are also over 50 new units, as well as new missions taking place in the Pacific Theater that are found in the custom mission options.

Unlike most strategy games, Burning Horizon tries to go with a decidedly more realistic approach. There is no harvesting or building, only allocating resources from supply depots, warehouses, and trucks to soldiers, vehicles, and artillery. Since the units' unique attributes aren't emphasized as much here as they are in other titles, only historical arms buffs will get a kick out of the new weapon additions - although a few are fun to use, most

gamers will just bulk the weapons into categories of what their shells can pierce and how far they can fire. So the fun of setting up for an engagement is still there, moving trucks into appropriate spots, having repair vehicles place tank obstacles, sighting enemy movement with recon planes and so forth.

But the small amount of breathing room that Blitzkrieg offered is almost completely absent in Burning Horizon. The player can't really use their imagination; anytime they are feeling a little feisty, the computer will quickly put them in check with deadly accurate artillery fire and tanks that are superior to what is in Rommel's possession. Since the German artillery units can't penetrate the armor of most of the enemy's tanks, reciprocal volleys won't intimidate them nearly as much as theirs yours. In fact, the lack of freedom is evident in quite a few maps that are nothing more than each side having their own side and a wasteland separating the two.

With each mission briefing giving historical detail of the upcoming fight, I'm aware that some of these battles would be a dead heat and armchair generals can't just send in a few units to blow stuff up. But the game becomes increasingly tedious as the missions go on, with the sniper gaining prominence as the single most important unit in the game. Since enemy artillery restricts movements so heavily, snipers are normally sent in near or behind enemy lines to shoot supply trucks (which also re-supply mounted weapons with troops to man them) and then pick off the artillery and AA gun crews. Since the sniper has to crawl to avoid detection, that means that lengthy missions (of which consist of about 90% of the game) are made even longer.

The sniper really gains their exalted status because of poor A.I. and pathfinding. While enemy artillery can nail a single tank within two shots across half the map, a squad of infantry can think of nothing else to do but duck once their comrades start getting picked off; I would think that if someone's head was shot those standing by would run behind a tank or jump in a trench. The artillery can also attack almost unchallenged because the aircraft allotted to the player aren't the brightest units; a single AA gun can take out 4 planes because none of them bother to shoot the crew. Instead, the planes will go ahead and blow up the squad standing in the middle of nowhere that poses zero threat to them, or just go out of their way to stumble upon an AA gun and ignore it too. Pathfinding becomes an issue whenever a supply or repair truck, for whatever reason, decides to do a massive loop around the unit they need to get to, getting shot in the process. I'm not clear as to whether or not this is suppose to be because of slight hills or ridges in the terrain that I just can't make out or what, but I literally lost missions because units would get jumbled together or walk around a piece of land that looked nearly identical to everything else around it.

As such, winning missions basically boils down to these steps: 1.) Send in sniper 1a.) Take out supply trucks 1b.) Take out gun crews 2.) Send in dive bombers 2a.) Repeat (2) as long as necessary 3.) Send in tanks with anti-tank guns on their flanks. The 4th step is failing, which I would say is optional but isn't really because it will happen, with 4a being to save and reload as much as needed.

Not all missions that follow are as rigid, though most are, and some are pretty refreshing: One such mission involves using fake tanks to scare the enemy while another requires retreating from an endless onslaught of British troops in a narrow pass. The Pacific Theater missions are all generally fun to play -- them Japanese are a tenacious bunch -- and provide a nice change of pace. But, while these new missions and units bring some freshness to the series, the absence of any graphical tweaks or sound improvement makes the game feel like a giant mod. Even so, the polygon units still look great and the extra bass really makes bombarding a town feel like you're gettin' it done.

Surprisingly, I crashed a few times to the desktop. In a game as time intensive as this, I don't think I need to elaborate on how annoying it was to be on the brink of victory and lose it all - moral of the story: save frequently. And why I find this surprising is because I don't recall ever experience a crash in the original. More difficult, linear, and buggy, not so much what I want more of.

Overall: 6.5/10
In terms of quantity, Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon is a healthy expansion. With over 50 new units, Rommel's career to play through and a dozen or so missions in the Pacific Theater, there is plenty to enjoy. However, I loved the original, but found this one to go even more in the direction of a puzzle title, with strictly defined steps on what to do and what not to do. By sapping even more imagination away from what little there was in the original, Burning Horizon often comes off as an exercise in frustration more than anything else - and a buggy one to boot. If you haven't tried Blitzkrieg yet, then pick up the original; if you already have it, the $29.95 would go nicely towards Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps or Codename: Panzers Phase One.

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