Windows PC
Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege
By George Damidas
Jul 17, 2006, 5 :59 am

You’ve played this game before. Regardless of whether or not you’ve played the three previous titles in the quasi series – Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps, D-Day, and 1944: Battle of the Bulge – it doesn’t matter, any real-time strategy game based on World War II will do. If you prefer to limit the titles to 3D releases, then you can drop a handful, but the list is still a healthy one with Blitzkrieg 2, Codename Panzers: Phase I, Codename Panzers: Phase II, among many others. The presentation, from the icons to icon layout, is the same, the graphics and animation are the same, and the units are all unfortunately indistinguishable between the previous titles. The blandness resounds heavily throughout this humdrum release.

Alternating between commanding the Germans and Russians, you will embark on a 20-mission campaign that will have you battling it out from Leningrad to Tscherkassy. Some decisions were made to try and shake things up a little from the generic static approach by attempting to more accurately reflect the different conditions of each side: German soldiers travel in halftrack while Soviet troops ride on top the tanks and also utilize British and American tanks. There were steps taken to advance the units’ reaction to combat as well. Now, instead of having to tell units to disembark when riding on a tank, they will do so automatically when they come under fire or approach an enemy; this makes quick attacks extremely difficult as the Soviets, but it also makes a whole lot of sense.

There are other tweaks to unit behavior as well. In an effort to speed up gameplay and provide more realism, units unable to inflict damage on an enemy will no longer fruitlessly attack a superior unit and will now retreat or surrender. The decision made by the units is independent of the player, so that the situation will more accurately reflect the different nature of the combatants. This is a sound decision, and although the feature isn’t exactly new, it keeps the game going along at a fairly quick pace within a believable framework.

In addition to the behaviors that do work, there are also some that perform just as poorly. Along with the reactions mentioned above, the manual also mentions that the AI will respond flexibly to situations, sending units where needed and also hunting down stragglers. The computer is also said to attempt encirclement and pinning maneuvers. I can say that neither of those tactics caused me any worry due to not being practiced to any significant effect. The missions tended to last about half an hour, normally consisting of a loss that indicated where the enemy was and a follow-up attempt to smash their revealed positions. Whatever encircling occurred was done by me.

The main problem with the game is that it’s just boring. After so many excellent titles in the subgenre, one really has to stand out to be worthwhile, and there is nothing exceptional here. Not only that, but several elements are lacking. For instance, aside from the flamethrower and the panzerschreck-wielding units, the lethargic infantry were largely useless. The ability to target specific parts on vehicles – disabling turrets and caterpillars – is negated by the chaos of war making the selection very difficult and the negligence of the soldiers to comply. There were also a few crashes to the desktop as well, during both victory and defeat screens.

Moscow to Berlin benefits from the more positive aspects of being so similar to other titles. The ability to dig in and entrench tanks and barricade buildings to withstand an impending assault is still an intense thrill. Withstanding the pounding of artillery and rockets makes the daring assault of a handful of units to take them out all the more exciting. The graphics and sound are good, as is the norm. There are problems with pathfinding though, which often made me feel less like a hardened battle commander and more like a babysitter  -  watching tanks and men stop because they are confused as to how to proceed never fails to be disheartening. Not that I don’t enjoy going unit by unit to issue orders, but it just wasn’t supposed to work out that way.

Overall: 4/10

Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege is an unremarkable game that manages to stumble when tackling even the most basic of functions. There are several other games out there that are more enjoyable that offer the benefits of being cheaper and, despite their age, better looking and playing. If you absolutely crave this style of game and have every release, then this should be enough on-par material to satisfy, but everyone else would do better to check Moscow to Berlin’s more refined and enjoyable predecessors.