Blitzkrieg Anthology

the first one icludes many good thing like some random map a map editor easy to understand an many more

I got this game on Steam last year and managed to dunk nearly 60 hours into it in the span of a month. Visually this game looks like a painting, you can easily pause at any moment where there are troops on screen at it would look amazing. Every nation speaks its own language, the OST is a bit lacking but who cares ? It isn't an RTS, it is classified as an RTT, you put waaay more emphasis on positioning and timing your attacks properly. You have to guard your trucks as well since they are the backbone of your forces. You loose a heavy truck, you loose on logistical support for your guns and armor. You loose a transport truck ? Infantry is screwed. Pro tip: to successfully assault trenches, use 2-3 trucks behind your infantry and set them to refill squads. So while attacking with your infantry, you may preserve the attacking unit and keep on the offensive. The game has 3 major campaigns and an expansion with 2 story driven campaigns. Main ones are the: Allies, you get a mix of Bri'ish, French and American units depending on which of the war you are in. The Soviets and the Germans. No Japan sadly :( And you get to play as Patton and Rommel during the expansion, The GoG version also comes with some bug fixes and a bunch of custom maps "The Iron Division" which were made by the same guys who made the expansion. And it's the reaspn why I have the game twice. Beyond that, don't play Blitzkrieg 2, it's not as good as this one. Codename Panzers is also not up to snuff. This, Sudden Strike and Men of War AS2 and GoH is where it's at.

First few missions were awsome but later the game becomes extremely tedious. I didn't like infantry gameplay, changing between stances MANUALLY is not fun, especially while under fire. Also they are slow as hell and aside from spotting they have no use in attacks. Vehicles armor is all over the place. Matildas can take more DMG than Churchill III?! There isn't a reverse button so have fun avoiding counterattacks. Artillery is absolutely busted. The enemy will range you and precisely counter you batteries. The solution would be to tow your pieces away but it takes a year until the truck limber the artys. AT guns like the 88s can rotate faster than a armoured car trying to circle it... I liked the campaign itself, because keeping your units alive meant they will perform better and better but in later missions it no longer mattered. All of them got stomped... The graphics are also unique with a pre-rendered map + 3D vehicles. But the devs ruined it with this memorize-replay-repeat gameplay where you have to constantly keep your fingers on the quicksave to not mess up. Probably mods and custom maps are better but I no longer care. BK1 is more of a novelty, the first Men of War title (Soldiers: Heroes of WW2) was already out when this got released and the second iteration: Faces of War was almost complete. In 2006 we got Company of Heroes too, so not much room remains for this one. If Blitzkrieg was released in something like 2000-2001 I would say "okay" but even at that time it's clunkyness and user unfriendliness would not have saved it from being a really mediocre RTS.

There are problems with unit selection: you click them several times and they still doesn't want your command. Other time you're sure you've made your selection and when you click, half of your army is retreating. You barely see your units and have to remember where they're positioned, because there's no global list, to slect them from. Your soldiers and vehicles shoot through buildings (?!), but a tank on a town's street is blocking it so tightly almost nothing can pass, forget another tank. Generally your units move through the terrain like a bunch of disoriented ants. Your infantry fight like peasants and either prove worthy as a crew of some cannon or become a cannon fodder. The best tactic (?!) is to use a scout and artillery and level everything to the ground! Huge amount of micromanagement is required and when you focus on one part of action, just a screen away enemy's artillery or bombers are squeezing cr*p out of your important units no matter you tried to move them to safety. Sometimes you find yourself searching for a tiny unit like a scout or officer through half of the map wondering where on earth have you left him last time only to conclude it must have vanished without a trace or any message, because there are no messages about what's going on on the battlefield. So you reload and replay, reload and replay... and so on... and after a few times you just give up and quit. This game irritated me so much I deinstalled it after 3 missions. It isn't a war game - it's a shame!

A challenging, fun RTS Game. And, different from many other Games that are set in WWII, historically accurate. You want an actual glimpse into WWII tactics and history? This is your game!