Panzer General 2

I have been playing this game since it came out in '97 and I was 7 years old. 22 years later I still find myself coming back to this on a yearly basis and beating all the campaigns all over again. Don't be fooled by the first mission or two, making ill-advised moves or taking too much damage gets absolutely punished... but then again, isn't that how it would have been as an actual commander? Learn your units, learn your opponents units, learn proper strategy, and completing the campaign will be satisfying every time. The game is meant to be struggled through. Do you have what it takes?

An excellent strategy game that is very approachable to beginners, though the quirks of the game can sometimes frustrate. Taking hex based war gaming and making it simpler and easier to approach means this game can be picked up and played very readily. There are no real tutorials but the opening battles of the German campaign do a good job teaching you by doing, rather than sitting through extensive training screens. The units are easily recognizable and feels like a reminder of tabletop miniature figures. Campaigns let you build up troops over time, watching your veterans grow and get better equipment as time goes on, and a wide range of equipment is presented. The interface is clear, mostly easy to use and avoids too much frustration. Music is a bit forgettable but sets the mood well enough. The major downsides is that the game is rather simplistic: Supply is factored in which is a pleasant advantage but there is no concept of supply lines whatsoever. Morale is bafflingly completely absent, outside a very vague "suppression" mechanic. The game is highly abstracted, making it unclear what size of formation your units even represent. The difficulty can be quite punishing and you have to accept the internal logic of the game, rather than rely on what may feel like a historical tactic. As such, this is a game that falls squarely in the middle between the casually interested and the hardcore wargamer. It is a game that both groups can enjoy though the fact that it will fail to be marketed to either group prevents it from receiving a fifth star.

SSI had a massive hit with PG1. It remans the pinnacle in macro wargaming in the series and is the spiritual successor to old chit based tabletop wargames. Being one of the first to translate tabletop on to the PC gave it mass appeal. PG2 refined the gameplay, improved the visuals, and added some much needed quality of life upgrades to become one of the most iconic wargames of all time. After all these years, PG2 is still one of the best entry point games to the genre. It scaled down the battles from PG1 making it easier for players to get in an complete battles. The game scaled down the maps and unit counts and focused a bit more on tactics than the macro. You are still racing for objectives and asaulting the defending forces can be painful, but with the right strategy you can beat every scenario. Where PG2 really excels is the visual design. The Isometric maps and better unit renderings are a welcome upgrade and the information about units is easier to find and laid out much better. More modern takes on the style are packed with so much content, it can be overwhelming to new players. The map sizes and unit counts have also been increased in newer iterations making each battle take so much longer. This keeps PG2 relevant over 20 years after its initial release. If you are left crazing more, you can dive in to the deeper games, but if you just want casual or to see where a lot of this began, this is the game for you. Pro Tip, up the value to start a campaign if you find the game too challenging. You'll be able to afford more units. I like 150 for a solid balance. 200 is casual and 300 starts plyaing like beginner mode.

I come back to this again and again. Because it is unbeaten still. No other strategy game did convince me like that. It is sad that the following games did not follow the path -- they where better looking but did not give that playing value at all. The graphics are simple compared to todays standard, but what graphics do you need for a strategy game? The graphics are fully adequate to the job and it is much better then other titles in the series. The units are easy to distinguish and are simple to identify. Not all games in the 5Star-Series did comply to that. If you like 2nd WW, if you like turn based strategy, if you don't need the newest hires graphics .... You definitively *must* try this, if you did not before. You will not regret!

This and its predecessor are the two best WWII turn-based games of all time. Still fun after all these years.