I would have rated this 2,5 stars for a mediocre remake of PG1. PG2 has nicer graphics and one or two improvements, offset by a lot of incomprehensible bad changes to stuff that was good in PG1. If you loved Panzer General 1 (the original DOS game) you will probably like this, but also be frustrated by some of the changes. CONCLUSION: If you like hex-based games, then PG2 is probably worth you time and money. If you are a PG1 fan, expect nicer graphics, worse game-play, and a mediocre gaming experience. Good points include the opportunity to begin in the Spanish Civil War and join in the Winter War in Finland. Also, the annoyingly efficiency of entrenchment from PG1 has also been reduced. FOR NEW PG-GAMERS: This is a classic hex-based strategy game. Objectives are to be reached within a certain number of turns, the faster the better. Early victories will ease your further advance by skipping scenarios, gaining more experience (= purchasing power = more units), and getting special scenarios (= changing the course of history). You need to preserve your experienced units as they punch far beyond their weight and can be made "overstrength" (beyond the normal max. of 10). But you also need to focus on reaching you objectives, rather than happily slaughtering your enemies. Speed is of the essence. As the PG1 manual had it, it's "Blitzkrieg, not Sitzkrieg". Break through and keep pushing. Be on your toes for well-entrenched enemies and ambushed, though. AND NOW FOR THE BAD STUFF (FOR PG1 FANS): PG2 has many of the same ideas as PG1, but in my opinion they are not as well carried out. - First of all, why can airplanes no longer run out of fuel but only ammo? Granted, it makes for less tedious flying back and forth, but really. There also seems to be extreme amounts of bad weather (= useless planes) even over France in June(!) - Secondly, while airplanes were perhaps overpowered in PG1, in PG2 it's artillery. The defensive fire now covers all units within range, with unlimited numbers of defensive fires pr. turn(!) - only limited by the artillery's ammo (and they all have LOTS). And while the max. range of artillery in PG1 was typically 3 hexes, in PG2 you (and your enemies) will have access to range 4 artillery as early as 1939, further enhancing the usefulness of artillery. - Thirdly, there is much less opportunity for specifying difficulty and realism (just the overall easy, medium, hard etc.). In contrast, you could turn off some features in PG1 while leaving others on. - Assault infantry. It is not clear what infantry are assault troops (ie. have the "close attack" ability which make them immune to the dreaded "rugged defence"). While in PG1 the "bridge engineers" were perhaps too good to be true (hard to kill, assault infantry, and available from 1939), in PG2 they suck far too much. And while the addition of new inexpensive "garrison" infantry would make sense in order to hold rear areas, these garrison units are simply too weak for this role as well as being useless in attack: Any regular enemy will cut them to pieces on either the attack or defence. - Scale. The maps are much smaller in PG2 almost giving you the feeling of a tactical, rather than a strategic game. - Recruiting. OK, it is perhaps more realistic in PG2 that recruitment can only take place at your scenario "starting points", but it also make in game recruitment for anything but aircraft completely useless and pretty annoying. Especially, as the enemy will (apparently?) keep up the ability of recruiting in by-passed areas. This is both unrealistic and annoying: How are these new units popping up fully armed and supplied when you have cut off their bases? - Experience. XP seems to be much harder to gain than in PG1, meaning that your (Axis) forces have a hard time keeping up with your (Allied) enemies. This is both annoying and unrealistic as another reviewer has already remarked. And particularly ridiculous in air combat when XP is all-important (fighter units seem to be even slower in XP gain). - Supply & replacement also seems to be much easier in PG2, making the possibility for bypassing enemies much less (they will simply bugger off you path, replace and attack again). This have the effect of making sieges of enemy strongpoints almost impossible, as they will continually resupply and replace. This effect is, however, somewhat offset by the changed entrenchment rules. Thankfully, opponents no longer entrench up to a predefined level depending on terrain at the beginning of each turn. This feature annoyed the hell out of me in PG1, as it made digging out entrenched units extremely hard, and almost impossible without assault infantry. In PG2 it seems that units only entrench +1 level pr. turn, meaning you can dig them out over a couple of turns, rather than having to rely on multiple artillery & air strikes in a single turn. PS. What's up with the reviews? Most are either 5 stars and blithely praising or 1 star bitching over tech & compatibility stuff. Where are all the 2,3 and 4 stars?
