Bottom line: Assuming you like the genre, PC2 is an excellent improvement on the first installment without reinventing the wheel. This is a game I know I'll play for years as they release more content, and I think it's well worth your time. As noted by other reviewers, Panzer Corps 2 is a turn-based wargame that is easy to learn (for those roughly familiar with other TBS games) and difficult to master. It doesn't reinvent the wheel on the genre or the series--if you don't like the core conceit of carefully and methodically allocating your forces, executing the missions cautiously based on the strengths and weaknesses of your composition rather than bull rushing through, then this game will likely frustrate you--which is to say, it's no Company of Heroes or the like. Assuming you do like the genre, then PC2 improves on a winning formula from the 1st installment in the series in a way that--in my view--moves the game away from the "solvable puzzle" dynamic you sometimes felt in certain PC1 missions and toward a more flexible and open-ended game that provides different avenues to achieve your objectives. Some of this is done through more mission branching--giving you an option to play a more attritional siege-based level or a rapid blitzkrieg one--and some is done through a useful new supply system that limits the number of units you can field not on an absolute basis but on their relative weight and value (e.g. you can't just steamroll with 15 tank divisions and 10 engineers the way you could in PC1). This system, combined with more generous point rewards for improving and maintaining your army, along with a few other smaller tweaks, opens up tactical options that often felt more constrained in PC1. As an aside, I haven't had any technical difficulties playing this game. Obviously, everyone's experience on that differs, but at least know it's not a universal problem.
Bottom Line: About half Diablo (in combat), half Baldur's Gate (in dialogue trees), with a pinch of the old crime-solver routines of Blade Runner or the Gabriel Knight series. If you really like these games, add a star, if you don't like EITHER of these games, subtract two stars. You'll spend too much of your time doing both of these things for you to hate either one of them. I would say I'm about a quarter through this game and feel like I have a pretty good sense of what it has going on at this point. Story: Alright, so Baldur's Gate this ain't, but I remain interested in what's going on up to this point. There have been enough twists, betrayals, and interesting side quests to keep me occupied, and there are no "collect ten demon gallbladders" or "kill all the rats in the basement" wastes of time that you often get in games like this. The sheer amount of dialogue rivals Planescape Torment, though it's nowhere near as interesting or philosophical. Generally speaking, you get a sense pretty quickly of which conversation items you can skim through and which ones you need to pay attention to, and the journal is exhaustive in cataloging things that matter if you ever get lazy and skip something you shouldn't have. Translation: The English dialogue can be a little stilted and doesn't sound quite right to a native speaker's ear, particularly at the beginning, but I stopped noticing and settled in with it after a little while. Graphics: Odds are you're on GOG because this aspect of the game isn't as important to you, but I'd agree with the first reviewer here---pretty artwork and bad animations. The map is hilariously drawn. Combat: Very much Diablo/real time action. You don't get much of a chance to think through what you're gonna do. It's mostly just click and shoot, click and slash, click and cast, and so on. I'm playing a thief on Easy and not having too much trouble, but your melee combat meat shields will go through a LOT of your hard earned potions. Save often. Crime-solving aspect: This, in my opinion and based on what I've played so far, has been overblown in the description of the game. There's certainly a proof collecting aspect of the game, and there's some questioning that relates to that, but this is a very minor aspect of everything. At this point, the "crime-solving" parts haven't been more than 5% of the game. Don't get this game if that's what you're really looking for. Some people treat 3 stars as if it's absolutely terrible, but that's not what I mean here. This is a totally fine, perfectly playable game, and I don't regret buying it at all. Just make sure you know the influences it's drawing from before you put down your 15 bucks.
