Panzer General 2 Spanish Civil War is an incredibly disappointing first DLC for one of the best WW2 games ever made. I have no complaints about the usual DLC inclusions: new units, new factions, different time period etc. These are all well researched and beautifully animated. The problem is the inclusion of the dumbest possible gimmick for a strategy game: an AI parter that you have to rely on. The AI is as dumb as it was in the base game, and it controls all of your infantry. You only have access to tanks and support units (except a handful of Italian auxillaries), so nearly every objective must be taken by your AI partner. There is no way to effectively communicate with this partner (general attack, defend or hold position commands mean nothing when troops are scattered or fighting across multiple fronts). Planning careful maneuvers to outflank/encircle/surgically strike your opponent is impossible, as the AI will regularly waste turns, break your line, expose your support units, attack tanks in open field, ignore defensive terrain, not attack an objective that has been surrounded and surpressed, run ahead, fall behind, etc. To make things worse, your partner's reinforcements (that you can't control or stop) cost you prestige, but you receive none if they take an objective.
If you buy this game, you will need to identify, track down, and install additional software not included in your purchase in order to make the game work. I paid $40 for Flashback and Slitherine to do that for me.
This is not a perfect adaptation of Lovecraft's themes into game mechanics. This is a traditional CRPG first and foremost, with an ascetic that pays a lot of attention to Lovecraft lore. There are elements that break from the original material (sanity meters that you can refill, battles you can win, quests you can complete etc.) which are necessary for the CRPG experience. If you've seen the trailer, and are reading reviews, this is probably your thing. If that's the case, I'd highly recommend. You get a mechanically solid RPG with enough exploration, item collection and adventure to fill about 30 hours or so. The writting is really interesting, the score is top notch and the overall atmosphere is as good as video games get. It's far from perfect though. There are a couple of major frustrations that stand out: Game lacks a normal save/load function (autosaves and saves on exit), but does not overwrite saves ironman-style and allows you to load any of the last dozen or so saves at any time. This system ends up serving the same function as a normal save option, but adds a trip to the main menu for every save. Combat is really, REALLY buggy. Sometimes casting a certain spell with a certain character disables that character for the rest of the engagement. Sometimes it disables the entire UI. Usually when restarting a battle, characters will begin combat with the same negative status effects that were in play before the restart. Often, restarting a battle that began with a hit to sanity will re-apply the sanity loss (doubling the effect), etc, etc. This really emphasizes how important it is to have a Quick Save option in a CRPG. Overall, great writting and atmosphere more than make up for frustrating bugs and strange design decisions, as long as you love both Lovecraft and CRPGs and have a little patience to spare.
