PANZER FRONT Ausf.B

a game review by Glenn Slater

            If some of you can still remember the old days of the Play Station 1 you may also remember the Game PANZER FRONT.  Without doubt this was the best tank combat game that money could buy and allowed you to fight American, Russian and German scenarios with a wide selection of WW2 tanks.  The British were also catered for and you could swap for either Churchills, a Sherman firefly or a Cromwell, as well as your average workaday Sherman.  It could satisfy any track heads whim at the push of a button, you could even fight a pseudo Korean war engagement!  Not bad for a PS1 game. 

            If you are like me, and became hooked on PANZER FRONT,  you probably asked the good lord at night to protect your family and to inspire the makers to bring out a version for the PS2.  Though maybe not in that order!  Well our prayers have been answered its here, its in the shops and its better than ever. 

            This time the combat is directed to one period of time and the vehicles are only those that were available at the time.  The period is the early Western Desert campaign!  Who would have thought it.   You can forget your MEDAL OF HONOUR'S and your CALL OF DUTIE'S.  Now you can fight O'Conners drive through the desert and the early engagements with the Africa Korp.  Straight from the beginning you can select either to be Germans, Italians or British.  During the training game to learn the Controls I chose British and found myself leading my squadron of A13 cruisers, yes I did just write A13 cruisers, against Panzer 3's and 2's.  You learn pretty quickly not to go charging in.  The 2pdr is pretty crap against frontal armour, and your armour is none to good either.            

            If you want some thing a bit tougher then you can change to a Matilda 2 or if you are a masochist you can select the  Mk VI light tank! if you win in this vehicle you are cheating.  The graphics are up to the standard we now expect to see in a game and the vehicles are beautifully accurate.  The research that has gone into this game is their for all to see.  The recreated battlefields are exactly as they were historically.   At the moment I'm still trying to take Fort Pilastrino as a member of the, Australian 6th cavalry regiment, whilst occupying an M13/40 which is fully resplendent in its white hopping kangaroo recognition symbols, they even make a comment about the Italian commander, "Electric Whiskers".  It’s these touches and details that make this game a real must.  Hopefully this is the beginning of a complete set of games covering the whole of WW2 and beyond.

            You will have to search for this game because it appears to have been pushed to the back of the shelf a bit.  Happy hunting

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