Panzer General

1994 retro games PC games

strategy games

Classic strategy game recreating selected battles that took place during World War 2.

Panzer General (first in a popular series of strategy games) was the best-selling title for SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.), a company specializing in the genre, which was bringing income long after the premiere. The reason behind it was very simple - the game was really THAT good. The basic concept was not really that original, Panzer General recreates the battles of World War 2 in an environment known from the board games - the map is covered in hexes, each representing a piece of land or sea and each can storage a single unit of your army. But what was so great about the game wasn’t the originality, it was more down to the perfect balance between the realism and gameplay.

What made this game stand out among other strategy titles set during World War 2 was the universal set of rules that made simulating any sort of battle quite easy. The most important of them was that each unit needed to be supplied to go on (f.e. fuel to keep on moving, or ammo to keep on bombarding the targets). When the unit is being resupplied, it does not take part in fighting, so you have to take this factor under consideration while planning your campaign. Another important bit was the time limit forcing you to push towards your objectives and the option to "buy" additional units or replenish the troops in units that took losses.

The variety of battles and environments that they took place was making the game a crowd-pleaser - from invasion of Poland and Norway, to parachute landing on Crete, landing on the beaches during D-Day or fighting on the outskirts of Berlin. Whichever part of the war you were interested in, you could find something for yourself.

Panzer General was, just like most of the great games, a perfect balance between simplicity, realism and involving gameplay. No wonder so many clones of this game have spawned in past decades - this is the best turn-based strategy games had to offer.

add comment

Comment below

Your nick:


Comment:


add a comment

Panzer General screenshots

---

Games like Panzer General

Empire

1987
A lost gem of strategy games - in a reality of World War 2 you build your empire by conquering the opponents.

Tigers in the Snow

1981
Early strategy game simulating one of the major battles of 1944, famous Battle of the Bulge, the last offensive of Wehrmacht in World War 2.

Carrier Command

1988
Classic strategy game with action elements - on surface a very simple looking game, but once you take a look at the details it is a great piece of software from 1988.

Harpoon

1989
Naval strategy game set during Cold War - take part in scenarios on the side of NATO or USSR.

Best movies

Best movies, forgotten gems, most important stories.... visit