Strategy game for
Windows 95 published by
SSI as a sequel to
Panzer General and its popular siblings
Allied General,
People's
General and
Pacific General.
The game is a traditional turn based, tactical level game where you
get to command German, American, British or Russian
forces in several different campaigns and scenarios. The maps are
rather nicely hand-painted and overall the game
is visually pleasing (considering it was published in 1998 that is,
there's no fancy 3D stuff in here).
The game AI is decent but not overwhelmingly good, but there's
always the option to play against another player over a LAN or by
email.
Artillery totally rules in Panzer General II. It can be used for
offense of defense and tends to determine the outcome of most fights. This rather
unbalances the game as it's all
too easy to take out armoured units with your almighty cannons.
In fact, the primary target for your artillery and bombers will
almost always be the enemy's artillery.
There are quite a few bugs in the game and SSI only ever released
two patches. I had to surf around for several hours before I
could locate the one I needed (it seems the official ftp site did
not carry the patch for the British version of the game). However, the
game does have a enthusiastic following on the web and
dedicated gamers have built extra maps, scenarios,
campaigns, expanded or revised equipment files (I recommend
www.strategyplanet.com/panzergeneral/pg2index.html). There are
also quite a few sites for players who want to play the game by
email.