Reviews / previews
The Russian wilderness proved more than a match for
the troops of Napoleon and Hitler-and for TalonSoft,
whose 1997 release East Front was buggy and poorly
documented. It wasn't until West Front surfaced last
year that the company's new game design and
graphics engine became good enough for prime time.
East Front II finds the original game--plus the
expansion disk and 50 new scenarios-retro-fitted with
the improved West Front design. It still has a few
problems, but no longer feels as hopeless as a
Russian winter.
As in TalonSoft's
previous war games,
the emphasis in
East Front II is on
classic turn-based
strategy. Depending
on your position in
the command food
chain, you will find
yourself leading
anything from a
small battalion to a
full corps. Hundreds of real-life WWII units are
realistically rated for strength, assault ability, armor,
movement, morale, firing and loading costs and range
effectiveness. Each scenario can be played against
the reasonably good computer AI, or against a living
opponent via modem, null modem, LAN, or the Internet, and more complex
scenarios support up to sixteen players on two teams.
Armchair commanders used to abstract 2D hex-based wargames will be
pleased with the 3D "miniature soldier" look of East Front II-and if they grow
nostalgic, they can switch to the old display. (It's better for a battlefield
overview.) A variety of buttons on the interface allow you to perform functions
like highlighting all units or examine the
movement or view range for a unit.
East Front II offers a Battle Generator that
can create fictional (but realistic) scenarios
on the fly. It also provides both "linked" and
"dynamic" campaigns. In the former, you
begin at battalion level, and through a series
of victories in successive historically
accurate scenarios work your way up the
chain of command, until you're leading a
corps. Dynamic campaigns are fictional, and
allow you to choose the side and command
level to play. In both game types, a broadly branching scenario tree takes into
account both victories and failures, so that your results affect the subsequent
course of the campaign. And it works correctly, unlike the campaign tree in
the original East Front.
However, a few annoying bugs do interfere with gameplay. For instance, if you
click to move a unit at double-time and then decide against it, you're stuck.
The unit's fatigue flag has automatically been set, and if you change your
mind yet again, you won't be able to
double-time that turn. (Fatigue precludes
double-timing.)
I also question some of the interface
decisions. The choice-heavy, Windows-style
pulldown menus let you save games, but not
load them-surely a higher priority for most
armchair commanders than replaying
recorded games, which East Front II does
support. You can't display the Command
Report (a valuable tool that lists turn-by-turn
reinforcements, changes to supply, unit disruption and low ammo) after the
beginning of your turn.
Still, East Front is a solid wargamer's product that offers hundreds of hours of
gameplay with a fine attention to detail. The Russian winter has thawed, and
this comes warmly recommended.-- Barry Brenesal / GamePro
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