Being a big fan of Strategy games, I quickly volunteered to review Panzer Tactics DS. I’ve been waiting for a game like this ever since Advance Wars DS. I wanted something with more depth, more strategic planning, more unit types. This is exactly what Sproing brought us with Panzer Tactics.

The game gives you 3 campaigns to choose from: Axis, Allies, and Soviets. The game is hex-based, meaning you’ll be able to move in diagonals in addition to the usual left, right, up, and down. Your battle field is shown on the bottom screen, while your selected unit’s description is on the top screen. You have lots of units to choose from - different “types” include infantry, tanks, airplanes, boats and artillery. Each mission gives you a set of auxiliary units. These units are only available for that mission. You also have your Core Units, which you buy using credits accumulated throughout the game. These core units will level up throughout the game. You can deploy them on the map in each mission and they’ll stay with you for the full campaign, unless they die.

Playing a single mission in campaign mode can take a long time! These maps are huge. Each mission has a primary objective and several secondary ones. I imagine that if you focus on the primary objective, the mission won’t take long. Where’s the fun in that? Sending your recon units and planes to scout ahead first and planning which, and how many, of your units you’ll be sending out is half of the fun.

Another cool feature is that you can set formations so that units can strategically support each other. By setting up an artillery unit on an adjacent hex from the infantry, the artillery will have the chance to strike first and provide support fire for the besieged infantry unit.

The battle animations are pretty nice; however, like in every other turn-based game, I turn these off. This way, the game plays a lot faster. I didn’t have a chance to try out the multiplayer, but the game supports hot-seat multiplayer, local multi-cart and online play.


“German Campaign Song”



There’s only one thing I can really complain about. The computer takes too long to play. Yes, I know I’ll take longer than it does. I still wish that when I pressed End Turn, I would only see his movement outside the fog of war and not wait for him to make each of his moves. This brings up another point. Online game must take a long time to play.

I recommend this game to every strategist out there who is craving a deep turn-based war game. I hope to see you online.

4cr Interview - Panzer Tactics DS