Post by evillittlekenny on Jan 6, 2010 16:04:23 GMT 1
Hello everybody!
I want to make an assessment about the game "Chain of Command - Easter Front". Since there is no games section, I decided to post it here.
In this game you play as a Red Army commander during WW2. It starts at the beginning of the war (but unfortunately, it does not say whether 1941 or early 1942) and you have to lead your men through 16 missions till you capture the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
What I missed is a bit of a story. All missions are very anonymous, except the fourth where you play in Stalingrad or the last, playing in Berlin. Just twice it is said, where approximately you are. At the 8th, they say "it's time to liberate now the other opressed people of Europe", probably meaning Poland, Hungary, Romania or something like that. And mission 13, saying "the war is coming to an end, we are now already on german soil".
And I also missed maybe another campaign, scenarios or a multiplayer. I can also do without, but would have been nice to see.
The gameplay itself is maybe a bit like Sudden Strike. You have a set of units at the beginning which you have to use for the whole mission. There were never reinforcements or aircraft support.
What I did like are several mission goals in the early missions, where you hyve to use the tactics of "scorched earth", meaning that you have to eliminate everything the german invaders could use like factories, etc.
The game music is alright, although not too special.
The graphics are rather bad, really. It is not that you say it is old and therefor it cant compete with newer games because of that (like BK is rather old, but you can clearly see everything, and the most of the models are beautiful). Not here. Here the graphics are simply bad.
What I disliked most was the non-existent AI. Enemy units were f***ing dumb. Really, they only attacked what was in their visibility radius of in that of close friendly units. They never made a move on their own.
Example: The very first mission goal was to intercept a german convoy. I rushed there to see that they were not moving. I thought, maybe, since there is not tutorial (forgot to mention before), it was given a bit time to the player so he/she gets familiar with the commands. Later I saw that they simply NEVER move.
There is also no possibility to choose the difficulty. But atleast at this point the missions arevarying. Some are too easy (like berlin, I lost 5 men and 1 tank) and some are pretty hard. But still, there was only one mission which I had to restart, but then 5 times....
I also noticed that there was no ammo limit. Soldiers could fire hours with their weapons and they could fire hours more. But ok, could live with it.
Another peculiarity I saw was that it seems that only in Russia there is snow. Every mission set in Russia is with snow. Everywhere else (where ever this might have been ) is only grass and sunshine I guess (nah, I remember, sometimes it was raining ).
I was just wondering, that with all this drawbacks, it seems that they invested some time to recherche a number of units. Much more than I would have thought, seeing how the game finally is.
This would be, in my opinion, the main advantage of the whole game. Although some of them do not come as I would expect them to come when looking at historical chronology.
Units included are:
Infantry:
UdSSR
----------------
Regular Infantry
Equipped with some kind of infantry weapon, guess they didn't want to make several classes like SMG-gunner, rifleman etc.
Icon shows a PPSH41 or a PPD40.
Antitank Infantry
Equipped with a bazooka. Obvious operational area.
Mortar Crew
Even if it is called "crew", the unit only consists of one man. Equipped with a mortar and serves as a light artillery.
Medic
Non-fighting unit, healing infantry. Just nearly never heals completely, because it alswas heals either 9 or 10 points, never a number below. So if your unit has 56/60 points, the medic does not heal that soldier.
And in winter, he looks like an ordinary infantryman. Great if you are looking for him in a hurry
Engineer
Non-fighting unit, repairing infantry. Has a similar bug with repairing like the medic with healing. And looks also in winter like a regular...
Germany
----------------
Regular Infantry
Same as the UdSSR counterpart.
Icon shows a Mauser 98k.
Antitank Infantry
Equipped with a panzerfaust or panzershreck. Obvious operational area.
Mortar Crew
Same as the UdSSR counterpart.
Germany has no medics or engineers, the AI couldn't use them since it is not existent.
An odd thing was that the UdSSR soldiers were stronger than their German opponents. They had 20 more health points. So there is no way that in a infantry firefight the Germans could win (of course only if the russians are heavily outnumbered).
Armored Cars:
UdSSR
----------------
BA-64
Has an enourmous health (more than BT tanks).
Also it is funny that it appears very early, much earlier than the BA-10, even if this armored car is older.
BA-10
Not very special, except that it has a cannon.
Germany
----------------
SdKfz. 231 (the eight-wheel Armored Car)
Has a cannon. Is an easy enemy.
Light Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
BT-5
Rather weak. You are thankful when you do not have to use them anymore. But perform well against SdKfz. 231 and PanzerII.
BT-7
Better than the BT-5, but not much.Still not a real match for PanzerIII.
T-70
Better than the BTs. But still just a light tank
Germany
----------------
PanzerII (Version not defined, I guess it's the 'F')
Weakest enemy tank. There is a reason why they were withdrawn from service
PanzerIII (Version not defined, looks a bit like 'J')
Best light tank in the game. Has more firepower and health than your tanks.
Medium Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
T-34-85 (definitely NO '85', looks like a T-34-42)
When you receive this tank, the game starts to be easy. Can handle the enemy medium tanks.
Germany
----------------
PanzerIV (Version not defined, looks like 'H')
Horror for the T-70's, easy for the T-34.
PanzerV "Panther" (Version not defined)
Is already a hard enemy for the T34, but they are most of the time outnumbered.
Heavy Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
KV-1S (looks like KV-1E)
Your first heavy tank. Kills enemy PanzerIV and Panthers. As long as you have them, you never see enemy Tigers. Do not know who would win (going with logic it should be the Tiger, but in this game...)
KV-2 (Icon is the same of the KV1S, just larger )
Real killer, in the middle of the game the strongest unit. Seems to draw enemy fire (which would mean that there is atleast a primitive AI )
Later not available.
IS-2
Big disappointment to me. Although it is damn fast (fastest of my tanks, fast than armored cars ), it is realtively weak considering HP. Gets easily killed, but has good firepower.
KV-85
Comes for an unknown reason later than the IS-2. Better health than the IS-2, think they are overall better than them.
IS-3
Best Soviet tank. Very good in all points.
Germany
----------------
PanzerVI "Tiger"
Good enemy tank. When in numbers, it wrecks havoc on your forces. Unless you have IS-3 or simply more tanks.
PanzerVI B "King Tiger"
Best enemy tank. Comes very late, you see it only in Germany. You have always the numbers, so it can't show it's advantages.
Tank Hunters:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Jagdpanther
Not good, killed easily. But has a good cannon.
Elefant (I think I saw some)
Since I do not even remember if I saw some for sure, their performance perished during battle withput recognizing.
Jagdtiger
Appear in Berlin. Quite good. But always very alone.
Artillery tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
SU-122
Pretty fast, not weak. Is more precise than the ISU-152. Can also serve as a tank hunter.
ISU-152
Incredibly slow. I think it is the slowest unit in the game. Not very precise, but strong. Can serve as a tank hunter (if it finally reaches the enemy)
Germany
----------------
Has none.
Trucks, APC etc.:
UdSSR
----------------
GAZ-61
Absolutely useless unit. Can't fight, can't transport. But hey, it can drive
ZiS-42
Only truck for the Soviet side. Very fast. Transports 12 soldiers.
Germany
----------------
BMW R-75
Light fighting vehicle. Dies first.
Kuebelwagen
Same as the GAZ-61, but does not even move, since the computer does never do anything.
Opel Blitz
Same usage as the Kuebelwagen. Found often in convoys.
SdKfz 250
Fighting APC. Do not know if it can transport units.
Artillery:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Flak 18 88mm
In reality a tank killer, in this game the Germans do not get teh idea to use it against tanks. It is a victim.
PAK-40 75mm
This was the only enemy unit in the game, which I classified as dangerous. Kills tanks very effective.
Some Howitzer (Think it was the sFH18)
Appears in one mission as the objective to destroy.
Aircraft:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Bf 109 (Version unknown)
Appears in one mission on an air field.
Ju-52
Appears in one mission on an air field.
Wrecked FW190
Decorative, not more.
All in all, I can say, that if I would have bought this game for much money, I could bite myself in the a.... I would be angry. Luckily I got it very very cheap, so I can say, fine.
But if any of the developers reads this, take this as on suggestion what to make better next time.
An AI is simply needed! Or if not that, atleast a multiplayer function.
I don't know of there are any mods, maps or so for this game, if you know, post it please, maybe it would bring me to play this game once again. I already paid for it, so why not making the best of it....
I want to make an assessment about the game "Chain of Command - Easter Front". Since there is no games section, I decided to post it here.
In this game you play as a Red Army commander during WW2. It starts at the beginning of the war (but unfortunately, it does not say whether 1941 or early 1942) and you have to lead your men through 16 missions till you capture the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
What I missed is a bit of a story. All missions are very anonymous, except the fourth where you play in Stalingrad or the last, playing in Berlin. Just twice it is said, where approximately you are. At the 8th, they say "it's time to liberate now the other opressed people of Europe", probably meaning Poland, Hungary, Romania or something like that. And mission 13, saying "the war is coming to an end, we are now already on german soil".
And I also missed maybe another campaign, scenarios or a multiplayer. I can also do without, but would have been nice to see.
The gameplay itself is maybe a bit like Sudden Strike. You have a set of units at the beginning which you have to use for the whole mission. There were never reinforcements or aircraft support.
What I did like are several mission goals in the early missions, where you hyve to use the tactics of "scorched earth", meaning that you have to eliminate everything the german invaders could use like factories, etc.
The game music is alright, although not too special.
The graphics are rather bad, really. It is not that you say it is old and therefor it cant compete with newer games because of that (like BK is rather old, but you can clearly see everything, and the most of the models are beautiful). Not here. Here the graphics are simply bad.
What I disliked most was the non-existent AI. Enemy units were f***ing dumb. Really, they only attacked what was in their visibility radius of in that of close friendly units. They never made a move on their own.
Example: The very first mission goal was to intercept a german convoy. I rushed there to see that they were not moving. I thought, maybe, since there is not tutorial (forgot to mention before), it was given a bit time to the player so he/she gets familiar with the commands. Later I saw that they simply NEVER move.
There is also no possibility to choose the difficulty. But atleast at this point the missions arevarying. Some are too easy (like berlin, I lost 5 men and 1 tank) and some are pretty hard. But still, there was only one mission which I had to restart, but then 5 times....
I also noticed that there was no ammo limit. Soldiers could fire hours with their weapons and they could fire hours more. But ok, could live with it.
Another peculiarity I saw was that it seems that only in Russia there is snow. Every mission set in Russia is with snow. Everywhere else (where ever this might have been ) is only grass and sunshine I guess (nah, I remember, sometimes it was raining ).
I was just wondering, that with all this drawbacks, it seems that they invested some time to recherche a number of units. Much more than I would have thought, seeing how the game finally is.
This would be, in my opinion, the main advantage of the whole game. Although some of them do not come as I would expect them to come when looking at historical chronology.
Units included are:
Infantry:
UdSSR
----------------
Regular Infantry
Equipped with some kind of infantry weapon, guess they didn't want to make several classes like SMG-gunner, rifleman etc.
Icon shows a PPSH41 or a PPD40.
Antitank Infantry
Equipped with a bazooka. Obvious operational area.
Mortar Crew
Even if it is called "crew", the unit only consists of one man. Equipped with a mortar and serves as a light artillery.
Medic
Non-fighting unit, healing infantry. Just nearly never heals completely, because it alswas heals either 9 or 10 points, never a number below. So if your unit has 56/60 points, the medic does not heal that soldier.
And in winter, he looks like an ordinary infantryman. Great if you are looking for him in a hurry
Engineer
Non-fighting unit, repairing infantry. Has a similar bug with repairing like the medic with healing. And looks also in winter like a regular...
Germany
----------------
Regular Infantry
Same as the UdSSR counterpart.
Icon shows a Mauser 98k.
Antitank Infantry
Equipped with a panzerfaust or panzershreck. Obvious operational area.
Mortar Crew
Same as the UdSSR counterpart.
Germany has no medics or engineers, the AI couldn't use them since it is not existent.
An odd thing was that the UdSSR soldiers were stronger than their German opponents. They had 20 more health points. So there is no way that in a infantry firefight the Germans could win (of course only if the russians are heavily outnumbered).
Armored Cars:
UdSSR
----------------
BA-64
Has an enourmous health (more than BT tanks).
Also it is funny that it appears very early, much earlier than the BA-10, even if this armored car is older.
BA-10
Not very special, except that it has a cannon.
Germany
----------------
SdKfz. 231 (the eight-wheel Armored Car)
Has a cannon. Is an easy enemy.
Light Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
BT-5
Rather weak. You are thankful when you do not have to use them anymore. But perform well against SdKfz. 231 and PanzerII.
BT-7
Better than the BT-5, but not much.Still not a real match for PanzerIII.
T-70
Better than the BTs. But still just a light tank
Germany
----------------
PanzerII (Version not defined, I guess it's the 'F')
Weakest enemy tank. There is a reason why they were withdrawn from service
PanzerIII (Version not defined, looks a bit like 'J')
Best light tank in the game. Has more firepower and health than your tanks.
Medium Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
T-34-85 (definitely NO '85', looks like a T-34-42)
When you receive this tank, the game starts to be easy. Can handle the enemy medium tanks.
Germany
----------------
PanzerIV (Version not defined, looks like 'H')
Horror for the T-70's, easy for the T-34.
PanzerV "Panther" (Version not defined)
Is already a hard enemy for the T34, but they are most of the time outnumbered.
Heavy Tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
KV-1S (looks like KV-1E)
Your first heavy tank. Kills enemy PanzerIV and Panthers. As long as you have them, you never see enemy Tigers. Do not know who would win (going with logic it should be the Tiger, but in this game...)
KV-2 (Icon is the same of the KV1S, just larger )
Real killer, in the middle of the game the strongest unit. Seems to draw enemy fire (which would mean that there is atleast a primitive AI )
Later not available.
IS-2
Big disappointment to me. Although it is damn fast (fastest of my tanks, fast than armored cars ), it is realtively weak considering HP. Gets easily killed, but has good firepower.
KV-85
Comes for an unknown reason later than the IS-2. Better health than the IS-2, think they are overall better than them.
IS-3
Best Soviet tank. Very good in all points.
Germany
----------------
PanzerVI "Tiger"
Good enemy tank. When in numbers, it wrecks havoc on your forces. Unless you have IS-3 or simply more tanks.
PanzerVI B "King Tiger"
Best enemy tank. Comes very late, you see it only in Germany. You have always the numbers, so it can't show it's advantages.
Tank Hunters:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Jagdpanther
Not good, killed easily. But has a good cannon.
Elefant (I think I saw some)
Since I do not even remember if I saw some for sure, their performance perished during battle withput recognizing.
Jagdtiger
Appear in Berlin. Quite good. But always very alone.
Artillery tanks:
UdSSR
----------------
SU-122
Pretty fast, not weak. Is more precise than the ISU-152. Can also serve as a tank hunter.
ISU-152
Incredibly slow. I think it is the slowest unit in the game. Not very precise, but strong. Can serve as a tank hunter (if it finally reaches the enemy)
Germany
----------------
Has none.
Trucks, APC etc.:
UdSSR
----------------
GAZ-61
Absolutely useless unit. Can't fight, can't transport. But hey, it can drive
ZiS-42
Only truck for the Soviet side. Very fast. Transports 12 soldiers.
Germany
----------------
BMW R-75
Light fighting vehicle. Dies first.
Kuebelwagen
Same as the GAZ-61, but does not even move, since the computer does never do anything.
Opel Blitz
Same usage as the Kuebelwagen. Found often in convoys.
SdKfz 250
Fighting APC. Do not know if it can transport units.
Artillery:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Flak 18 88mm
In reality a tank killer, in this game the Germans do not get teh idea to use it against tanks. It is a victim.
PAK-40 75mm
This was the only enemy unit in the game, which I classified as dangerous. Kills tanks very effective.
Some Howitzer (Think it was the sFH18)
Appears in one mission as the objective to destroy.
Aircraft:
UdSSR
----------------
Has none.
Germany
----------------
Bf 109 (Version unknown)
Appears in one mission on an air field.
Ju-52
Appears in one mission on an air field.
Wrecked FW190
Decorative, not more.
All in all, I can say, that if I would have bought this game for much money, I could bite myself in the a.... I would be angry. Luckily I got it very very cheap, so I can say, fine.
But if any of the developers reads this, take this as on suggestion what to make better next time.
An AI is simply needed! Or if not that, atleast a multiplayer function.
I don't know of there are any mods, maps or so for this game, if you know, post it please, maybe it would bring me to play this game once again. I already paid for it, so why not making the best of it....