From: chnahr@msnNOSPAM.com (Christoph Nahr) Subject: East Front: Review (sort of) Too many games, too little time, but after completing three of East Front's random campaign scenarios I thought I'd let slip how I feel about various aspects of Talonsoft's East Front (in case someone's still looking for a Christmas present). First a disclaimer: I have NOT played through any historical scenario, so my comments only pertain to the general game system and the random scenario generator used in the campaign. Summary of the review: Buy EF only for people who have an Internet connection, a high frustration level and an interest in examining innovative wargaming systems. Everyone else should get Steel Panthers 3 and wait until West Front comes out because by that time, EF should have been patched to a level of documentation and completeness resembling SP3. ;-) Now for the details. EF covers the European East Front (duh) of World War 2 on a tactical level. Hexes are 250 metres across, with units representing platoons. Multiple units (up to five) can occupy each hex. One, some or all units of a hex can be selected for movement or attacks. Btw, you can command forces up to _corps_ size meaning you won't be doing much else for a few weeks. :-) First and foremost, most will already know that the game has been released in a state which can only be described as fraudulent. There is no manual to speak of but lots of bugs to make up for it. You need both the current patch (1.04) and the manual addenda (EFMANUAL.ZIP, EFFAQ) from Talonsoft's web site. I played the patched version but there are still a lot of questions: new manual and FAQ are still incomplete and contradict each other, the user interface doesn't show vital data (i.e. general combat strength vs. hard/soft targets -- you have to dig these out of 2 menu levels), the game system seems incoherent and features a couple of bright ideas right next to a few rather silly ones. It looks as if not only the production process but also the design phase for this game had ended prematurely. Movement is I go - You go style but Talonsoft added a few twists. First, units get lots of opportunity fire: it is possible (though apparently randomly determined?) that a single unit will fire twice in a row during op fire, and units may fire at any unit, even those which had _not_ moved, in a hex where any sort of action occurs, i.e. even if units are only fortifying. Also, the amount of op fire seems to vary between hard and soft targets -- anyone knows how and why? Lastly, even units which have just been disrupted by an attack can op-fire back which doesn't seem right to me. The other (major) change is the integration of multi-unit close assaults. You can assign any number of units adjacent to the same hex to assault that hex. Once you order to resolve the assault, two combats are automatically resolved: first you vs. them, next the counter-attack of them vs. you. Chances for success are displayed when assigning units to the assault. This is a very nice feature which I would like to see in other Igo/Ugo games, and the differentiation between distance attacks and assaults also serves to give the infantry an important role: it has low distance attack values but very high assault values, meaning they're not only cannon fodder but actually dangerous to tanks once you do manage to get them close to tanks in combat-ready condition! Spotting is somewhat strange. Frequently I had my infantry shot at by tanks who spotted them before I could see the tanks! Likewise, when I tried to put an infantry unit in a forest hex (as an arty spotter) it was _immediately_ recognised by tanks two and three hexes away and killed by opportunity fire! Talking of artillery, I think this is the one area where the AI is cheating. When I do bombardments without a spotting unit, my shots are usually wide amiss but the AI's are always on the spot. The AI's shots (122mm in this case) will also cause plenty of disorder or damage while my own 105mm guns fired approx. _thirty_ shots into a hex with several platoons of light tanks (T-28 I think) without any effect whatsoever! I don't think this is only due to the 122/105mm difference!? Lastly, I had plenty of situations where an AI unit that was stationary for several turns would move for no apparent reason just after I had plotted a bombardment to its hex. In fact, the only AI units I ever caught in place were those defending objectives! One thing about EF which is apparent from the ads are the incredible 3D graphics. They are clear, detailed and simply gorgeous and easily beat _anything_ on the wargaming market, including PzG2 (which IMO showed cartoonish units on a fuzzy postcard background). You can also use 2D views but these are definitely sub-par (War in Russia style). Sadly, here's a nasty flaw: movements on the 3D map are so slow as to render the game unplayable unless you're ready to wait 5-10 minutes per turn -- simply for movements to finish. If you have a life or a wife (or even both ) you will definitely want to wait until Talonsoft puts out another patch to speed up movements. There's some very weird sort of supply model: if any unit cannot be reached by a supply truck (fixed radii, no terrain/road consideration) it throws a few dice, and if it thinks it's out of supply then it gets only half the normal combat strength. Units never _really_ go out of supply, however (except for arty), and movement isn't affected at all. Frankly, I'd rather have no supply model at all than this strange stuff, especially since the game is only tactical scale. To add to the weirdness, we also have some sort of "leader" which is you, the player, sitting in a spiffy VW Kübelwagen (for the Germans) and zooming about the battlefield to increase the morale and combat values of any units whose hex you grace with your presence. This is another idiotic and useless addition IMO. Raising morale is a job for the HQs which have precious little work in the current system. So what have we got? Excellent graphics which are rendered useless by insane movement delays, an excellent combat system which is marred by questionable additions, documentation which is still incomplete, and a user interface that, while improved from the Battleground series of databases, er wargames, still retains enough Talonsoft weirdness to ensure corporate identity. Example: You can't attack units in the upper right corner of the map because this place is always covered by Talonsoft's mega-spiffy new "info box" (much box, little info). However, the overview map which is badly needed in the huge scenarios cannot be displayed permanently. One can only hope that the East Front system will eventually mature into a polished, coherent wargame. At this moment, I think I'll delete EF from my hard drive and continue playing Steel Panthers 3. -- Christoph Nahr (chnahr@msnNOSPAM.com) Remove NOSPAM to reply via e-mail