Open Panzer First Look

I ran into this game a few weeks ago on The App Store and decided to give it a shot. I just reviewed Panzer Corps for The iPad and wanted to check out some of its competition. So lets jump in and have a look.

PROS

Good Looking Map

The map on this game looks really good. The first scenario I opened was The Ardennes and it was the first thing that I noticed. The trees, the snow and villages all looked great. I was beginning to think… hey Im starting to like this game. This is some great work on behalf of the developer.

Free

Thats right. The game costs 0 bucks. You can go on right now and not pay a cent. I have no idea how their making money or how their covering costs for making the game but hey free is free.

Universal App

This is something I expect to see from every developer. When you make a app, make it universal so I can use it both on my iPad and on my iPhone. Honestly this is a big factor for me when buying apps on The App Store. It needs to be universal.

CONS

No Zoom

I dont know why there is not zoom in this game. It seems like this would be one of the top priorities in a strategy war-game. Zoom Out so you can get a overview of the whole battlefield and get the big picture and Zoom In to make tactical decisions. This is a big negative in my book. Zoom is not a optional feature its a must have.

BUGGY

If you watch the video you will see how many bugs are in the game. Moving the map around creates these weird effects on the game. At one point half the screen was covered in a grey box. Weird.

Handicapped AI

I literally had to play 3 scenarios to see what was up with The AI. The first 2 scenarios The AI did basically nothing. In The Ardennes The AI, playing Germany, was supposed to attack my lines and give me a fight. Needless to say they didn’t. A Few turns later they still were no where to be found. The only time The AI actually moves and fights is if your within sight of em. Then they’ll move units and fight but otherwise don’t expect them to behave offensively.

Low Quality Unit Icons

I dont understand it. You make a beautiful map, but map the units look… eh. This doesn’t make sense. Also the unit animations a bit wonky.

So I wanted to see if Open Panzer can compete with games like Panzer Corps. Not yet. Maybe down the road. I hope the developer patches the game and makes it a bit more playable. When they do I’ll come back and give it another go.

The verdict? I wouldn’t get it right away. Wait a few more months lets hope the developer adds in some patches to fix the AI and Map. Ill come back to this game then and see if those game killing bugs are squashed.

Heres the link to The App - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/open-panzer/id775273884?mt=8