Customer Reviews

Sudden Strike

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you are into WWII or strategy games this is the perfect game.I love this game, the graphics are incredibly detailed, my favorite are the soldiers, their really small but very detailed and funny too, they overact a little when their shot, they moan and keel over while blood gushes out of them ( I find the german soldiers to be the funiest). If you leave them there for a while they hum and sing songs to themselves and sometimes you can catch them smoking. The detail on the vehicles are incredible as well you can see the countries insignia all over them, and the blasts from the the tanks are clear and realistic. The sounds are great the explosions almost sound real (you can even hear the metal sheels from the cannons clank on the ground before they explode). You can command several different kinds of tanks, vehicles, and troops, as well as call in paratroopers, supplies, and bombing raids (Very devastating if the bombers don't get taken out by flak first). It is programmed perfectly to, I have had it for at least 5 months and haven't encountered a glitch or bug yet ( and I've played almost every mission available, speaking of which a second disk came along which gives you extra missions, including one very fun one called saving private bryan were you get to play out the entire saving private ryan movie!!). There are a few bad aspects to the game though here's what they are.

1)Difficulty: The game is incredibly hard since youu men die in one hit and don't get replaced (once you get you reinforcements you don't get anymore....) so it requires a high amount of strategy to win without out using cheats.

2)... AI: I'll be frank, The enemy AI ..., the enemy runs straight into to death, don't get me wrong the game is still extreamly challenging, it's just that say your playing a mission in the game and your their is a field and you have it locked down with snipers, and machine guns, and cannons, and a wave of enemy soldiers comes along and they get slaughtered and the next wave comes along, they run straight through the same field and get slaughtered again, now I don't know about you but if I was fighting in a war, and I saw a field full of the ... corpses of my fallen comrades I wouldn't want to run through the same field, because I know what would happen to me. The game is still fun but it would have been more fun to see smarter soldiers.

3) Lack of mission creator: This would have been fun, but I know that this is going to be fixed.It's been announced that the expansion sudden strike: forever which comes out later this month ( you might want to check me on that at the website) is going to have a mission builder, as well as new units and desert terrain.

Overall the game is great and if you are a strategy game fan or a WWII buff do NOT!!!!! pass this game up it is definitly worth your money.

SUDDEN STRIKE is not the best WWII tactical RTS game, that is certain. The game obviously attempts to model itself more as a Command and Conquer or Total Annihilation than an SSI turn-based or Close Combat style of game. As such, the fighting can be complex and overwhelming, with lots and lots of units involved. Individual units ARE difficult to discern in the wonderfully crowded landscape, and a firm command of the grouping controls (plus liberal use of the PAUSE command) is necessary.

Unit pathfinding is not nearly so bad as some have said, and a waypoint facility IS provided, although some reviewers have said otherwise (something that makes me question these negative reviews - did you read the manual?). The primary difficulty lies in timing coordinated attacks with vast numbers of units spread over a rather large map. Units will generally get to where you tell them to go quite easily - the difficulty lies in getting them to take proper cover when they get there.

The command interface is not awful, but the units' response to these commands can seem questionable. Movement is good, but COVER often appears to do nothing as units stand in the open and take casualties. In addition, the system often brings in reinforcements that operate on their own apparently standing orders, moving blindly into firefights if not told to do otherwise. As such, handling this interface can quickly become an exercise in mouse clicking.

The game LOOKS outstanding. Everything can be destroyed - even trees. B17 raids are stupendous. The sound...well, it's there, and it's sometimes repetitive and annoying. If you want a good WWII RTS game and you like frantic action, this is the game for you. If you want a more controlled, thinking-man's game in the same genre, get Close Combat III and IV.

If there is one thing I hate it is when games cheat. This game gives each unit two range statistics, sight range and weapon range. Playing this game even on its easiest setting, I continually got wiped out by units that supposedly had short ranges. Even my snipers(which supposedly have long vision ranges and weapon ranges) couldn't barely see other units before getting killed. Snipers behind trees were no match for SMG units standing in the open. It was particularly lovely to see artillery out ranged by riflemen! With the cheat code to turn off the fog of war, this game became playable, but you shouldn't need to do that. Also I am tired of games that don't have mission editors. Yes this game is cool because you supposedly have lots of units at your disposal, but that hype means nothing when you don't have the ability to choose. There are much better combat games out there.

Good game for most people love war game especially in WWII. Only one thing can be improved is the Panzer/Tank seens to be too weak at tall. Anti-tank Pak becomes the main role in this game. But for any people who like Air-force, sorry, there is no space to explain, Heers only. On strategy level, this game demands you alot, always think before act. Otherwise, you'll have a BBQ of your troops. In addition, it's a real situation for General like you, cos no production cost or worries on resources. All u need to know is how to use your troops to win. I left only 3 soldiers but still completed the mission. See how cool is it!

BOTTEM LINE: One of the best war/strategy games of the year. LIKES: Graphics are great. There are a number and diverity of units, each has a different health and strength. This game is not one were you just rush your opponent, try it and you loose every time. There is stratagy and a kind of cat and mouse direction to winning. You have to use your officers and snipers to get extended battlefield views, but your riflemen to knock out what you see. Hit and fall back. Playablility is very easy but realistic. DISLIKES: My three biggest dislikes are 1. When directing units from one point to another they don't travel the way you would go, they wonder onto the battlefield. (The game does have a way point set and pause while commanding function, to make your units go very specified directions but for each unit is time consuming). 2. It would be nice to have a campaign game similuar to Close Combat 3 or 4 where you can either purchase core units and take them through out the game or at least choose your own units from a list of units. 3. I wish someone would make a campaign game with direction, if you win you advance, lose and fall back, not just a compilation of senerios as with this game. FINAL THOUGHTS: This is a game for network play. I can't say enough about how this game plays via network. The tactics and stratagy with a human on the other side makes this game really great. Overall I would highly recommend this game.

I would rate this my all time favorite strategy game. I've been playing strategy games for over 20 years. Some of my reasons for this include:

1) Historical realism. Being a WWII history buff I loved looking up the different units in books I have to get more complete specs. on the units.

2) New Paradigm for RTS: Something I REALLY LIKE about this game is the ability to give orders in the pause mode. This enables you to really stop and ponder in depth tatics and strategies and issue the orders before resuming play.

3) Great graphics.

4) Grand Scale Missions. The missions are on a grand scale. Numerous times I found myself thinking I had completed the mission only to discover I had only just completed the first segement... with much more to go. Some missions took me over a week to complete.

5) The AI is great too. It's set up to play out a sequence of events based on certain triggers (ie time, reaching a point on the map etc). This doesn't seem as 'intelligent' or intuitive as many other AI's, but it actually makes for a much better game. Less random behavior, becuase it has all been thought out in advance by the map builder.

Downsides

1) The game is German biased, in my opinion, in that Germany has a lot more unit types to choose from. Well... it was developed in Germany and they did have the most innovative army of the time. Before I even opened the box, I was most excited about playing the German side. But, I'd like to have seen a more balanced game with respect to the units portrayed.

2) At least on my computer there was one glitch where the game would sometimes hang-up in pause mode and require me to re-boot my whole system losing whatever progress I had made in a game.

All in all this is a great game.

I picked up the German version of this game in Nov '00. The strategy required to complete the missions is a true to life as I have seen. As a WWII buff I can say that the units are realisic both in look and in capabilities.

It's a lot of fun to play and I have logged many hours playing this game till late in the night. I still play it reqularly even after 5 months - something that only a few games can get me to do. Missions take a long time to complete but there is a save feature so you can come back to one in progress.

If you like military strategy this is THE game to get.

Let's face it, Starcraft was slow, dated graphics, only about 30 units to choose from, and could only be capable of handling a few hundred units at one time. Max. Red Alert was horribly unreal, and quickly boring. Sudden Strike is THE RTS. Three different sides: Nazis, Soviets, or Allies. Each has their own great units. Some special units include:

Allies: Jeeps, Churchill Tanks, Tiger tanks, etc

Nazis: Sturmtiger's, Panzer tanks, Panzerfausts (German rocket launchers)

Soviets: Katyusha mobile rocket launcher platforms. Best assault unit in the game.

Other units include: over a dozen types of tanks on each side, flamethrowers, officers, marksmen, snipers, maching gunners, howitzers, engineers, demolition teams, sub maching gunners, rocket launchers, armored transports, bombers, AA guns, Anti tank guns, supply trucks, ambulances, etc. Units have individual ammo, which has to be reloaded with either ammo crates dropped off by planes or supply trucks. Supply trucks carry engineers which build pontoon bridges, stock ammo, and repair vehicles. Ambulances heal soldiers. This game focuses on ultimate realism. If a soldier is badly wounded, he will slowly die. Bodies stay there, they don't disappear, same with craters and scorch marks. Units talk in their own languages, which may be English, French, German or Russian. Everything on the map is destructible. Buildings, blinds, bunkers, towers, can all be entered. Air strikes can be ordered. There is a 10 mission campaign for each side, plus over two dozen single missions. Downsides: No random map or map editor, but the greatness and addictiveness of this game brilliantly pays off. This game won't leave my hard drive for a long time. Forget Red Alert 2.

All the negetive reviews talk about how you just win this game with tank and infantry rushes. Try it. You loose every time. I'm sure that's why those guys gave negetive reviews. This game takes some real thought to win. At first I thought there was no way to win except by turning on the cheat codes. Then, after playing the exercise games, I came to see that you have to really deploy and use your forces just as a real life tactical commander would in order to win. Each scenario is rich with diverse situations to overcome. Just like in real life, there is no one solution to any scenario. There are many ways to win - or loose. All in all, a game you can play for many fun hours. Very addictive.

This game rocks. Its so much fun. I am big on WW2 and not many games can satisfy my want for realsistic WW2 action. This game completely satisfies it. I have played it for a year and its still as fun as when I first got it. The idea of having to use strategy and not build your men is awesome because the players with no strategy get weeded out. Having to supply your troops with ammo is also a great idea as it adds more flavor to the game. The vehicles and soldiers look exactly as they did in WW2. One tip though is play as little as you can against AI. Get online as soon as possible because the AI is not so good and single player does not bring out this game. BUY THIS GAME.