Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg Demo

Turn-based wargames may not be all that popular, but there certainly is a dedicated community of people who appreciate them and always pester the developers for more. Naturally, most of these deal with the second World War and famous battles that took place over the six years of conflict, but others approach a variety of other confrontations, some of which are not even taken from history.

Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg is part of a somewhat successful TBS series that concerns itself with the second World War, as well as with the accurate depiction of the struggle that went on between the two factions over the continent of Europe. Hence, whether it's Germany's invasion of the USSR, or USA's famous D-Day operation, they all hold a lot of potential when it comes to portraying them in video games.

To start off with, it is worth noting that the game at hand actually comes as close to the wargame genre as possible, since it even uses a grid-like map and icons instead of units. Thus, all the work went into making sure that the tactical aspect was sound, while the rest was more or less rushed along to fit the theme. While the interface does not look bad per se and the drawings are more than decent, the lack of any kind of animation is slightly disappointing, although the feeling quickly goes away once you start dealing with the problems on the battlefield.

The entire gameplay revolves around your ability to capture and hold interest points, such as cities, factories and various other resource-generating facilities. This way, you get to increase your income every round and you are able to purchase more and better troops, although the money can also be used to research various technologies. Naturally, there are other objectives as well, such as invading specific countries and defeating certain nations, which play out much more differently.

One interesting aspect of the game is the fact that you can replay any scenario from both sides of the conflict, meaning that you get to be both the attacker and the defender. This way, you can thoroughly study the battle and see what could have happened either way, as well as get a glimpse at possible alternative histories, in case some confrontations wouldn't have ended with the same winners.

In the end, Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg is definitely a good TBS, but the lack of a more imposing visual chapter and the excruciatingly long turns can sometimes prove to be too much, even for those who are accustomed to the genre. Moreover, you do not really feel like you have accomplished something after a victory, although it certainly depends on your mood and state of mind.