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Computer Software / Games
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Displaying Reviews: 1 - 1
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Average Reviewer Rating:
 
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1
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Time for this old campaigner to move on
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Reviewer
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Reviewed by Antar Howarth (info@totalmodel.com) July 20, 2004
Burning Horizons is the expanded version of "Blitzkrieg", the real time strategy game from CDV which was released about 18 months ago. The main difference appears to be the addition of a new desert campaign along with associated vehicles and weapons. The actual game engine remains unchanged though the creators do trumpet an updated AI.
Before leaping into the critique it's perhaps worth sparing a thought for the game's lineage. Both Burning Horizons and Blitzkrieg are the next generation of titles that spawned from CDVs earlier WWII creation, "Sudden Strike". The game was a marriage of real time strategy and frenetic action packaged in a WWII wrapper. It was an instant hit. The "Sudden Strike Forever" add-on arrived on the shelves soon after as did a fully-fledged "Sudden Strike II" package several years later.
Blitzkrieg, as I've already mentioned, was released early last year and marked a significant step along the game's evolutionary path. It added more features, units and options along with a reworked and much enhanced graphics engine. Scratch under the surface, however, and you knew Sudden Strike wasn't very far away.
Like all its predecessors, Burning Horizons presents players with a birds eye view over a pseudo-3d battlefield. This position is fixed and cannot be altered in any way. After playing more recent games like Desert Rats, which have fully 3-dimensional environments, I found this restriction very annoying. In the heat of the action I often found myself trying to rotate the view with my mouse - which, of course, was impossible.
The action unfolds in a predictable fashion with units scurrying around the map in an attempt to engage the enemy. Despite my misgivings about the 3-d surroundings, the units look pretty convincing. The tanks in particular are very nicely done. Troops can be ordered to march, charge or even crawl with each formation lending a slightly different effect to the outcome of any engagement. Troops can also be instructed to commandeer fixed weapons that might be abandoned by the enemy. Similarly, transport vehicles can hitch-up to the larger artillery pieces and tow them to more advantageous positions.
One of the greatest problems faced by the designers of games such as BH and its predecessors is where to draw the line between action and strategy. Too much action and the thing starts to play like Space Invaders. Too much strategy, on the other hand, and you could go for hours without firing a shot. At some point, someone has to make a choice - secure in the knowledge that his (or her) decision is sure to upset at least one section of the gaming community!
BH is very much action oriented. People may call it a strategy game but it's really nothing of the sort. For one thing the term "strategy" suggests there will be a variety of ways to resolve an encounter. Your job should be to devise the optimal plan. In BH, however, it often tends to be the sheer weight of numbers that win the day. Secondly, possibly in an attempt to concentrate the action, most units have a very small field of vision. Obviously you can only engage a target if you can see it so this means most encounters take place over ridiculously short distances. At times, for example, I was forced to move my "ranged" units - like mortars - so close to the enemy that I would have been better served attacking them with automatic weapons. You can call in spotter planes to help you observe enemy positions but it always seems unnecessarily clumsy.
Burning Horizons has more in common with games such as "C&C: Red Alert" and "Total Annihilation" than it does with the likes "Combat Mission" or "Close Combat". This is not to say that it does not have its merits - you just have to approach it from a slightly different angle. Anyone who picks up the game hoping for a tactical challenge will be disappointed. Then again, if tank rushes and massed assaults are more your thing then BH could be for you.
Sadly, the one feature that could have endeared BH to many gamers has been completely overlooked. This style of action is ideally suited to multi player gaming and yet - amazingly - no such feature exists. For this reason the game will only last as long as it takes the player to complete the featured campaigns and small number of additional missions. These might prove entertaining for a while but with games such as "Soldiers - Heroes of World War II" already on the shelf, I wonder for how long?
Ultimately, to recommend this game is to recommend a step back in time. Games have moved on and it's time for this old campaigner to do the same.
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5
out of
6
people found this review helpful
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