1944: Batle of the Bulge PC Review

1944: Battle of the Bulge is the third iteration in the World War II RTS series from developer Mont ...

1944: Batle of the Bulge PC Review
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1944: Battle of the Bulge is the third iteration in the World War II RTS series from developer Monte Cristo, and this time around, gamers are treated to action packed WW2 gameplay in the German/Belgium region during the winter of 1944/45- snowy, and highly varied in urban/rural settings. While the game's visual appearance and other initial impressions come off as solid, a swift scratch beneath the surface reveals a far less polished game.
Due to the nature of BotB, i.e.entirely combat orientatedand no "camp" management whatsoever, the game modes on offer are somewhat thin in numbers. First you have the expected multiplayer mode, which works for both Online via Gamespy and over a LAN and features 10 unique maps, and then you have the offline campaign mode, which features 20 campaigns thatvary in human controlled side.
The campaign mode in BotB doesn't focus on any individual characters but rather just the Allied and Axis sides as a whole. There isn't really a storyline as such, what the game does is set the scene for the upcoming battle and that's about it, however it must be said the game does follow the historic orderof the brutal battles that took place. Since there is no developing "between mission"storyline, there is no coherent pattern to the order in which Allied and Axis campaigns are played by the gamer - they seemed to be mixed around, which does feel a little odd at times but nothing overly concerning.
As you'd expect, the first few missions begin as relatively easy, involving little more than move-n-kill gameplay, however it isn't long until you'll encounter slightly more challenging gameplay where unit numbers and unit variety aren't quite in your favor. As you would expect, most of the maps used in the 20 campaigns are based in snowy areas which means white coloured units for better camouflage (A technique which isn't actually all that effective in the game itself, though).
Destructible environments - many games claim to feature it, but most fail to deliver itto expectations.BotB is not one of these games, as the environments in this game are as prone as you'd expect them to be when warfare comes to the neighbourhood. Since foot units can enter buildings for cover, you can attack buildings and unleash some serious structural damage. On top of this, buildings and forests can catch fire, further pampering the game's alreadyauthentic atmosphere. Further more, like the other two titles, obsticles like some smaller trees and barriers are easily crushed by the game's realistically portrayed tanks.
Unfortunately, while the tanks and other vehicle units are realistically portrayed, the same can't necessarily be said for foot units, or soldiers. The main complaint can be found in their armour - while it doesn't always seem to pop up, far too often it will seem simple riflemen or similar units are wearing reinforced 10" thick titanium armoras even direct hits with tank and artillery shells rarely cause overly significant life loss let alone death. This has been a problem in the series and hasn't changed in BotB. On top of this, while it isn't as noticeable as the mentioned solider armor quirk, simple machine gun fire from soldierscan seem to be a little too effective against tanks and other sturdy vehicles. In general, some damage and armor values in BotB could certainly use revising.
One problem which doesn't discriminate depending on unit type, however,is the path finding and unit AI - both best described as "hair pulling tedious" at the best of times. In BotB, you have to move carefully as landmines and other nasty surprises are very common. However, even if you are careful in your movements, it is often not good enough, as units will, for no apparent reason, wonder off and take a completely useless path to your commanded destination. As you can imagine, the units will often wonder into landmines, enemy fire and other undesirable situations; sometimes even off the screen completely. You will soon learn that in BotB, you will literally have to babysit every unit individually (vehicles particularly), and mass unit movement almost always ends up in tears. It wouldn't be so bad if your units were smart enough to at least evaluate targets, but alas, the general unit AI in the game also suffers, meaning not only is babysitting required for unit movement, but it is also required for target selection and retreats - there is very little the game does well by itself when it comes to unit control. Again, these have been issues in the series and it is disappointing to see them remain in BotB.

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