In recent years, it seems as though there haven’t been many World War 2 themed Real-Time Strategy games. We still have games like Company of Heroes and Men of War, but that’s about it. There was also another little WW2 themed strategy game developed by Nival that came out in 2003, known as Blitzkrieg. I had only played the first game in this series about two years ago, but it quickly became my favorite WW2 themed RTSs, over the likes of CoH and MoW. The game’s focus on unit management and strategy instead of base and resource management made the game very unique, and a lot less complicated. Now, ten years after the not-as-great Blitzkrieg 2, we have Blitzkrieg 3 on Steam Early Access. Does it hold up to former glory? Ehh, maybe.
Blitzkrieg 3 is – as I said – a World War 2 themed RTS that allows you to command armies under the U.S., Russian, and Nazi Germany banners. Currently the game has very little to it: You get a tutorial teaching you the basics when you first start up, and then you have some random scenario missions to play against AI, and a very strange Clash of Clans-esque gamemode where you build a base up and attack other players for resources. This is enough to give you a basic idea of how the game will work on full release, but unfortunately didn’t hold my attention very long.
Sadly, the singleplayer scenarios aren’t very fun. And this is largely in part to one thing: The lack of briefing screens. I know this sounds petty, but when you’re thrown directly into the action and have to read all of your objectives and instructions while enemies are already starting to onslaught your position, it gets stressful fast. This could easily be averted with a briefing screen you can read before the mission, or some simple voice acting to read out the instructions for you.
There’s also very little feedback given to you. I was playing a mission where I had to defend two anti aircraft guns from waves of enemies with only a few units. Some of these units I could control, and some I couldn’t. It would often get me confused when trying to select my units to have them defend. I suppose this could be avoided with hotkeys, but in the heat of battle you often forget things. Another problem is that I was actually getting reinforcements a lot of the time, but I had no clue they were even there, as the game didn’t notify me of them. So, most of the time while I was busy making sure my defenses were holding up, I had units sitting at my base doing nothing because I didn’t know they existed. Nival plans to add a campaign at some point or another, so I hope these issues get fixed before that.
Another problem I see – or maybe don’t see –is the fact that units are incredibly tiny on the map and difficult to pick out from the surroundings, as they blend in very easily. True, you can zoom in a bit, but doing this causes you to move in a bit too close, and then you can’t really see your surroundings well. It’d be a lot easier to assess what’s going on if your units weren’t the sizes of ants; even tanks are pretty darn small.
Now, as for the multiplayer mode. Well, it’s interesting to say the least. If you’ve played Clash of Clans, you’ll feel right at home. This type of gameplay is apparently known as “Asynchronous Multiplayer”. Basically, you’re given a base with some buildings, and some resources. Buildings include Barracks to train troops, storage facilities to store resources, factories to build vehicles, etc. etc. These can all be upgraded to give you access to new buildings and troops to build and recruit. You’re given one resource for building and upgrading, and one resource for recruiting. To gain more resources, you must train troops and attack another player’s base with your army and successfully take it over. Of course, your base can be attacked as well (even when you aren’t playing the game!), so you must build good defenses and have troops on reserve.
In my time with this mode, I had fun. It works surprisingly well for this kind of game, and I haven’t seen in done on any platform other than mobile. You’re given a lengthy tutorial to help you understand the mechanics, although said tutorial seems easily breakable. I accidentally bought a unit I shouldn’t have, and was unable to proceed due to insufficient resources. And unlike Clash of Clans, there aren’t any stupid overpriced microtransations, and waiting half a month for one building to finish.
I felt as though the game could use some music. I’m a bit surprised there wasn’t at least one or two tracks made for the early access release. It leaves the menu screen and gameplay segments eerily silent. The actual in game sound effects are nice and intense, but the game just feels kind of empty with such a lack of any music.
Finally, I must comment on the graphics: They’re absolutely stupendous. It seems as though a lot of RTS games take the cheap route and go with subpar graphics, since you aren’t going to be seeing much detail anyway. Blitzkrieg 3 does not do this. The textures, foliage, and unit models all look great and very realistic on the highest settings; and even with my low tier PC, I was able to run the game perfectly without a single framedrop or hiccup. The only problem is that, as stated before, units have an easy time blending in with the lush scenery, which can be irritating.
So, is Blitzkrieg 3 worth the $30 price tag it’s sporting right now? In my opinion, no. The game has potential, it looks beautiful, and the asynchronus muliplayer mode really is very fun, but right now, there just isn’t enough to warrant such a hefty price. Nival is planning on adding a true Player Vs. Player mode soon, where you can directly fight people online–but until that and maybe a few more features\fixes are added, I’d say hold off. Unless you REALLY like the sound of that Clash of Clans mode.