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| Steel Panthers Storms Ashore Almost sixty-two years after the combined Allied might stormed the beaches of the French coast, signaling the beginning of the end for the Thousand-Year Reich, a new invasion is taking place. Publisher Shrapnel Games and developer The Camo Workshop unleash the Windows assault of the popular Steel Panthers "super mod", WinSPWW2, on computers around the world. WinSPWW2 takes no prisoners in the fight for the ultimate turn-based tactical wargame on your computer. This is the granddaddy-the original-of all the Steel Panthers "super mods", now brought up to modern computing standards. But it does more than just shed its DOS heritage, it takes the battle to a whole new level. WinSPWW2 features true combined arms warfare from 1930 through 1946, an era that saw the theories of J.F.C. Fuller and Giulio Douhet put to the test as the world burned. Fully Windows compatible, with all that entails (DirectX or Windows GDI based graphics, full Windows sound and mouse routines, et cetera), WinSPWW2 boasts an impressive array of features that will keep armchair generals fighting until someone has to drag their cold, dead hands off their mouse. WinSPWW2 includes more than three hundred scenarios (332, to be exact), of which sixty-six are entirely new to WinSPWW2. There are sixty new maps, more than five hundred new and revised unit icons, six new nations (Slovak Republic, Manchukuo, Italian Social Republic, Vichy France, Polish Communists, and Chinese Communists), and new scripted long campaigns for France, Chinese Nationalists, and Chinese Communists. New terrains have been added, and twelve of the terrain tile sets have been revised. Infantry squads can display up to nineteen men. Random maps are intelligently created, such as barbed wire added in defensive battles. The game can be played in 800x600 mode, and even higher (up to 1600x1200) with the enhanced version. WinSPWW2 also features quite a bit of enhancements beneath the hood. The AI reaction fire routine has been re-written and is much more selective in its targeting, based on a variety of factors such as the weapon being fired and target type. A retire function for troop carriers have been added so that carriers without passengers now automatically head out of harm's way. Unarmed carriers will retire about a kilometer back from the front, while armed carriers will retire closer, ready to provide cover fire. Additionally, a new load up function for troop carriers under the AI has been added, where carriers will actively search for dismounts to pick up (though this is dependent on how close they are to the action). A robust multiplayer suite allows true world wide warfare, and the map editor makes creating new scenarios a snap. Although with hundreds of scenarios to already choose from, chances are you won't need to worry about the map editor anytime soon. WinSPWW2 is being offered in two versions. The free, downloadable version is available nowhere. This is the full version of the game, and is not crippleware or shareware. There will also be an enhanced CD version of the game, available for purchase. The enhanced CD version includes the full, free, version of the game of course, but in addition includes the following value-added enhancements: * Printed manual and physical CD. * Higher resolutions. Play at up to 1600x1200, in either full screen or windowed. * Cut and paste map editor. Create one large map and then cut and paste sections to create smaller scenarios all within the same area. * Encrypted, secure tournament play along with 250 secure PBEM save slots. * Encyclopedic sorting ability. * ScenHack utility: Delete, move, copy, repair, and edit scenarios. Available in read-only mode in the download version. * CampaignHack utility: Convert existing DOS based campaigns to work with WinSPWW2, including renumbering the existing campaigns. The CD edition also allows extraction of a campaign's scenarios into the main scenario menu. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Game News :: home page |