Call to Arms: Panzer Elite

I have enjoyed this game. Great graphics brings the battlefield in France alive. Good AI with the enermy, This creates a challenge and a level of realism, that you just cant go into a village guns blazing. Good tank games are difficult. You can get bogged down giving a simulator experience, this game is not that. More aligned to WoT. Fun, but with enough challenge to keep you engaged.

In it's current state I can't recommend this game at the price point its sitting at. The game has potential and I will finish off the German Campaign tomorrow, having completed the US campaign today and the first mission of the German campaign. I personally didn't get any performance issues but admittedly I'm sitting on a PC that was built for DCS and other flight sims, so it easily deals with most 'normal' games. What is holding the game back at the moment is the enemy AI being fairly dopey and seldom jockeying for a better tactical position (they can see through lots of bushes though and engage you) but the friendly AI is just ridiculously thick. Tell them to follow and they will sort of but may or may not just stop somewhere along the way, facing the wrong way to the enemy. Equally tell them to hold and they may well do but won't turn to face the threat and eventually they'll just drive off and do their own thing which is incredibly frustrating. Finally the ballistics don't really make sense. Smacking a PzIV J over and over at about 100m with a M1 76mm armed Sherman just wasn't a thing in reality. A well placed 75mm was more than enough to crack a PzIV of any kind, a 76mm would have cleaved straight through it. On this game however, you find yourself struggling to knock these things out even when they're largely side on. I think the game has potential but things will need changing, and if they are I'll definitely alter my review to reflect this. To improve the game the following needs to happen: 1) Friendly AI: Improve them so they follow the instructions given but give them some autonomy within that order I.e. If you've told them to hold, make them hold but if they detect enemies get them to turn to face those enemies so their thickest armour is facing the threat. Equally when you switch vehicle, don't make that reset so that they all start moving to come your way, as this often means they stop facing the threat. 2) Enemy AI: Give them a brain. They shouldn't sit out in the open and then eventually move in one direction or another. As soon as you engage them, they should be actively seeking cover and ground that they can more effectively fight from. 3) Ballistics: This goes both ways. Rounds need to feel dangerous and one shot kills either way shouldn't be overlooked. Currently you can knock out enemy tanks with one shot but it just doesn't feel like the rounds have sufficient weight to them. 4) Ranging: I think implementing the option to have buttons to alter the ranges would be beneficial. At the moment we're effectively firing on a flat trajectory even when ranges are around 500m For something like a Panther, Tiger or 76mm Sherman this isn't ludicrous but the M3 75mm on most shermans fired on a steeper parabolic trajectory. 5) Infantry: Make them more fluid and their movement more tactical. Infantry are people and people have a will to live. Dismounts have the most options for cover of anyone on the ground in warfare and they should be utilising that cover, not running back and forward in front of tanks that have 2/3 machineguns in addition their main armament. At the moment the infantry just feel like chaff. 6) AI spawning in: After completing the US campaign (as it is currently), I did the first mission of the German campaign. At the very end I had to escort trucks to the edge of the map which I did with a PzIV G. Naturally, as trucks are softskin and therefore very vulnerable, I went ahead of them to make sure the route was clear. Stopping to check buildings etc there was nothing there, so I moved forward, only to have enemy AT infantry, halftracks and an M3 Stuart Spawn within about 10m of me, damaging me immediately. The only thing that saved me was my brainless AI buddy who drove in and took their fire off me for long enough for me to repair. If the devs can implement these changes they may well be onto something.