With the sequel "Allied General", gamers will again find an excellent challenge in strategy and the very same interface that made the game so popular. This time, instead of playing the role of the Germans during the World War II, "Allied General" puts you in command of the other side, the Allies.
While it will still be possible to command the Germans through the scenarios, you won't be able to do so in the campaigns. There are three of them with different theaters of operations: North Africa, Western Europe and Russia. In the first, you will command the British forces against the forces of the Axis between 1940 and 1942. The second will put you in charge of either the American or British armies in the Western Europe front from 1940 until the end of the war in 1945. Finally, the Russian campaign will send you from the frozen lands of Finland to Berlin, at the command of the Red Army during the entire duration of the war.
The campaigns contain series of battles in which you will conduct your troops to victory or defeat depending your strategic skills. Your army is made of two sub-groups: the core and auxiliary units. The core units are the troops that you will start your first battle with. If you are successful, what is left from the battle will continue to fight in the others, gaining experience at each confrontation with the enemy. In most battles though, you will also command auxiliary units. These will not follow you during the campaign, as they only serve for one battle. Don't expect, however, to win a battle only with your non-core units. Their lack of experience might be devastating, so don't be afraid to engage your core units into combat if you don't want to find yourself at the command of an ammunition depot, somewhere in the North of Scotland during the entire war.
If you are not yet ready for a full scale campaign, "Allied General" will offer you a vast choice of scenarios, thirty-nine to be exact. Some are historically correct and some are only projects elaborated during the World War II by Allies Command, such as the Operation Jupiter thought up to free Norway. You can play alone against the computer or against another human player through email. When challenging the computer's AI, you can select the difficulty level and choose easy or hard. It is also possible to customize the experience and prestige of the enemy.
The prestige represents the notoriety you gain by destroying enemy units or by taking cities. The more you are victorious the more you will acquire prestige points. The most important about prestige is that you can exchange some for new units, replacements or new equipment. However, what applies when you win battles is also true when you are defeated. Whenever the enemy takes over one of your cities or destroy units, you will lose prestige points.
The rules for "Allied General" are exactly the same as those used in Panzer General such as the supply, elite reinforcement, movements, control zone, etc. The main difference between the two games (besides the opposite sides) is the Windows environment. "Allied General" supports the autoplay feature of Windows 95 which executes the game as soon as you insert the CD. What Windows brings to the game is the possibility of having several windows at the same time which comes in quite handy. Besides that, it slows down the game rather than improving speed as the 'old' "Panzer General" was faster with the same configuration!
"Allied General" features sharp and detailed graphics for both units and terrains which makes confusion between units virtually impossible. Like Panzer General, the program offers SVGA graphics and actual video footage from World War II. The movements of units and attacks are accompanied by good sound effects but their number is too limited.
486 DX2-66 MHz or higher,
Min 8Mb memory,
MS-DOS 5.0 or later,
Hard drive required with 3Mb free,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
SVGA video graphic card with 1Mb,
Microsoft mouse and 100% compatibles,
Windows compatible sound cards supoorted.
Windows 95, Windows 3.x
Technical Support: 408-737-6850
BBS: 408-739-6137 (9600, 14.4K, 21.6K or 28.8K baud modems)
BBS: 408-739-6623 (1200, 2400, 9600, 14.4K, 21.6K or 28.8K baud modems)
BBS in Canada: 403-473-9131 or 408-472-0178 (2400 - 14.4K baud modems)
Internet Support: S.S.I.
Web site: www.ssionline.com
Mindscape,
88 Rowland Way,
Novato, CA 94945.
Technical Support: 415-897-9900
Fax: 415-897-2747
Web site: www.mindscape.com
In Europe:
In UK:
Mindscape,
Priority House,
Charles Avenue, Maltings Park,
Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9TQ.
Technical Support: +44-(0)1444-246333
Fax: +44-(0)1444-248996
In France:
Mindscape France,
74D Rue de Paris,
36069 Rennes Cedex.
Technical Support: +33-9987-5887
Fax: +33-9987-5888
In Germany:
Mindscape Germany,
Zeppelinstrasse 321,
45470 Muelheim A.D. Ruhr.
Technical Support: +49-208-9924100
Fax: +49-208-9924129
| Graphics: | 90% |
| Sound: | 85% |
| Music: | 84% |
| Gameplay: | 90% |
| Interest: | 95% |
| Overall: | 90% |
