Commander Europe at War

Commander Europe at War

Commander Europe at War rates somewhere in the mid-80s and that's very high by my standards since I can't think of a single wargame that hits over 90. Overall I really like this game and suspect I'll be enjoying it for years to come. It seems like turn-based strategy wargames have really been few and far in between. So to me Commander Europe at War is a much appreciated breath of fresh air.

This game is almost playable out of the box with just a minimum of consultation of the manual. I did have to refer to the manual to figure out what some of the different research attributes were. But other than that, it was really easy to get into and start playing right away and having a ball.

A Commander Europe at War game editor is provided, however, it is not intuitive. With some time, however, I am sure that I could figure it out and probably enjoy making enhancements to the game or creating scenarios.

I am really impressed with the interface and feel it's one of the best interfaces I have ever seen. It seems like someone has been spending a lot of time with Photoshop. The graphics are top notch and very pleasing to the eye. All the navigational elements, buttons, etc., are all laid out very intuitively and the color palette, contrast, etc., has been done with great care to avoid eye strain. This is in far contrast to some games of the past (East Front comes to mind) that had really poor contrast between the unit graphics and map graphics. Commander Europe at War avoids all that.

I have several suggestions below, but it is always important to remember that implementing such suggestions probably would have meant spending a lot more coding time, more money, more bugs or all three, thus delaying release of the game or not making it as bullet proof. As such, I am happy that Commander Europe at War is bug free in my experience.

Hopefully there is a Commander Pacific at War coming soon... :)

Commander Europe at War - Favorite Features

• Beautiful interface - very intuitive and very professionally done both for the overall interface as well as unit specific graphics. Bravo to the Commander Europe at War team!
• Upgrades and reinforcements require only one click.
• It should be easy to make custom graphics for the game.
• Supply is really well done.
• Leaders are really well done.
• The graphics on the Commander Europe at War owner's manual are beautifully done too.
• Jump map is perfect and has many different views.
• No undo move prevents cheating, but it takes a bit of getting used to since there is no way to estimate combat odds without having a unit next to its prospective target.

Commander Europe at War - Suggestions

• I would have some mouse-overs for the research attributes to define what they do.
• The Atlantic could be a bit wider.
• Add some key ports such as Oslo, Cherbourg, Portsmouth and Montreal.
• The map is supposed to zoom to three different states, but I can only see the zoom out and the middle, but can't see the zoom in state. I'll have to figure that out with tech support when I get a bit of time.
• There was no Vichy France.
• There is no Kiel Canal.
• It would be nice to have a kill record per unit.
• More unique graphics: in several cases, units for the British and Americans as well as the Germans and Italians are the same. No doubt someone will or already has come up with a custom graphics patch for this easily repairable oversight.
• There is no way to create Mulberries. I can't figure out if they have been abstracted into the game.
• There do not appear to be ownership colors for hexes as they are captured.