The Ardennes Offensive

SSI	Reviewed by: Jason Levine
Platform: Windows 95. Category: Turn-based war strategy game Price: Retail: $ 49 US, Street: $ 41 US Release: July, 1997	Version: Release Author: SSG Multiplayer: Up to 2 via TCP/IP, IPX/LAN, turns, modem/serial.

Graphic modes:	640x480x256
Controls:	Mouse, keyboard
Sound devices:	Soundblaster & 100% compatible

	Computer	Memory	HD space	CD speed	Other reqs/options
Minimum	P90	8 M	20 M	x 2	12 MB RAM required for Hi-Res map
Reviewed on	P120	16 M	20 M	x 4
Recommended	P100	16 M	20 M	x 4

Reviewer's Hardware: SB 16

OFFICIAL PAGE

DEMO/DOWNLOAD

PATCH

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A Welcome Return

At the risk of dating myself, let me say from the outset that I've been a fan of the wargames of the redoubtable Roger Keating and Ian Trout since the Stone Age of personal computing, when an entire game like the original Carriers At War fit on a single-sided 5 and 1/4 inch Commodore 64 disk. It's been a while since SSG has produced a new wargame, about three years since Carriers at War 2, if memory serves. Now Messrs. Keating and Trout have returned to the fray with Decisive Battles of WWII: The Ardennes Offensive, a regimental level treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, and grognards have reason to rejoice.

Before we go further, let's address that title. It's certainly a mouthful. (For the remainder of this review, I'll simply refer to the game as TAO to save wear and tear on my keyboard.) In fact, you see only an abbreviated version of the title at the top of this review because there's simply no way that the full title would fit within the GDR review format! I'll wager that it's the longest title ever bestowed on a computer game. How did it get that way? According to SSG's official TAO page, the game began life with a much snappier title, The Last Blitzkrieg . Unfortunately, SSG, like all too many independent companies, found that the battle for American retail shelf space was more than they could handle. So they entered into an a publishing agreement with SSI in order to get the marketing muscle necessary to get games sold and paid for. Apparently acquiring a U.S. publisher also netted copyright difficulties as far as the title was concerned, because SSG says that the name was changed for "legal reasons." And since there has been (to say the least) more than one Battle of the Bulge game done before, the full TAO moniker was what they had to come up with in order to avoid stepping on anyone's legal toes. Well anyway, the question that matters isn't how good is the title, it's how good is the game? In this case the answer is very good indeed.

Roll The Dice

Be advised that when I say "very good," I'm speaking from the point of view of a gamer who enjoys traditional, turn-based wargames. If you're a gamer who thinks that turn-based wargames played on two-dimensional maps divided into hexes are an arcane relic from the days when "computing" was done on slide rules, and that it's not a "true" computer game unless it moves in real time (preferably in 3D) steer well clear of this one. For TAO not only doesn't try to hide its board game heritage, it wears it proudly on its sleeve.

One glance at the main playing screen confirms it. The playing map is as traditional as they come (particularly when you have the hex grids turned on). It's a top-down two-dimensional map, and the units on it are represented by square icons that are themselves a carryover from the cardboard punch-outs of board games. But don't confuse traditional with ugly. Far from it. Particularly with the hi-res map turned on, TAO is a visual treat. No, you don't get the miniatures feel of a Talonsoft game, but what you do get are screens that are extremely colorful, beautifully drawn, well-organized, and that feature a wealth of readily accessible information.

Main map with a unit pop-up displayed. Note that unit strength is shown in steps, another board game convention.

Explore the main playing screen a bit and you'll seen how SSG has taken advantage of computer technology to elevate the presentation far beyond what a board game can accomplish. First of all, you can toggle between three different icon displays: Divisional, regimental, and, for the true grognard, unit type. Next right click on any unit on the map and you'll get a pop-up box with details on all units occupying that hex and the hex itself. Selecting a unit on the map also brings up details on all the units in the hex, together with buttons that make it very easy to group and ungroup all units in a stack. When you designate a new hex for a unit or stack to move to, bright arrows appear on the screen showing the movement path in a manner much like the battle maps you see in history books.

A selected movement path. The bright arrows recall real battle maps.

The real glory of TAO's presentation is the combat screen. This is actually a large pop-up box that appears when you select a possible attack. Not only does the combat screen make it easy to select or deselect possible attacking units (a "Max" button allows you to commit all eligible units to the attack with a single click) , it clearly displays all the factors that go into making up the final attack odds. One box on the screen shows you the strength points for both attacker and defender, including raw attack and defense strength plus modifiers for such factors as divisional integrity, river hexes, entrenchment, and supply. The next box, in true board game fashion, shows you the odds column shifts for such factors as the number of directions your attacking from (the defender gets an automatic 4-column shift in its favor to reflect a defender's natural advantages), artillery, air support, and leadership bonuses. The final results are displayed in the Odds box, which shows all the possible results. As you click units in and out of the attack, you get to see all these factors instantly change. And then, when you confirm the attack by clicking the big, red button, TAO, in a final bow to board gaming, actually displays the rolled die (or dice if a large stack is attacked) right on the screen together with the appropriate sounds of gun fire and explosions!

The combat screen is a grognard's delight!

Other goodies in TAO's presentation, include a number of readily accessible data screens, including a strategic map, victory total screens, a calendar screen that allows you to bring up the details of weather, replacements, Greif team/air interdiction activity, reinforcements, supply, and air strikes, a remarkably thorough encyclopedia of all the equipment used in the battle (including aircraft), and my favorite, an order of battle screen that displays all the units in clear, organizational chart style. Clicking on any unit participating in the scenario being played, brings up information about that unit.

Every wargame should have an order of battle screen like this!

Of course presentation, no matter how good, would count for nothing if the game didn't play well. TAO , however, plays about as well as any turn-based war game I've encountered. Two main factors account for the outstanding play: 1) a superbly crafted movement and attack system, and 2) a really tough AI opponent. In this particular Bulge game, SSG wisely decided to dump the familiar phased movement/attack system in favor of an operational point system (OPS). Under the OPS system each unit has a certain amount of operational points that it can expend during any one turn. The unit can expend those points by moving, by attacking or both. A corollary to this rule is that any unit can make one attack at any time during the player's turn, so long as it has the OPS to do so. Thus its possible for a unit to move, attack, and then move again during the same turn. As you would expect, the OPS system puts a premium on the attacking player keeping units in ready reserve behind an attack in order to exploit created gaps. Conversely, when you go over to the defense, it puts a premium on maintaining the integrity of your line lest you find the enemy pouring into your rear before you have a chance to react.

Viewed in this light, it's easy to see why SSG chose the Battle of the Bulge as their initial showcase for this system, because it's a battle where both sides have to attack and defend (or vice versa) within a relatively short time span. The system also lends itself naturally to the kind of mechanized warfare employed in that battle. Of course, it would also lend itself quite well to the mechanized battles that took place in the North African desert, so perhaps we can hope SSG will choose less familiar ground to cover in their next effort.

Roger Keating has rightly been known for the toughness of his Artificial Intelligence designs since SSG's earliest games. The TAO manual boasts that its AI is the toughest Mr. Keating (or anyone else!) has ever designed. I don't know whether that claim is literally true, but I do know that on the basis of having played through all of the scenarios in the game on one side or the other (mostly the Germans), I'm in no position to dispute it. Most popular wargame AIs these days are adequate on defense, but fair to middling at best on the attack. TAO's AI not only defends well, it counterattacks viciously. Especially when playing the Germans, if you allow the "finger" of your thrust through the American lines to get too thin and strung out, the computer Americans will quickly and inevitably find the weakest point and cut off your attackers like a butcher slicing sausage with a meat cleaver. In most wargames, I have to set advantages in the computer's favor in order to get a challenging game. TAO also allows you to do that, but I have to confess that I never even tried it. I didn't need the humiliation.

A Couple of Chinks in the Armor

Given all the praise that I've heaped on TAO, you may be wondering at this point why this review isn't accompanied by one of GDR's coveted Golden or Silver Bear awards. The reason for that is, despite its many good points, TAO does have a couple of serious weaknesses.

The set-up screen. Those scenario scroll arrows are sadly useless.

The most serious weakness is the number of scenarios, or more precisely the lack of scenarios included with the game. There are only 8 full scenarios plus a tutorial scenario included with the game. (Note: The UK release version of the game that I received for review had all 8 scenarios available from the outset. Apparently the US version comes with 7 scenarios immediately available and you get the code to unlock the eighth by registering the game at SSI's toll-free number.) The 8 scenarios are all historical. There's no scenario editor, nor is there anything like the selection of "what if" scenarios that are a staple of Talonsoft games. This must make TAO's set-up screen a bit embarrassing to SSG, because there are scroll arrows in the scenarios selection box, but both arrows are inactive as there are not enough choices to scroll! Embarrassing or not, the paucity of scenarios severely limits the replayability of the game.

TAO's other weakness is a distinctly lackluster Play-By-E-Mail implementation. Yes, it's true that TAO does come with all the multiplayer options that we've come to take for granted in current games, including hotseat, network, Internet, modem, and null modem play. But the fact that remains that in turned-based gaming, PBEM remains a popular choice simply because the turns can take so long, and TAO is certainly no exception to that rule.

Unfortunately, given all the play that the other multiplayer options get in TAO's promotional literature and documentation, and the fact that PBEM is barely even mentioned in TAO's manual, it seems that PBEM was put in this game as an afterthought. There's no encryption or password protection for the saved files, so you had better be sure that your opponent is trustworthy. Worse, when you open a saved filed legitimately all you see is the results of your opponent's turn, there's no way to replay the turn itself. You don't even get to replay the movement of sighted units or the combats. You're left having to figure out for yourself what happened from the current locations and strengths of the units.

These two deficiencies are lamentable, but hardly irreparable. We can hope that in a patch SSG will see fit to spruce up PBEM play. We can also sincerely help that they will show some consideration for the fact that no new computer game these days is cheap and that their customers deserve more than 8 scenarios for their money by making some more scenarios available for little or no cost. If they do, SSG will have elevated what is already a very good game into one that merits consideration as a classic of the genre.

Note: Chris Merchant, a TAO enthusiast, has assembled an excellent unofficial TAO web page, appropriately entitled Wacht am Rhein (the German code name for the Ardennes offensive). Although the avowed purpose of the page is to provide a matchmaking site for TCP/IP games, Mr. Merchant has also included a very useful FAQ about the game as well as links to related sites, including PBEM pages.

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Pros:

• Challenging AI
• Superb movement and attack system
• Great combat interface
• Realistic rules and results
• Colorful graphics

Cons:

• Only 8 scenarios
• No scenario editor or what-if scenarios
• Indifferent Play-by-E-Mail implementation
• It is another Bulge game

FOOTNOTES

Appeal:	Turn-based strategy game fans; all wargamers, especially hardcore grognards.
Originality:	Are you kidding? Note the tortured full title.
Graphics:	Very colorful, but you'll be pleased only if you like boardgame-style icons.
Audio:	Nicely sampled battle sounds; good CD music soundtrack.
Longevity:	Too limited. Only 8 full scenarios, all historical, plus a tutorial.
Interface & Usability:	Excellent. Easy to learn and combat interface is outstanding.
Packaging & Docs:	Good manual, includes historical analysis. Lots of online information.
Bugs & Problems:	None noted.

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Copyright © Jason Levine for the Games Domain Review, 1997 . All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Screenshots on this page were captured using DX-Grab.