Written 11/20/2000
SSI's Panzer General series is one of the staples of WWII gaming. While the look of the game has changed, it is still a serious wargame simulation that encompasses a lot of historic detail. Panzer General III: Scorched Earth takes the Panzer General 3D Assault engine and showcases the battles of the Eastern Front, adding Russians units to the 3D engine.
While the scenarios are completely different, the Russians did not appear in great detail in Panzer General 3D Assault. Other than that, the engine has not really changed since that game shipped a year prior to this one. While the 3D engine is nice looking, it already looks dated. Of course, the detail of the 3D units looks great and it is fairly easy to distinguish between them due to the model design. The perspective issues that were problematic in the 3D engine still persist, although I found the air units easier to manage - not due to any engine changes, but because I had already familiarized myself with the previous game. Newcomers to the game will have to fight their way through these issues that most of us had to deal with while learning the last game. The game runs in 800x600 mode in 16-bit color only, and while much of the game looks good, many of the maps appear washed-out. This may be due to the snowy landscape of much of the game, but it does cause some difficulties in managing moves as highlighted terrain hexes are difficult to distinguish.
Sound effects are good, but nothing of particular note is worth mentioning. As a turn-based game, many of the game sounds are heard only when moving. There's nothing wrong with that, but many of the units could use a bit more "punch". The music is good, and is appropriate for the theme of the game.
Panzer General 3D Assault had some control problems due to the new 3D perspective. I was hoping to see them resolved in this new chapter, but the engine is virtually identical to that one, so the difficulties still persist. The detail present in that game is also still there, although a bit of a strain to learn in order to play the game effectively.
The game consists of 20 fixed single scenarios, custom battles, or four campaigns. A random battle generator is a welcome feature and gives extra replayability to the game. The battles take place on the Eastern Front this time around, and centers on Russian/German skirmishes. The missions in this game are designed to be difficult, practically ensuring frustration among newcomers to the series. While the AI is fairly strong, this is not the main reason for the difficulty - it is the mission design itself.
All in all, Scorched Earth is really 3D Assault on the Eastern Front. In my opinion, there is not enough of an upgrade to the engine to call this a new game. It would have been preferable to have released this as an add-on pack rather than a whole new game. While the fact that it is playable as a standalone game is good for newcomers, it also means that those who already have 3D Assault are paying for a whole new game where all they really get are new missions. Panzer General III: Scorched Earth is a decent enough game, but it does lack some of the imagination of the previous titles in the series with no discernable engine differences from the previous title.
