Anime Tank Battles Meet World War II
Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition is an arcade-style tank action game that tells an anime-stylized version of the German panzer offensive during World War II. That is a crazy sentence to read out loud, but it is the most succinct description that comes to mind when playing.
Panzer Knight’s gameplay is very similar to that of World of Tanks. Players take control of a tank through a series of campaign missions that follow the events of World War II on the German side. While the events and retelling are slightly modified to fit the game narrative, it does reference many real combat encounters and even begins with the Gleiwitz incident. This was the German false flag operation where they staged a fake attack on a German radio station to establish a pretense for the invasion of Poland.
The first mission begins with the characters commenting on this incident from the hypothetical perspective of the German tank operators that were tasked to invade Poland. The most considerable difference between reality and Panzer Knights, of course, is that the Germans in World War II were not anime girls speaking Japanese, with German mixed in.
Every mission is based around actual events that took place during the war, with your crew at the head of the mission.
World Of Tanks-Inspired Gameplay Rewards Tactical Tank Combat
Gameplay, as stated earlier, is very similar to that of World of Tanks. This means tanks are controlled from a third person perspective, with twin-stick controls for moving and targeting. There are two reticles on the screen at all times; the main reticle is the camera controls and shows the center of the screen wherever the player is looking, whilst the second reticle shows the actual positioning of the main cannon on the tank.
The camera moves significantly faster than the cannon. After all, tanks aren’t known as high-speed vehicles. To properly fire at an enemy, players must wait for these reticles to line up properly. There is also a bloom around the cannon reticle that represents the accuracy of the attack at any given time. Moving the cannon or the tank will increase the bloom on the reticle, and this increased area represents a less accurate attack.
Tanks have vulnerable spots on them. The gap between the turret head and the main chassis, for example, is one such weak spot. There are also places where armor is traditionally thinner on tanks, with the rear the most vulnerable to attacks. The game doesn’t show these weak spots during combat but does provide some guidance by breaking the tanks into modules that can be destroyed.
The turret can be destroyed, which significantly decreases attack time and damage. Tracks can be blown up to impair movement, while the chassis is the main section, and if that’s destroyed, then the tank is out of commission. These weaknesses are shared between friendly and enemy tanks, and in the event your tank’s chassis is destroyed, the mission ends regardless of the progress made.
Building The Right Tank And Crew Is Key To Success
Tanks have loadouts, though, that include repair kits that will immobilize the tank for several seconds while it is fully repaired. Beyond that, there are several different types of rounds to use during combat encounters. AP rounds, which are a versatile round to use in most situations; HE rounds, which are more effective against lighter armor; and APCR, which are designed to take on heavy armor. Moreover, players have a limited number of artillery strikes to rain heavy fire down on compact areas, as well as resupply drops that restock shells and repair kits.
Different tanks will have different amounts of each shell type, as well as different armor, movement, and power ratings that affect their performance. Some tanks are unlocked naturally through progressing the story, and others need to be purchased once certain missions are complete. Tanks aren’t restricted to specific missions, so any tank can be used at any time, assuming it’s been unlocked. Before using a tank, though, a crew must be assigned.
Crew members are unlocked in the same way as additional tanks, and different crewmen will provide different bonuses. Assembling a strong tank and crew makes missions significantly easier.
Erratic AI And Harsh Mission Design
The premise of Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition is a solid one but it stumbles throughout. The presentation of the story is engaging, and while the visuals of the world are simple, they don’t look bad.
But the AI is poorly optimized. Some missions may require the player to defend an area and during these times the game will often swarm players with several enemy tanks all at once. But occasionally the enemies would spawn in but fail to push the objective. This led to me playing a game of cat and mouse, searching for two spawned tanks that weren’t proceeding to the defense point so I could continue the mission.
Other times I would come around a corner and see enemy tanks stacked on top of each other. Or an enemy tank could be right next to me but wouldn’t respond to my presence until I fired the first round. Ally tanks also seem slow to respond to enemies at times, and it just led to encounters feeling clunky.
On the flip side, sometimes I would come around a corner and get hit by a single round at full health and die, immediately ending the mission and forcing me to restart it. While that was certainly a reality for many tanker crews during wartime, it doesn’t make for a fun game experience. Especially since enemy tank visibility is also done just like it is in World of Tanks.
Tanks have limited visibility. They can only perceive units to a certain distance, and any unit that falls out of that distance simply doesn’t render into view. In some cases, this means a tank that would be visible in real life may be blocked by the level geometry in a way that stops the model from rendering in.
This can work in the player’s favour because Panzer Knights does give a handful of smokescreens to use during combat, but it can be a double-edged sword.
Individually these issues aren’t huge problems, but the lack of checkpointing and the fact it is possible to get hit by a single unlucky shot that immediately fails the mission compound the problems. All missions have secondary objectives that reward more credits to use on new tanks and crew, but the risk to complete these objectives was usually worth less than the actual reward.
An Enjoyable Tank Campaign Despite Its Flaws
While Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition has its charms, it also manages to offset them with plenty of awkwardness. For players who love arcade-styled, tank-based combat, then Panzer Knights is probably worth checking out. But the gameplay mechanics have been done before in other games.
Granted, it does make for a unique single-player experience, and there aren’t many story-driven arcade-style tank games on the market, so if that’s something you are interested in, then Panzer Knights does fit the bill. But go into it expecting some hiccups.
Important Links
Roll Into Battle With Panzer Knights: Commander’s Edition On Console – https://www.thexboxhub.com/roll-into-battle-with-panzer-knights-commanders-edition-on-console/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/panzer-knights-commanders-edition/9NBXQJD93MBJ/0017
