Military History Commander: Europe at War (Nintendo DS)

Having seen some mixed reviews of the game, I was in two-minds about buying this game. Ultimately, I am glad that I did. If you love the likes of Advance Wars, then you will love this game. It is based on the same principles of movement, unit strengths, terrain types, etc, over a huge map of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic. Its attention to detail and respect of history is brilliant - indeed, facets of the game seem to be designed in such a way as to actually reflect historical reality rather than the game design being based on pure entertainment value alone. Challenging and entertaining it is though - you can spend hours caught in this game world. DS addicts beware! Certainly, if playing as the Allies the game can take 15 or 20 turns to get going before you feel that you are actually getting into the game, but do stick with it. It only reflects that fact that France and Britian were massively unprepared for war while the Nazis had a massive head-start in the early part of the war. The game has numerous nice touches: you cant just rely on blocking up thin necks of land with disposable units to hold up and advance - poor units can suffer from the shock of the assault and can be forced to retreat even when they still have numerical strength. Thus powerful units can blast through and then encircle an enemy. When defending units are then caught behind the new frontline, their repair, resupply and movement is hugely affected. Ground units can move between ports to outflank an enemy. The only historical short-cut seems to have been that paratroop landings have been left-out, perhaps ignoring an extra slice of strategy that could have been employed. Overall, the game is huge. Immense fun for strategy buffs, but perhaps a little too impenetrable for a casual gamer.

When I first played the game I was impressed by the interface and the apparent options. I set the AI to medium and began the full war as the Axis. It was all over by Summer 1942. Russia beaten and Britain invaded. I raised the issue that the AI was weak on the forums. I was advised to up the AI to maximum and play with Fog of War switched on. This made the game harder but for the wrong reasons. The AI player just recieved tons of resources so it could replace all its losses. It didn't play any smarter. It just made the game into a boring slugfest. I am a hard core wargamer so maybe I am not the right kind of player for this game. I will give it to my 13 year old son and see how he gets on with it. So far though disappointed. A two player interface via hotseat would have made this so much the better game.

Pity there aren't more games out there like this. The modern computer game world is too focused on graphics to do good wargaming. I am a father of a proud owner of a Nintendo DS but this is my game. This is a game on the grand scale, Total War in Europe and the units are Corps (Roughly a 100.000 men). I found the game feeding my needs nicely, played with reality settings at the top (oil etc) I ran into great difficulties in Russia when my fuel started to run short and I had to go for the oilfields in the Caucasus. Then again when my manpower resources were depleted and things started to get really tough. There is a good balance between units although tanks are the best but cost more and require more resources to manage. There is also a nice touch in the game that as you upgrade units there icon changes and with skill you can identify the changes of a Panzer unit for example, starting as a Panzer IV (short)- upgrading to a Panzer IV Special - Tiger - Panther and finally a King Tiger. All nations have this for tank and aircraft. If played historically the game runs quite true, especially the war to the East is exciting when a long line of front is severely tested and finally crumbles. On the downside the game is wast and there are no small campaigns, only a grand campaign where you can select your entry point but always the same end. This means you need to go all over then map and manage a lot of minor tasks. Also in the Grand Campaign when you are invading Russia as Germans the computer can be up to 10 minutes completing its turn (as a wargamer I find that it is good to paint minatures at the same time). Sadly the AI is only good when you play historically - you can do unexpected things and it won't cope with such new strategies. But for the first times and played Historically this is a good game for a more serious wargamer looking to pass his (or her) time.

I have owned a DS lite now for a couple of years, and love playing such games as Age Of Kings, and Age Of Mythology on it. I also have Scrabble, and Animal Crossing to let you see what kind of gamer I am. I love the slow burn strategy games. This is a gem. How the programmers have squeezed all this gaming joy into such a small cartridge is beyond me. The DS version is single player only. You can play as Axis or Allies. All the usual unit types are there, such as garrison, mechanised infantry, armour, fighter aircraft, submarines, and more. You also have research to play with, which adds to the strength and effectiveness of units. The AI appears to be pretty good, and the DS screens are used to their limit. One problem is that those with failing eyesight may find the letters and symbols a little difficult to read. So get a DSi instead - the screen is bigger! I am really anjoying this. An excellent hexmap wwargame with all the boring "paperwork" handled by the machine, leaving you free to conecentrate on the GAME. Get it.

One of the best, if not the best, military strategy games available for the DS. Not that there are that many to choose from! Its very much a traditional turn based. hex map, wargame, a bit like a handheld 'Axis & Allies' or 'Third Reich' .... or at least as close as you can get on a DS. I spent many happy hours playing this (and Civilisation, and 'squad command') on my kids DS XL back in the day. My old cartridge is lost in the mists of time, so I've bought a couple more. If you like strategic military games, and have a DS/2DS/3DS don't hesitate to get this game.

Having been previously disappointed by strategy games on the DS, particularly Civilization, I was pleasantly surprised to experience a decent one - reminiscent of an Amiga game I played many years ago called Crusade in Europe. You have the option to play as the Axis or Allies and there is a sliding scale to adjust to set difficulty. You can also decide how much of the war you wish to play e.g from the invasion of Poland or Barbarossa. At the time of writing I have played as the Axis on the easy setting and am part way through doing the same as the allies. On the plus side, this game allows you to set research objectives to allow you to press ahead with radar, armour anti-tank, ASW and the like. You can buy various sea, land and air units, as well as famous commanders to attach to units to boost their effectiveness. As the game progresses you can upgrade units to reflect the research advances you have made. You are also free to declare war on who you want, when you want, although the 'grand campaign' starts with Germany at war with France, GB and Poland. On the downside I discovered that the AI is generally stupid, which may be down to the difficulty setting. But I hoped the difficulty setting would affect the strength of units rather than how the AI used them. For example, the AI naval advantage is negated by the ship units generally waiting in port. Also amphibious landings are far too easy - you can land on any coastal hex, making the invasion of GB far too easy and unrealistic. But overall this is a fun game which allows you to explore a range of 'what-if' plans.

This game just keeps me want to play on and on. Well balanced and a lot of fun, it is easy to learn but hard to master. Nice to see strategy wargaming has finally arrived to the Nintendo DS. Now you have to excuse me, I have to go back and prepare for a Blitzkrieg against France. :-)

good product