Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps

Our price:	$19.99
Manufacturer:	Encore Software
Release date:	23 March, 2004

Average user rating: Average user rating: 3.5

Thought Provoking

Very good strategic title, with the graphics and gameplay to go right along with it. Very nice to come home after a long work day and sit down to a well thought out title. I'm currently playing this title, and enjoy it very much. The only thing I highly suggest to you Nvidia graphic card holders, is to make sure you are running the most updated graphic drivers available from www.nvidia.com. It has a very extensive paper manual that comes with the game. You should absolutely read it. Hehe. Have fun with it.

Not bad, but gets difficult quickly

Graphics & Sound:
Graphically, it looks good, all units are fully 3d, and the terrain looks fairly good too. I had a few issues with my video card drivers, and was able to find an unofficial fix on the game's official forum. Sound and music are also both good, although nothing that sticks with me.

Gameplay:
This is largely a RTS (real time strategy) game. However, there's no resource gathering at all. You start with a selection of units and objectives, and have to determine the best way to accomplish those objectives. Each mission has primary, secondary and hidden objectives. The lack of resources means you really have to manage your units well, because you just can't build more when all your tanks are gone. You can repair existing units, or take over abandoneed units with infantry. There are also a few missions where specific actions will trigger reinforcements.

My feelings on the game:
I purchased this game after playing the demo, expecting a nice enjoyable way to waste a few hours at a time. By and large, that's what I got. There's two campaigns, one for the Axis and one for the Allies. The Axis is first, and was very enjoyable. However, after the first mission or two of the Allied campaign, the difficulty ramped up tremendously, and I found myself stuck, unable to go any farther in the game without cheating, even on the easiest difficulty level. The game tries to include a backstory, which links all the characters together, but I found myself ignoring it, as it wasn't all that good.

Pros:

* Nice graphics & sound
* Axis campaign is fun, while not being impossible

Cons:

* Lack of resources may lead to having to micro manage your troops to survive
* Allied missions get very difficult and frustrating
* Overall game back story is fairly "blah"
* Game isn't terribly long (maybe 15 missions or so)