Decisive Battles of World War II: Battles in Normandy

On the morning of 6 June 1944, French civilians were waking to the start of the liberation of their country; British and American paratroopers had already landed in France, and had worked to seize their first objectives. Also at this moment, a number of ships and craft reminiscent of Troy were advancing in the final stages towards the coast of Normandy. Here the Western portion of the European Theatre of Operations would be decided. As Eisenhower had stated in his final address to the Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen: “The eyes of the World are upon you." Truly, when the world learned of what was occurring on those beaches and further inland, they turned to watch the outcome of the greatest amphibious invasion in history.

Decisive Battles of World War II: Battles in Normandy puts the wargamer into the role of not just Eisenhower but every regimental and divisional commander involved in the invasion. This is a sequel to Korsun Pocket, by Matrix Games. Battles in Normandy uses the same system, but adds additional features that pertain mainly to D-Day, and with the included scenario editor, you can use them to create almost any battle in the Western European Theatre that you want.

Upon starting the game up the first thought to hit me was “This is The Longest Day on your computer." I won't profess that it, is but the game certainly has the feel like that mega-game, and it keeps it all in a smaller package. Now for the average wargamer (like me) this game may be overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, there should be no problems (this will be explained later).

The gameplay is totally amazing despite its overwhelming appearance. At first it does look complicated, but the tutorial and accompanying game levels and extensive manual will eventually help you learn the system if you are new to it. Both the manual and tutorial manual are 59 pages. Each details every function and button in the game, and the tutorial does a good job of putting it into simpler terms so that casual gamers will understand the game with a little work. In the tutorial there are nine missions which the tutorial manual walks you through, practically taking the user by the hand and teaching them a few aspects of the game on each level. Everything can be done by using the mouse without having to use the keyboard much, making the game play run smoother. As Battles in Normandy is a turn-based wargame, it uses a more traditional odds system to figure out unit and combined unit effectiveness. Just like Korsun Pocket, you can add artillery and air support and other units with a few clicks or tally it all in with just one (this will be explained in “Interface"). Some of the features in this game that are new to the Decisive Battles system are: - An improved AI - Airborne and Amphibious Assault Rules - Naval Bombardment - Engineers and Fort and Minefield construction - Evolving units - Rail Transportation.

The system can work quickly if you set it to run fast, and there are many factors about the game you can change, such as Supply, Replacements, and Fog of War. With the game comes a large Normandy scenario with another version that has Rommel's Plan (with the Panzer regiments moved forward near the beaches) represented and then scenarios like Falaise Gap, Omaha Beach, Operation Cobra, and Caen to name a few. The replay value can be considered unlimited due to the scenario editor (with probably a community following making maps if you don't want to make your own) that you can use to create new missions taking place almost anywhere with the Germans and Western Allies.

The interface is one of the best I've seen yet for a hex-based strategy game. Everything can easily be found especially if you are a veteran to the Decisive Battles system. Most of the controls lie on the bottom and right side of the screen and a simple right click on anything in the game will bring up a detailed chart or menu that will explain either the name of the button or the description of all units, and objects in the hex if you right click on a hex. Using unit special abilities is as simple as a click or just moving them into a hex (e.g. in the case of engineers clearing mines).

Another wonderful feature I found is that, by holding the “Alt" button, a magnifying glass appears on screen that can be used to enlarge a part of the screen so players who have trouble reading things or seeing the symbols can see what they are looking at. As the game box claims, this is an improvement over the older game interface. The Supply and Area of Control functions are streamlined yet detailed, and you can determine the power of your supply by choosing the supply unit to see if its supplied or not on its “menu card," with the supply range then displayed on the map. Units are easy to tell if they are out of the chain or are out of ammo and supplies completely by looking at the color bars on their counter.

Well, what can you expect from a game that is a hex/turn-based war-game? Not much really, but I absolutely love the map board. The terrain looks realistic and the unit counters are awesome looking for flat 2D sprites, and they help describe what you are looking at by giving the divisional symbol and coloring some units different from the standard to set them apart (such as Commando, Airborne, or SS units). The sound is average (it gives you the main ideas of movement and combat), and the music is a cut above other wargames, but nothing stops you from turning it off and playing your own music while you play.

The A.I. is really impressive, it seems to always be able to read your strategies and react to them. If you try to delay them in front, sometimes the A.I. will beat you to your flanking maneuver leaving you to either grind into their troops or find another way around. The only ONE thing (of two) that seemed to get me about the A.I. is its unfair advantage of odds calculating. As the player you get a combat calculator that shows you what the odds of a fight could possibly be if you shifted units that could get involved into that fight there. Now, as the player, you can spend a long time doing this, but the computer does this in split-seconds. You will see it shuffle units around trying to get the highest odds, which seems to detract from the game play since realistically you are unable to measure exactly what is in front of you and shift your units in and out quickly. The other fault of the computer is its movement of units that shouldn't be in the fight. No matter what, the “police" Infantry Regiments from Cherbourg will not stay there. As soon as they become unfixed they move towards your forces. The same goes for units further south. Historically, the Germans didn't want to move these units in case of a possible Allied Breakthrough to slow down their advance (and the power of the Allied decoy efforts), but it seems the computer always takes the gambit and charges them all to reinforce its front line units.

I was unable to try out any multiplayer, but the game supports Hot Seat and PBEM games which will probably be much like that of Korsun Pocket.