One of the best games you never played.
User Rating: 8.3 | Decisive Battles of WWII Vol 2: Korsun Pocket PC
It is a real shame. Strategy games like Red Alert 2, Civilization III, and Medieval: Total War will sell millions of copies and the publishers and developers will make tons of money. But a real beauty like Korsun Pocket comes out and nobody even knows about it. Korsun Pocket forums across the internet are empty and the game will sell like crap. Yet I have not had a more enjoyable experience in war gaming since my videogame career started. Korsun Pocket simulates the battle of, well, Korsun Pocket. It is not a famous battle by any means, but it was an important event none-the-less. At Korsun, the Russian army surrounded the Fascist invaders creating a "pocket" of German troops. This was the Red's chance to waste a load of German's while the Nazi's were trying to hold out. Korsun Pocket is one of the deepest wargames ever made. It is a top down, hex-based, turn-based game, and one of the best yet. The tutorial, split into eight parts, can take between two to four hours to complete. Don't let that scare you away though. The tutorial teaches everything you need to know and really educates you on the fine points of the game. For instance, landscapes like rivers and mountains give offensive or defensive bonuses. Surrounding enemies will give huge advantages, and shelling the enemy with artillery will cause huge casualties among the opposition. Most of this may seem typical, but it is extremely stressed in Korsun Pocket. One thing about strategy war games is that they allow you infinite time to complete your mission. That mission is eliminate everyone and everything belonging to the enemy. In real war, eliminating everything and every enemy troop is completely absurd. Korsun Pocket realizes this and allows only a limited number of turns in each campaign. There are some reinforcements. But there is no base-building or unit-production. So you have to make most of what you have. You can't expect to waste the entire enemy, so careful planning is needed to figure out who to attack and how to gain more ground. Some of the shorter campaigns last 12-16 turns, while the full campaign is a whopping 48 turns. And these turns are not minute long quickies, many times I had spent over a whole hour just finishing up a single turn. The complexity and realism of Korsun Pocket is striking. All troops you command were World War II units. You take command of everything. All foot-troops, tanks, and supply trucks are under your command. Because this game recreates one battle, so the detail and depth is massive. You have to be sure to have supply trucks available, using roads and bridges as an advantage, and fortifying positions by rivers and minefields to stop the opposition. You can also retreat by leaving detatchments behind to slow down the advancing enemy. One thing always criticised in hex wargames is the AI. In most games, the AI will attack you head on without even caring about long-term effects. Korsun Pocket has changed this. The AI will pick the best moves possible and attack your weak points. The enemy takes into account that you can and will counter-attack. The enemy will not put itself in bad positions or in areas where he can be surrounded. The game also does a good job of helping you out. It may seem overwhelming to look at the map and see tons of units and information. But a combat advisor will show you what enemies you can attack and which are most vulnerable. It may seem cheap but this does not take away from the experience. In fact, I would say it helps you to become a better player. You can also play e-mail games with real life opponents. At the publisher's webpage, you can post in the forums and search for opponents to play with. This is a hex-based wargame, so obviously the graphics are not too hot and the sound consists of about ten sound effects and no music. But if you are a serious wargamer, that is a given and should not matter. If you can get pumped up about a wargame simulating one battle with several senarios, then get this game. The depth and realism is shocking. A must have for a serious wargamer. Highs: Insane detail and strategy; well balanced; good AI finally Lows: Ugly graphics and sound 92%
