Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Ambitious"

I'm a history buff, a fanatic. I've studied every modern war I possibly can. The Civil War is a particular favourite. Whether you're a Dixie 'good-ol-boy' (like myself) or a Yankee man, you still sare one thing in common: interest in the Civil War. Take Command: 2nd Manassas is a war buff's dream. Extremely realistic, amibitious, and in-depth combat, and overall greatly fun gameplay, are all here. But what rides along with this good wagon train? Completely broken command features, non-existent tutorials, no multiplayer, and an 'Open Play' feature which is total rubbish.

Gameplay: 3/10

This isn't a 'infantry stand around popping at each other until their HP runs out' game. Units die in a single bullet or sword swipe. This is hellish warfare. Muskets inhibit accuracy, meaning massive line firefights ensue. Artillery blasts overhead, bloody bodies dot the field: this is true Civil War combat.

Take Command, as its name implies, allows you to command whatever scale you like. You can command a small brigade, or the entire army, depending on your choices. But ironically, the command feature is the most broken one of the entire game.

Strangely, you're ALWAYS given only a single, small brigade to control. Whenever you hit the 'binoculars' button, which is supposed to send you to the officer which you control, you get sent halfway across the map to some obscure regiment, which is usually '2nd Virginia' for the CSA and '8th Michigan' for the Union, in Open Play. This trend is constant, also: no matter what army setup or leaders you choose, these will always be the units the binocular button takes you to, and sadly, the only ones you can control.

Moving is fairly simply: either click on the 2nd Virginia or 8th Michigan, and double click where you want to move. But when attempting to command a brigade or higher, it's impossible. The unit is always locked to 'Halt'. You can never make the regiment move anywhere, which locks you to one area unless you give control of the regiment to the AI. Basically, I need not go further. Command in the game is always locked to one single regiment of a few hundred men. There is no large-scale commanding in the game.

The tutorials are all broken with the same issues.


Graphics: 7/10

Archaic, but nostalgic graphics.

Sound: 5/10

Decent, but archaic.

Final: 3/10

Broken, buggy, an absolute mess. Despite its good features, it's simply broken beyond playability.