Codename Panzers E3 2004 Preshow Impressions

Codename Panzers, a World War II real-time strategy game from CDV and Stormregion, will make its second appearance at E3 this year. Though the RTS genre has been crowded for a number of years with games based on WWII, Codename Panzers looks to set itself apart from the crowd with an intricate game design that takes small details into account.

One of the more-interesting features of the game is the fact that your soldiers' detection ability will take sound, as well as line of sight, into account. If your troops hear vehicles behind a tree line or otherwise can't gain visual contact, you'll see ghost images of the enemy vehicles in the area where your troops hear them. Depending on the experience level of your soldiers, they may be able to very accurately determine what kind of vehicle it is they are hearing. Inexperienced soldiers are likely to make mistakes.

Another example of the game's fine detail is the way house-to-house combat will be depicted. Not only can foot soldiers enter and garrison buildings, but if the building is occupied, they will actually engage the entrenched defenders in fierce room-to-room combat. Garrisoned soldiers will even run from window to window within a structure to fire on enemy troops and vehicles outside. You're not completely safe inside buildings, though, as structures can be leveled by tanks, air strikes, or artillery.

Troops can also take over and climb into any of the game's 50-plus controllable vehicles, which include tanks, artillery, jeeps, and motorcycles. Flamethrower-armed soldiers can fire on enemy vehicles and force their occupants out, thus enabling you to capture the vehicles.

Codename Panzers' 3D engine renders terrain, units, and weather effects in full 3D. Dynamic lighting, self-shadowing units, a day/night cycle, and thick smoke and fog effects are all among the special features of the game's graphics engine. Three campaigns depict the war from three different perspectives: German, Russian, and western Allied. There will be a total of 30 single-player missions, as well as four multiplayer modes. For more information, check out our recent preview, and keep an eye on GameSpot throughout E3. Codename Panzers is currently slated for release in September for the PC.