The scope of this sequel to Blitzkrieg (and its plethora of expansions) is pretty big. Our version allowed us to play an American, Russian and a German campaign, which respectively start in the Pacific theatre, Eastern and Western fronts. With around 80 missions spread out over these campaigns and the fact that you're fighting on varied fronts, it isn't difficult to understand that it'll probably take a while before you've seen everything. Especially if you take the generally slow advancement speed of a mission into account. While the campaigns aren't too dynamic they do allow you to make a choice of which area you want to take on first. Other incentives like medals, your own promotions, rewards in the form of new reinforcements/units, the ability to promote members of your own troops and optional secondary objectives definitely make the whole picture not too average compared to the usual 'finish storyline in that mission order'-mantra you find in most rts's. There are more missions but also more units than ever; 300 different units ain't a little number. It's handy that every unit is described in the encyclopedia which can be found in the start menu of the game.

Like we said, the gameplay isn't too fast since you really need to think twice before you launch a large attack. You've gotta watch f.e. the ammunition vehicles are carrying with them. Infantry is also very fragile when attacking. You can use the terrain to your advantage though with options like entrenching tanks or occupying buildings with infantry. Reinforcements are really necessary to gain an advantage over the enemy although you have to take care that you still have enough troops left for the next missions. Early on we used the pause button like hell (surely more than we wanted to) but such measures won't be necessary once you play the game more and more and thus get the hang of it (and it speaks for itself that it won't help you in multiplayer battles). At this point the pure gameplay doesn't disappoint at all, you won't 'sigh' when you have to reload a previous save but you are asking yourself how to take a different approach that might work.

Some strange things were going on in this version though. A small example, in a mission where we had to clear out roadblocks our infantry spotted some mines (which automatically get tagged with cute, little red flags). Later on in the mission, reinforcements were needed and we called in the help of some tanks. But they had to go through the way we came. Apparently they didn't notice the flags and *boom*, gone were the first batch of tanks. It's only one error we noticed in the AI which, in general, isn't bad at all; troops take a lot of initiative during fights like moving out of their position so they become a more difficult target for enemy fire.

Blitzkrieg I featured 2D terrain and buildings with 3D units, this sequel is going full 3D and it shows! The level of detail might be disappointing for some when they see some specific screenshots but once you get to see it all move it's more than satisfying. With the support of really tremendous sound effects it's a joy to see the battlefield crumble under the foot of the war machine. Nothing is left standing; every house, tree, fence can be crushed by advancing tanks or be bombed. The explosions, the death animations of infantry, it looks convincing. The only gripe we had was with the tank shots, they looked more like laser beams once they are fired. The 3D effect of it all is brilliant though while a clear overview is still present. You could rotate and zoom around but that's just an option, not a necessity.

When Blitzkrieg II comes out (in Europe this October) it won't necessarily cause a revolution but we're sure it'll offer at least a very decent and complete package of options when it is properly finished.