Отзывы

• gamedeal user

  Sep 14, 2014

  First Impressions Launch Review (5hrs): Note: I have not played Battle Academy 1, so I won't be comparing the two. The first thing about Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front that caught my eye was the spotting system. Infantry units can hide in forests, buildings and fortifications, from which they can only be seen if enemy infantry moves into an adjacent space, a rare scout unit moves in, or they open fire on an enemy that gets too close. Infantry are also equipped with a limited number of anti-tank charges. You can see where I'm going with this. This system creates some of the most impressive and intense urban combat I've seen outside of an FPS, with machine guns and armor laying down massive amounts of supressing fire at suspected enemy positions while an infantry squad sneaks up to the building to confirm that the enemy is actually there and then assault them, clearing the way for the tanks to move down the road. Battle Academy 2 is a small-scale turn-based tactical game, where individual squads and vehicles are used on a square-based map, instead of the now standard hexagon. but the different movement system works just as well, with the added bonus of not looking terrifyingly complex. Come on, wargamers, you know your eyes bugged out a little the first time you saw a giant map covered in hexagons. No, just me? Okay... Anyway, despite the nonstandard level design, BA2's combat system carries itself very well, tracking everything from the varying thickness of armor on different parts of a vehicle to unit morale, which if reduced far enough can lead troops to hunker down, run, or even surrender, effectively destroying a unit simply by shooting at it enough. Armored combat is very slow, with tanks rarely having over a 35% chance of destroying their target, and even that requires a good shot at the tank's side. This then stresses the importance of infantry for getting in close and disabling a dug-in tank through close assault. But then you have to decide between the long, hidden trek through the woods or the quick dash through the fields, not knowing weither or not the enemy has a machine gun team set up in that shack over there. This game is about cover and concealment: a rifle squad caught in the open is a rifle squad as good as dead, but a rifle squad tucked away in a house at an intersection is a roadblock that is going to make a serious mess out of any transports that happen to pass by. The spotting system and the ability for units to fire during the enemy's turn if a target presents itself makes defense about positioning for maximum-range engagement, to keep the enemy in the dark as to your whereabouts, and offense about supression and movement. Reducing an enemy's morale to 50% supresses them, which prevents them from employing reaction fire. This means that one squad can keep the enemy's head down while the other moves up and starts firing while the other advances, bounding back and forth until they reach their target. On the technical angle, BA2 is surprisingly well put-together for a launch-day game these days. Five hours in and I have encountered three very minor bugs: a T-34 texture not loading properly, resulting in a cyan and pink piece of armor that I dubbed my party tank, a single line of text that repeats itself, and a minor glitch with the UI that makes the move/attack options menu deactivate if you scroll over an option that overlaps the bottom HUD (fixable by moving the camera so the space you clicked is closer to the middle of the screen.) Overall, Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front is a well-done game that stays out of simulator territory while still offering a large amount of depth on a small-scale battlefield where every unit counts. Recommended for: Hardcore wargamers, hobby wargamers, budding wargamers, WWII enthusiasts, Advance Wars veterans looking for something bigger.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 18, 2014

  Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front Review. This actually would definitely be the best game of the Battle Academy Series. I would rate this game at 8 of 10 stars. First off, you must like the subject matter and genre to thouroughly enjoy the game, although you might aquire a taste after having played it and studied the history as well. The game strong point is the challenging AI, I find it so well programmed that it is very entertaining finding a way to victory, hard to survive poor decisions as well. Don't lose that heavy tank or you're doomed, might be a concern in some scenarios. Very well thought out and 'realistic' in that sense. The graphics are, 3D and top down as well, functional, but for me they're too "cartoonish", I'd love a top down with military icons with easier way to contrast units. Sometimes it is hard for me to find a unit behind the trees if I'm not careful. User interface works well and is easy to learn. Everything you need to do is easy to access. I do find having to use the keyboard for some functions an unneccessary chore that should be accomplished by mouse (rotating the screen clockwise for example). The gameplay. It's wonderful and tough (how hard can be adjusted) and fun. Lots of units and choices to make before the battle starts. You can play a campaign, or go to skirmish mode - which in itself is quite flexible or you can even create and edit your own scenarios. If you understand how things work in WW2, you'll get an idea of how to use your units in this game. Every unit is important if you use it correctly. Air power and Air Superiority are included as options as well. Overall this reminds me of an updated SSI title, Panzer Strike! Well done. If I could change anything I'd change the graphics or at least offer an optional graphic format (perhaps 3rd party can do this too?), however it isn't bad, it's just not my preference. Otherwise great job, great game, this is an easy "thumbs up" - Greg
• gamedeal user

  Sep 21, 2014

  Just wanted to test play for a few minutes - but I could not stop playing until I had completed the first scenario. This is always a good sign! Simple graphics, easy to understand rules, fun to play!!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 14, 2014

  Battle Academy 2 is one of the modern classic beer and pretzels wargames. It's ideal for beginners as well as experienced players, and while grognards may only play it with the curtains closed and everyone out of the house, they will enjoy it. It's the second game in the series, which started with western Europe and North Africa, and in this game branches out to the Eastern Front. Some UI elements are streamlined, and of course there are new units and terrain, but it holds to the same level of quality and engagement the previous game had. It's a tactical turn-based game in the "I go you go" style. The maps are attractive and terrain is meaningful; units can be hidden in certain circumstances, and often benefit from the terrain they are in defensively. There are many different units, all rendered as if they were detailed miniatures, and loads of variety in the units, so there is always something different to each scenario besides the terrain. The scenarios advance through time in particular campaigns, and they portray the larger tide of the war through each tactical engagement. Mostly, though, the game is *fun*. There's nail-biting tension as you realize you've over-extended and are being counter-attacked, and desk-pounding frustration as your third unit fails to take a strong point at the end of your turn, making a bitter counter-attack inevitable. The tactical problems are engaging, but not punishing. A great game for both avid wargamers and turn-based noobs. Enjoy!
• gamedeal user

  Jan 4, 2015

  Hello all, As a fairly active wargamer for the last 15 years, I would recommend Battle Academy 2 to both the avid (yet time constrained) wargamer, and for someone looking to dabble in the brilliant world that wargaming is. This is not a Gary Grigsby's War in the East or War in the Pacific style wargame - it is not daunting and it is not deep. They key here is that it is accessible and fun for everyone. A few quick examples: 1. The scenario design is good, with significant variety between them all and presents unique challenges. 2. The unit variety is also excellent considering the depth of this wargame. New people to the genre may have some difficulty with understanding the differences between the units, but the game does a fairly good job at explaining the units and their relative strong and weak points. The extreme history buffs will have no issue with this. 3. The top selling point must be the skirmish feature, which allows a quick game over a beer after work and provides some great replayability after completing the campaigns. I don't think anyone will regret purchasing this game, I certainly haven't. Thanks!
• gamedeal user

  Apr 20, 2015

  Debated about posting my first review but this game absolutely needs it. If you are looking for a good eastern front game with a half decent AI, that has turn based strategy-look no further. This is the game for you! Pros: The sound effects and music are first rate. I love the simple but effective graphics this game has-the vehicles and units are accurate down to the ski-infantry Russian units. Even on my low end computer the graphics are pretty good with burning vehicles and dead soldiers everywhere. Beware this is not a "Put your head down close your eyes and go in!" type of game. You have to use your scouts and recon units to find enemy units then know exactly when to fire on them. I wait unitll my units can see "the whites of their eyes" before I let them fire and expose their position. Once the AI sees your units look out it is like having Guderian chase you all the way to Smolensk. You will have to employ tactices of fire and move otherwise your exposed units are at the mercy of German or Russian long range guns. This game has an excellent in game skirmish mode. I have tried to get it to generate the same map twice to no avail. Allowing you to choose the size of the map, the year and the location-plains, urban, Russian snow has great advantages and replay value including allowing you to choose how many cammands points you can start with to purchase units with. I have looked at the in game editor and it is great. Just waiting for a good manual to be put out before I start putting together my first map. Cons: Hope the developers update this and allow units to traverse more rough terrain. Tanks right now can't enter woods, cross hedgerows or destroy buildings and all units can't pass through each other on their way to the next hex. It would be nice to be able to have engineers lay mines. Right now they can clear them. The AI can be a little predictable at times but otherwise not bad. Definitely a game I will be spending alot of time playing.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 27, 2016

  Just occasionally a WWII strategy game comes along that ticks all the boxes; BA2EF is one of those classics. Do you remember Eastern Front and Western Front from Talonsoft back in the early noughties? Well BA2EF mimics these excellent games in many ways, but obviously modernises them at the same time. Historical realism is the major goal of the devs and is to be applauded, hence we have a game that is suitable for both the historical wargamer and newcomers alike - the latter will learn from this game what really happened on the Eastern Front. Unlike many games that solely concentrate on one campaign, or even just one battle, you get it all here - so you can play in any year with the relevant vehicles and guns between 1941-45. So you don't need to fork out a small fortune on dlc with this one - the only add on was the Battle of Kursk which as it was such a massive camapign is an understandable add-on. Hopefully more campains will follow, but I reiterate you already have most of the tanks etc and thanks to the brilliant battle generator you can use them without buying dlc if you so wish. Combat is deep and immersive and you really have to understand the succesful tactics used by both sides and play to their strengths - combined arms tactics are necessary to succeed. The maps and 3d units are impressive as are the damage fx. You need to take into account armour facing of tanks too. Like I said at the beginning; it's almost as if Talonsofts Eastern Front has been reborn, but also improved 100%. You will never tire of this game.
• gamedeal user

  May 26, 2016

  Simplicity meets complexity in a splendid duo. At first look, this game is a simple grid-based turn-based strategy game -- move your units and shoot the bad dudes. At second look, it is an encyclopedia on armour penetration at different ranges. At third look, it is the logistical puzzle of keeping your troops in fighting condition while providing support via call-ins. The more you keep looking, the more aspects you realize. This creates an experience that is deep and immersive, while being easy to pick up and play. This game boasts a great unit variety for Germany and the CCCP through 1940 to 1945. The Campaign carries you through the war as either of the two nations, allowing the user to keep units from mission to mission and purchase them at will. If that is not enough replayability, there is also a custom battle and map generator. The fun never ends? This game has a comic book art style mixed with sub-par graphics and a tablet GUI. I do not like any of these creative choices. The comic book style takes me out of the wear-and-tear of the Eastern Front. The Tablet GUI is clunky and sometimes down-right infuriating. These issues are what prevents this game from being a classic.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 18, 2016

  I can't count the number of strategy games I buy hoping that it will satisfy my everlasting hunger for great TBS gameplay. Too often I am disappointed. The games are either buggy (HMM 7) or the graphics are cluttering the overview (AoW3) or the learning curve ensures that you will definitely not have any FUN for the first 500 hours of gameplay. (Distant Worlds: Universe). Then there are the games that just aren't very good at all and make you wonder why anybody bothered to go through the trouble (undoubtedly a lot) of making them. (won't mention any games here... the list is too long) . Then there are games that get great reviews but aren't my cup of tea. And finally there are those games that you start out not expecting too much and that turn out to be the best spent money in a long time. (Banner Saga) This game definitely falls under the latter cattegory. It is a truely enjoyable game that doesn't depend on endless stats or books of info but on the right approach. You start missions with a number of (self chosen) units and you will have to use them intelligently to succeed. Everything works great, looks fine and before I knew it I spend a whole day playing it. Now that had been a while in happening ! Challenging but most of all FUN !!! 8/10
• gamedeal user

  Oct 6, 2016

  This is a fun and interesting wargame as long as you are not too big on accuracy, and are not a grognard, such as I am (Since 1973). I bought this game with the expectation that it was close to Combat Mission, which I had owned and played a number of years ago, but was disappointed to find that a lot of the realism I saw in Combat Mission is simply missing from this game. Some examples: [list] [*]I am well into playing the Barbarossa campaign and I have only had a single indirect fire weapon, a mortar unit, available to my forces in just one single scenario of several of the campaign! No indirect fire artillery at all so far! Seeing how Germans and Russians were big users of artillery of all types you can see how unrealistic this is. [*]Squad sizes are totally unrealistic. Typical so-called "squads" in the game are 5 or 3 soldiers. [*]No platoon or company HQs type units at all. Everything functions on an individual basis in this game. Leadership effects seem to be totally absent in this game. [*]Direct fire artillery is limited only to anti-tank guns, at least so far from what I have experienced in the campaign. [*]No way to entrench your units or build fortifications during the course of the scenario. [*]No barbed wire or concertina that you can build during the course of the scenario. [*]No mines of any kind you can emplace or remove during the course of the scenario. [*]Engineer squads, except for their satchel charges, are essentially useless in this game. [*]No bridging you can emplace during the scenario. [/list] If I could I would give an average/good overall rating to the game but not a great game. Unfortunately the rating system only allows Yes or No so I am giving this a No recommendation. Recommended if you want just a "wargame Lite" or beer and pretzels style gaming experience.