Ultimate Wargame Collection 2: World War 2
Amazon.com Review
Many collections of older games are unquestionably worth the price, but the quality of the offerings in the Ultimate Wargame WWII Collection Volume 2 is so spotty we’d pause before spending $20 on it. Sure you get a great game like Silent Hunter: Commander’s Edition, but then you’re also paying for the laughably bad Luftwaffe Commander. This package still represents a significant value over buying the games separately, so WWII buffs may want to just go ahead and take the good with the bad.
Luftwaffe Commander is the biggest stinker in the bunch, and we can’t come up with a single reason it was even released in the first place. The graphics are bad, the flight models are abysmal, and that about sums things up. Worst of all, it was released after several vastly superior WWII flight simulations came out, and you’d be better off spending money on any of those games than this tragically flawed coaster.
Fighting Steel simulates the naval battles of the period and isn’t nearly as bad. Here you become admiral of a virtual fleet of WWII battleships, destroyers, and other surface vessels, all rendered in full 3-D (although the game runs at a low resolution). Battling with the big guns is fun for a while, but we soon were longing for aircraft carriers, submarines, or anything else that could add some variety and complexity to the gameplay.
Panzer Commander puts you in charge of a squad of tanks. Gameplay is a little too simplistic, and the other members of your squad are complete idiots (they get stuck on walls and buildings all the time), but it’s still a great deal of fun. The game models lots of different tanks, and their varying weapons systems require vastly different tactics for effective use. Half the fun is in watching your tanks bounce around from an outside view, as their suspensions are modeled in terrific detail.
Finally there is Silent Hunter, which is probably the best WWII submarine simulator of all time. The game is aging well, since its crisp graphics were good to begin with, and the tense gameplay never loses any of its charm. There are enough difficulty settings to satisfy both novices and die-hards, and the historical information included on the disc gave us a fascinating look at the troubles real-world submarine crews faced in the Pacific theater of WWII. Don’t miss this one if submarine simulations interest you. –T. Byrl Baker
Pros:
- Silent Hunter is perhaps the best WWII submarine simulation ever released
- Fighting Steel is fun–while it lasts
- One of the few collections that gives players air, land, and sea simulations
Cons:
- Luftwaffe Commander is one of the worst flight simulators ever released
- Panzer Commander has infuriating flaws that put an enormous dent in its fun factor
Ultimate Wargame Collection 2: World War 2
September 16th, 2010 at 10:23 am
The amazon.com editorial review of Luftwaffe Commander is VERY unfair. Although the rest of the games included in Ultimate WWII Game Colection 2 are accurately and fairly portrayed, the longer I’ve played Luftwaffe Commander, the better I have learned to appreciate the game. I have also extensively played WWII Fighters -which is visually a better game-, and LC is graphically poorer, but LC is more realistic and fun as far as flight models and variety of planes are concerned. True, most reviews have shattered LC, but most reviews were (are) written by guys who play it a couple of times at best. Believe me, the more you play it, the more you appreciate it. It’s a pitty SSI discontinued it or ceased improving a would-have-been classic game. Sure as hell LC is far from being the worse combat simulator ever released. Ask any hard core sim pilot who has flown it.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 16th, 2010 at 11:06 am
This Game-pack Rules!
There are 4-games
“Luftwaffe Commander” which is a simulator where you go back to the days where the Me-109 ruled the sky.
“Fighting Steel” where you go back to the days of the big guns.
“Panzer commander” where you can control 24 WW2 tanks from 4 countries (Germany, Russia, UK, USA) in 8 campaigns and single player missions.
AND MY FAVORITE “Silent Hunter, Commanders edition” It is a WW2 Pacific submarine Simulator with the 3 extra patrol disks, you get to dive the sub patrol around and sink those japanese supply ships and Waeships, a little old but still great.
… an excellent deal.
Buy this.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 16th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Silent Hunter- The best sub sim around, except for SH2.
Luftwaffe Commander- A very playable WW2 flight sim, with a realistic time line. Alot of fun.
Panzer Commander- OK, but it gets boring. The graphics leave something to be desired.
Fighting Steel- Lack luster graphics, and slow.
Over all, this game pack is well worth the money, a must for those who like historical military sims.
Rating: 5 / 5