Interface

The Great Stumbling Block

The single biggest reason that tank simulators have failed so often is the interface. Either they don't manage to capture all the intricacies of tank combat (from directing platoon members to turning the tank while moving the turret in the opposite direction) and simply decide to make an arcade game, or they try to hard for realism and make an unplayable game.

Stay behind the river

Another one bites the dust!

Miraculously, Panzer Elite manages to pull it off. The list of controls is nearly overwhelming yet the game somehow never forces the player to use too many at one time. Most commands are done on the keyboard, just because there are so many of them, but multi-button joysticks and gamepads lend themselves well to the game. The mouse has its uses, especially in manual aiming and in commanding your squad-mates to move to certain positions, but it will never be the primary input device.

Machine gun fire toasts infantry

There's one of my babies!

Of Course *I* Can Do Everything…

But what about the newbies, you ask? Those who've never been in a virtual tank? Fortunately the game's controls are quite intuitive. The biggest problem people might have is just memorizing all of them. There are no training missions per se, but the instant action option actually made orientation very easy. Within a few minutes we were rumbling through a village in our Pz IVF2's and taking potshots at the M4A1 Shermans coming our way. A few hours of practice should have just about anyone taking on an AI tank on even terms and having a good chance of winning.

Full Frontal!

The front end of the game is very clean. Everything is simple and well-laid out. This is actually of fairly critical importance as once you get into campaign mode, you have to worry about supply, crews, what tanks you have and so on. The interface makes this quite easy to handle - just click on what you want to deal with, a little coiled notebook pops up and you've got everything you need in front of you.

Panther on the prowl

There's the convoy

Should you not be inclined to deal with the nitty-gritty of the campaign management, you can let the computer-controlled Aide-de-camp automatically take care of whatever you so choose to let him. If you don't like any of his decisions, you can simply override them. Thus, the first steps the game took to being newbie-friendly with the manual are continued here in the interface.