Sound

Nothing More Terrifying Than a Tiger's Squeak

One of the first lessons people have to learn is what a tank sounds like. Sitting in idle, proudly surveying the carnage it has wrought, a Tiger will sound impressive - rumbling deeply and looking all majestic. The moment it moves, it'll start clanging, banging and squeaking like 60 tons of pots and pans thrown into a hydraulic press.

He's struggling to get up

I spy with my sniper eye

This is almost exactly what Panzer Elite portrays, with the exception that the engine sounds aren't quite where they should be. The engine sounds somehow don't give you that feeling of power that you should have while running a 60 ton tank through the countryside.

On the Bright Side

Gun shots and explosions are really well done. The initial sound of even the 88/L71 gun won't deafen anybody, but the report and the sound of the distant explosion are so real it's actually a treat just to fire the gun off into the distance. Machine gun fire is implemented perfectly. Though like most sounds in the game it is a bit weak, it fires in cool little bursts, leaving trails of light dust and smoke instead of tracers.

Doh, only friendly troops

That house is going down!

Da Word

Recently, speech in computer games has been excellent and Panzer Elite is just a bit underwhelming in that respect. You can choose to listen to the voices in either their national language or in English (though the Germans will have an accent in this case.) The voices aren't realistic, and the German loader seems to have way too much fun saying "Loading High Explosive!" (he's a pyro, I guarantee it), but it's all cool. It's all too calm if anything, not representing the chaos of battle well enough. The American seems totally laid back, like this was his 500th training exercise, not a life and death battle.

First shot

Second shot

Being able to listen to the voices in German added an air of authenticity, and fun, trying to figure out what they were saying. Still, if there's a weak-link in the candy department of Panzer Elite, it is the speech. The game tries hard for hardcore realism and succeeds excellently elsewhere, while here it seems half-hearted (for the American), or fun, in a psychotic kind of way (German.)