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Turn Based Skirmish Warfare

» Pros

Thoroughly enjoyable turn-based strategy featuring nicely modeled weapons and destructible buildings. The game has plenty of personality and a unique feel, plus the graphics are great. Those who dug x-com, or have an interest in small unit tactics will love the game play.

» Cons

Awkward and poorly realized storyline. Much of the skill building loses it's meaning when the panzerkleins appear. Uneven difficulty level can leave missions virtually impossible or tediously easy.

» Review

Silent Storm is a skirmish level turn-based strategy game in an alternate World War 2 era setting. The goal is to select and lead a multi-national team, Axis or Allies, through a series of missions. Your team is a WWII version of a D&D party including specialists in five classes, each with unique skill trees and aptitudes in various weapons. The weapon selection is varied with equipment available at your base or scavenged from enemies.

The combat is the meat of the game and players will have a blast ambushing enemies in an almost completely destructible environment. Buildings can be reduced to rubble, entire floors destroyed by heavy grenades, doors blown off the hinges with machine gun fire and stone walls pierced by anti-tank rockets. Troop positions can be revealed by sound, so stealth and coordination are needed to survive many of the tougher missions.

The status of your troops, and their reaction to your orders, is constantly communicated by their thickly accented chatter. Many have found this to be annoying but I generally found it to be useful, and pretty funny. How many games tell you "You make the Fuhrer proud!"? Come on, it's a hoot!

The game runs into problems early on with a story that never quite gels. The plot is revealed in cut scenes that feature awkward dialog and never convinces us of the plausibility of the story or why we should care.

The next issue that emerges is the introduction of the Panzerkleins. Panzerkleins are powered armor suits, basically mechs, that appear in the last quarter of the game. The Panzerkleins are an interesting idea, but not well implemented.

Due to the random availability of missions it is quite easy to run in to a mission that is impossible to complete without Panzerkleins before you obtain any. I had this problem with both the Axis and Allied campaigns. Infantry is almost useless against them and many of your hard-earned skills become meaningless once you have PKs on our team. Who needs a sneaky sniper when you can wade fearlessly into an ambush and blast enemy troops with impunity?

As mentioned the campaign can be played from both the Allied or Axis side, with some overlapping missions. Missions are chosen from a strategic map, which also allows you to choose random combats. The random battles aren't necessary to complete the game, but they give your squad a chance to gain some experience, and maybe scavenge some gear. The parallel campaigns and random encounters help extend the games life, but I would have rather had more pre-PK story arc missions.

Overall this game is well worth playing, although it falls short of classic status due to the unevenness of it's execution. If you have a yearning for squad tactics in a turn-based environment this game is definitely recommended.