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Blitzkrieg (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Blitzkrieg is a real-time tactics
computer game based on the events of World War II. The game allows players to assume the role of commanding officer during the battles of World War II
that occurred in Europe
and North Africa
. Each country has its respective historically correct military units. Similar to the Sudden Strike
games Blitzkrieg focuses on battles rather than real-time strategy
aspects like base building.
Virtual Programming published a Mac OS X version of the game on the Mac App Store
on April 20, 2011.
Certain versions of the original game, and several sequels, use the StarForce
copy protection system. Blitzkrieg Anthology does not appear to use Starforce.
Graphics
deliver realistic 3-D rendered isometric
terrain and details include seasons, climatic zones and weather conditions which can affect game play. Blood is present although it can be deactivated. The game features over 350 different units and objects. The player has the ability to build pontoon bridges, dig trenches, lay mines, resupply and repair units or call in air support but there are no resources. Virtually everything can be destroyed including buildings and bridges. Forests can be flattened by tanks or artillery. Each unit of a respective nation speaks its own language, adding immensely to the immersion.
The game shipped with a mission and resource editors for users to create their own units and maps.
These Chapters, in turn, feature smaller scale random (i.e. fictional) and historical battles. Random maps present an opportunity for the player to win upgrades for his side as depicted in the map description. Depending on the random map selected, the player may potentially bolster his forces with either artillery units or armored units.
Each player starts with 'core units'. These named units would be the same personnel accompanying the player throughout the chosen Campaign and may gain rank and experience as the player progresses from one Chapter to the other. The player initially starts off with 3 armored core units and 3 artillery core units and would eventually gain command of six core units of each category in later Chapters. Core units gaining rank would perform better in combat, with artillery personnel being more accurate in their shots and tank crews doing likewise.
• Bombarding the enemy with artillery
will knock out key anti-tank
and anti-infantry
obstacles.
• Immobilising enemy vehicles requires flanking
and correct timing.
• When defending, mines
and Czech hedgehog
s must be placed in strategic positions in the time window allocated before the enemy attack.
• The precise location and use of landmines, trench
es and barbed wire fencing is important when defending the perimiter of a built up area.
• Air support offers help from Paratrooper
s, Reconnaissance
, Heavy bomber
s, Close air support
(mainly Dive bomber
s) and Fighter aircraft
.
End of October 2008 the game was released in Germany where it was very successful and sold more game copies than any Blitzkrieg 2 extension.
Real-time tactics
Real-time tactics or RTT is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics...
computer game based on the events of World War II. The game allows players to assume the role of commanding officer during the battles of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that occurred in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. Each country has its respective historically correct military units. Similar to the Sudden Strike
Sudden Strike
The Sudden Strike series is a collection of real-time tactics computer games set in World War II. The player selects a faction and gains control of many varied units such as infantry, tanks and artillery. The games focus primarily on tactics, eschewing traditional real-time strategy resource...
games Blitzkrieg focuses on battles rather than real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
aspects like base building.
Virtual Programming published a Mac OS X version of the game on the Mac App Store
Mac App Store
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
on April 20, 2011.
Certain versions of the original game, and several sequels, use the StarForce
StarForce
StarForce is a software copy protection mechanism developed by Protection Technology, which claims that products protected with StarForce are difficult to reverse engineer.- Product families :Currently known official versions of StarForce include:...
copy protection system. Blitzkrieg Anthology does not appear to use Starforce.
Graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
deliver realistic 3-D rendered isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
terrain and details include seasons, climatic zones and weather conditions which can affect game play. Blood is present although it can be deactivated. The game features over 350 different units and objects. The player has the ability to build pontoon bridges, dig trenches, lay mines, resupply and repair units or call in air support but there are no resources. Virtually everything can be destroyed including buildings and bridges. Forests can be flattened by tanks or artillery. Each unit of a respective nation speaks its own language, adding immensely to the immersion.
The game shipped with a mission and resource editors for users to create their own units and maps.
Gameplay
Blitzkrieg centers on 3 distinctive campaigns which features some of the major factions battling it out in World War II. The 3 campaigns featured the Allies (American and British campaigns), the Germans and the Soviets. Each of these campaigns attempt to chronologically re-enact the time periods of the war by devising Chapters into each of the campaigns.These Chapters, in turn, feature smaller scale random (i.e. fictional) and historical battles. Random maps present an opportunity for the player to win upgrades for his side as depicted in the map description. Depending on the random map selected, the player may potentially bolster his forces with either artillery units or armored units.
Each player starts with 'core units'. These named units would be the same personnel accompanying the player throughout the chosen Campaign and may gain rank and experience as the player progresses from one Chapter to the other. The player initially starts off with 3 armored core units and 3 artillery core units and would eventually gain command of six core units of each category in later Chapters. Core units gaining rank would perform better in combat, with artillery personnel being more accurate in their shots and tank crews doing likewise.
Strategy
Because of the dismissal of base-building and unit spawning, strategy is a key ingredient of overall gameplay. Sending out all units at once will most likely end in the massacre of the for said army. The timing, unit locations, artillery and air support and much more are key to victory. For example:• Bombarding the enemy with artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
will knock out key anti-tank
Anti-tank warfare
Anti-tank warfare was created by the need to seek technology and tactics to destroy tanks and their supporting infantry during the First World War...
and anti-infantry
Anti-personnel weapon
An anti-personnel weapon is one primarily used to incapacitate people, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles.The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles gave rise to weapons designed specifically to attack them, and thus a need to distinguish between those systems and...
obstacles.
• Immobilising enemy vehicles requires flanking
Flanking maneuver
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its...
and correct timing.
• When defending, mines
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
and Czech hedgehog
Czech hedgehog
The Czech hedgehog or ježek, was a static anti-tank obstacle defence made of angled iron deployed during World War II by various combatants....
s must be placed in strategic positions in the time window allocated before the enemy attack.
• The precise location and use of landmines, trench
Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or depression in the ground. Trenches are generally defined by being deeper than they are wide , and by being narrow compared to their length ....
es and barbed wire fencing is important when defending the perimiter of a built up area.
• Air support offers help from Paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s, Reconnaissance
Surveillance aircraft
A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance — collecting information over time. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, observation , border patrol and fishery...
, Heavy bomber
Heavy bomber
A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...
s, Close air support
Close air support
In military tactics, close air support is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are close to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces.The determining factor for CAS is...
(mainly Dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
s) and Fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
.
Add ons
There are three official expansions of the original Blitzkrieg to date, all three developed by La Plata Studios (Germany), in collaboration with Nival Interactive, the developer of the original Blitzkrieg game. They are published and distributed by CDV Interactive:- Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizon follows the footsteps of General Erwin RommelErwin RommelErwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
starting from the crossing of the ArdennesArdennesThe Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
to the battles of the Afrika KorpsAfrika KorpsThe German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
and continuing to the last struggle of German resistance in occupied France. It also includes a new nation,Japan, with unique new units and weaponry, as well as 8 brand new single player missions, in which battles rage in many different countries and islands, from the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea to the jungles of Burma and Singapore and the deserts of Northern Africa and much more.It also includes over 56 new and improved units, including tanks,aircraft,squads,and artillery. - Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder traces the career of General George S. PattonGeorge S. PattonGeorge Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
during World War II ranging from the deserts of North Africa to the snowy forests of the Ardennes. - Blitzkrieg: Green Devils http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/greendevils/index.htmlhttp://www.ag.ru/games/blitzkrieg_green_devils, an expansion that requires Blitzkrieg or Rolling Thunder in order to play. It follows 9th panzer division's actions in France, Eastern front and Normandy. It also includes Blitzkrieg's 1st airborne campaign called Eagles as well as a few new units and a new campaign:Tank School. However it is not a campaign it is a set of 4 custom missions following the campaign style.
- Stalingrad, developed by DTF Games, is a stand-alone game covering the advance toward and the battle for Stalingrad from both the German and Soviet sides.
- Talvisota: Icy Hell, developed by Blitzfront Game Studio, is a game based on the Finnish-Russian Winter WarWinter WarThe Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
in 1939-1940. - Cuban Missile Crisis: The AftermathCuban Missile Crisis: The AftermathCuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath, also known as The Day After: Fight for Promised Land and known in Russia as Caribbean Crisis or , is a real-time tactics computer game published by 1C Company in Russia, Black Bean in Europe and Strategy First in USA...
, developed by G5 Software, is a stand-alone add-on which features an alternative ending of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which ends in a nuclear apocalypse and the beginning World War III. - Mission BarbarossaOperation BarbarossaOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/ostfrontbarbarossa/index.html and KurskBattle of KurskThe Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/blitzkriegmissionkursk/index.html, developed by Active Gaming, follows the invasion of Soviet Union in 1941 and the Battle of Kursk in 1943. - WWI: The Great War http://games.1c.ru/wwi/, developed by Dark Fox, is a World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
based game built on the Blitzkreg engine. The player assumes the role of the commanding officer of either the armed forces of the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Germany or Austria-Hungary on the battlefields of the Great War with the country's respective weaponry from 1914 to 1918. As of June 2006, World War I had only been released in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Australia and New Zealand. - Blitzkrieg: Operation "North" http://www.ag.ru/games/blitzkrieg_operaciya_sever http://games.1c.ru/north_operation/, developed by Dark Fox.
Panzerkrieg - Burning Horizon II
In October 2007 Hamburg-based La Plata Studios (developers of the Burning Horizon, Rolling Thunder and Green Devils titles) announced that Panzerkrieg - Burning Horizon II would be released during 2008. Initial details are few and far between but, as the project is being produced in conjunction with the head of the original Blitzkrieg team, it is likely to be more than a standard expansion or stand-alone title.End of October 2008 the game was released in Germany where it was very successful and sold more game copies than any Blitzkrieg 2 extension.
In popular culture
- In series 3, episode 4 of the popular BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sitcomSituation comedyA situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
'Peep ShowPeep Show (TV series)Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series makes it...
', character Mark plays Blitzkrieg for 5 hours straight during his week off from work. He was supposed to be reading about the Roman RepublicRoman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, doing sit-ups and learning the clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
. He ruefully jokes that winning the war for the NazisNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
is more important.