Time to go boom!
This is the first in the fairly long-running series of World War II tank simulators that continued with the likes of Panzer Elite Action. The games are all quite light on the actual sim part of the gameplay and are instead more action-oriented but there's no denying that when you want to blow stuff up with a massive armored cannon, these are a good choice. You have the option here to play through a series of missions dressed up as a campaign as either the captain of an American or German tank, with your missions taking you through North Africa, Itay, and Normandy as you progress. You're not just in charge of your own tank but you also get to issue orders to the other vehicles in your squadron while also calling in artillery strikes at certain points. In a nice addition, your crew and vehicles will actually improve over the course of the campaign and they will start to behave smarter and more realistically, which is a good touch. As far as action-packed tank games go, this one remains a bit of a cracker. It's perhaps not the most complicated of games in the world but there is a bit of strategy required if you want to succeed which gives the game some depth. In terms of action though, this is very satisfying stuff and there's a lot of fun to be had from rolling around making things go boom in spectacular fashion. The visuals still hold up quite well today, with some well-done environments that give you a good sense of being caught up in a terrible conflict. Throw in some nice sound effects and easy to manage controls and you have a cracking tank game.
