Producer: PSS
Retail Price: £12.95
Author: Cybercon Enterprises

It seems to me that PSS produce two types of game; one blandly well-presented, fast and playable with a pretty awful but nicely-written arcade sequence, and the other uneven, unexpected in content and vaguely unprofessional. Annals of Rome, which I liked a lot, was of the latter type, and so is this game, most inappropriately entitled Battlefield Germany. Here we have no real-time gameplay, no arcade sequence, and precious little machine code. What we do have is a literal, cumbersome simulation of a board wargame, envisaging a mostly conventional war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

The explanation of the scenario is brutally exact, given as it is in the form of a countdown dated to begin next summer. Iran wins the war with Iraq, which seems reasonable. What seems unlikely (to me, anyway) is that Egypt also comes under Islamic law and an Islamic pact is formed - this then invades Israel. The superpowers intervene and the situation escalates to full-scale conventional war in Europe. The point of dating this account of the escalation so close to home is presumably to shock the player into a sense of immediacy. This has worked to some extent as, at least superficially, it has an air of uneasy credibility about it. The atmosphere created by reading this while the game loads is dispersed somewhat by the first appearance of the game on the screen, and soon evaporated entirely in the fifteen-minute wait before play.

The map is hex-based rather than square, which in theory is a good idea as it allows for equivalent movement in six directions. In practice, the hex composition of this particular map seems to waste a lot of space. The main playing area scarcely fills half of the screen at once, and is 'jagged' around the edges to avoid half hexes. A small representation of the entire playing area of Central Europe shows where units are deployed; this would be more useful if it were possible to tell from the tiny dots which units belonged to which side, as it is difficult to get a sense of location from the main, scrolling map and I found it wasn't easy to keep track of how my forces were moving overall. Nothing on the map is identified by name, although each hex is some sort of terrain type including the cities which are vital for victory points, and this is the major reason why the map looks and feels anonymous and unexciting.

The game makes no visual appeal to the intellect or the imagination. Cities have no chance of becoming real cities with populations and histories; they're no more than 'city hexes', which take one movement point to enter and are worth 20 victory points.

The player's units and the computer's are represented by the traditional square counters depicting a sometimes unrecognisable piece of military hardware. There are seven types of unit in Battlefield Germany and it takes a bit of working out at first to decide which is which, as the works of art are not reproduced in the rulebook. Each unit has a set of statistics which is displayed to the right of the screen, and define in interesting detail attributes like combat strength, fatigue, efficiency, supply and movement points. The information is presented cryptically but clearly, this is a good thing, as frequent reference to the rules is initially necessary. Units can be stacked four to a hex, and the statistics of all units in a hex are displayed when the cursor is moved into it. This is all interesting and satisfying, and reminiscent of precariously balanced cardboard counters, but the effort which has been put into detailing the statistical definition of the counters seems to have been at the expense of any other sort of detail giving life to the board. The units are just that - counters.

I'm sure it's a psychologically determined fact that most players when loading up a wargame for the first time choose to play 'their' side if engaging against the computer. Battlefield Germany has its one-player and two-player game on different sides of the tape, and it interrupts the loading on side one to allow the player to input options: one or two player, game length, NATO or Warsaw Pact. Most players will choose NATO, for their first attempt anyway. These players will find themselves watching the screen for 15 to 20 minutes while the Warsaw Pact, which goes first, plods through its 'action phase.'

If you've played Annals of Rome and thought the computer took too long about its moves, then Battlefield Germany will drive you mad. At least Annals of Rome's movements are moderately interesting to watch. Battlefield Germany offers nothing but a vast number of counters moving one by one through a blank landscape, and certainly on a first loading the whole process will be meaningless to the player. If you decide, after five minutes, to give up on it and go and make a cup of coffee, phone Australia or take a walk down the street while Warsaw is getting on with things, you are likely to come back to find that a minute after you left, the opposition decided to engage in combat and the computer will be smugly waiting for a key-press from you.

If anyone survives the boredom and frustration of the computer's turn, there is a further shock; a saved game position can't be loaded until that turn is over, as the player is given the option of 'advance/load/save' before carrying on. Useless to think that you can choose to play Warsaw instead next time and avoid this wait, because you must load a saved game into the same set of options. Patience is the cardinal virtue of wargamers, and it may be true that you have to wait half an hour for a human opponent to complete a turn, but there really is no excuse for the excessive slowness of Battlefield Germany, particularly as occasional intervention is required by the human player, and no warning of this is sounded by the computer to wake the player up.

When the player does eventually get a chance to participate, a rapid, computer-handled 'supply phase' is followed by the action phase. This allows a free mixture of movement and combat, which I'm not sure is a good idea; some players may like the free-form, but I found it was confusing. It does at least allow victories in battle to be followed up by advances of units which were not involved in the fighting. Movement is easy and efficient, effected by means of a cursor which can select and deselect units freely and move them while their movement counter decreases to zero. As usual, certain types of terrain incur movement penalties, and these are explained in the rules, Combat can be initiated at any time during the action phase between adjacent units, and the method of doing so is clumsy and initially most confusing; any mistake results in the message 'attack aborted.'

Both sides can choose how much air support to give the attack, from a fixed pool allocated each turn, and this has a significant effect on outcome. The computer seems to be sparing of its air support supplies, and a few heavy attacks each turn will be sure to obliterate its units. Units can be destroyed or forced to retreat, and if they have no way of retreating - or if you accidently make them retreat in the wrong direction - they are vaporised, graphically.

The nuclear option is not offered in the one player game, which seems unfair; I should like to know how many people commonly play two-player wargames on their computers. It is, says the rulebook, included for authenticity more than anything else, and the way is handled is one of the few colourful features in a colourless game. The player can choose to escalate or de-escalate the level of nuclear conflict, but whether or not the decision will be implemented depends on the state of affairs on the battlefield; the ruling powers can overrule the military's wishes. If escalation is permitted, the player is allocated a certain number of warheads and may choose where to drop them (not a difficult decision, as it is easy to examine the opponents's units as thoroughly as your own). Unsurprisingly, the warhead annihilates everything in the hex, and turns it into a blackened radiation zone which takes up more movement points to enter thereafter. But, for some reason, the designers saw fit not to incorporate this interesting feature into the one player game.

The rulebook is perfectly adequate, describing the sequence of play in order and giving charts of terrain effects. It also makes clear what is a maximum level of supply and strength and the like, something too many games are inclined to leave to the player's imagination. It is well-produced in PSS's usual commendable style. I have already received letters from people who have bought this game and enjoyed it, but to be honest I can't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a lot of patience and tolerance enough to ignore the shoddy, ragged programming. This game is dull, unwieldy and dry, and it certainly doesn't work for me.

With this game, PSS has returned to the territory it covered in Theatre Europe - World War III. The massed forces of the evil empire (Reagan-speak for the Russians) pour over the dividing tine between the oppressed eastern bloc and the wonderful world of democracy. This line runs down the centre of Germany, though what the Germans think of this idea the game doesn't go into.

This is a triffic game, though - one of the best wargames for the Speccy that I've seen so far. It's very complex, though, so don't choose it as your first ever wargame, 'cos I suspect you'll get nowhere. It's a two player game, although your adversary can be the computer. On one side are the Russians and their allies in the Warsaw Pact, while on the other are the forces of Nato consisting of most of the countries of the free world.

Each side has a variety of different types of unit. The infantry are tough but slow, mechanised infantry move a bit faster while armour units are big and butch and terribly tough. The armoured cavalry are semi-tough and last, airmobile troops are really fast, airborne paratroops tend to drop on your head and the mountain troops spend a of of time on the piste.

The screen shows two maps - a large tactical one which takes up most of the screen, and a smaller strategic one that sits in the top right hand corner. The large map is divided up into hexagons, each 30 kilometers wide and you're able to look at a particular of the front in detail. Up to four units can fit inside each hexagon at a time, though you can only see the top one. The others are revealed when you want to have a quick dekko though.

Below the little map you get all the information you request. You're told how well supplied the unit you're enquiring about is, what its combat strength is, how efficient it is, how far it can move in a turn and whether it's tired and wants to go home. All these things play an important part when you're trying to decide when a unit should stand and fight and when it should hightail it out of there.

The Russian objective is to break through the Nato defenders and reach the Rhine as quickly as possible. However, they've got to make sure that they don't overstretch the supply lines, 'cos otherwise the Red Army's done for. The Nato forces have to keep the Russians stalled for as long as possible, holding out until fresh reinforcements arrive from America. Both sides have the option of going nuclear when things go wrong, but it's not advisable - neither side wins and Europe's transformed into a radioactive desert.

Battlefield Germany's a really great game, all things considered. Graphically its wonderful, and the game play is tough enough for even the dedicated wargamer. It's not really a game for beginners, but once you've got the hang of wargames, you're sure to want to try this one!

Label: PSS
Author: In-house
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Gary Rook

PSS has published a number of wargames over the last couple of years, some of which have been pretty good, and some of which have been downright diabolical.

So Battlefield Germany came as a more than pleasant surprise. It is, quite simply, the best game I've seen yet from PSS, and very possibly one of the best five wargames I've ever seen on the Spectrum.

Battlefield Germany is a simulation of combat between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in central Germany. Either one or two players can participate: if only one is playing, then the computer takes the opposing forces, whichever the player chooses not to be.

Most of the screen is taken up with a tactical map, showing a detailed section of the whole playing area. This is divided up into hexagons, each of which is 30 miles across. Marked on the map are various terrain features - forests, hills, urban areas, mountains and so on. Also shown on the map are the units of each side. Each hexagon covers a lot of ground, so up to four units can occupy the same one. The top unit only is visible, and the presence of others in the same hex is indicated by dots on that unit - up to four.

The units have on them very clear icons showing what type they are - infantry, mechanised infantry, amour, armoured cavalry, airmobile troops, paratroops or mountain infantry. Which side they are is shown by which way they face.

Above the map is a message strip which is used to display game information - what turn it is, what the relative victory point score is, whose turn it is presently and what phase of the turn it is.

To the right of the map is a smaller, strategic map which shows the whole playing area, which runs from Denmark in the north to Switzerland in the south, and as far west as France. Small coloured dots on this map indicate where forces are located.

Below this strategic map is a display area. This shows what units are in the hex being currently inspected, their combat strengths, their type. supply level and units designation and nationality.

To move a unit, you place the cursor over it on the tactical map, hit the select button, then move it to wherever you want it. To attack, you use the cursor to select who will conduct the attack and which adjacent enemy unit they will attack.

Graphically it's superb. It's easily one of the best looking wargames I have ever seen.

Play is smooth and challenging, and I am certainly looking forward to sitting down to a long session with this one.

If PSS can repeat this, then I for one am going to be well chuffed.

Spectrum, £12.95cs
C64/128, £12.95cs, £17.95dk
Amstrad, £12.95cs, £17.95dk

This one or two player wargame is set just in the future and simulates a conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in Western Europe. Sounds like another PSS game? Well yes, the scenario is the same as the other PSS great Theatre Europe, but this game differs in a multitude of ways.

Played on a map divided into hexagonals, the play alternates with each game turn being roughly divided into three. The first phase of the turn is the Supply Phase when the computer calculates the amount of supplies that your forces can receive. It takes into account whether a clear line can be drawn back to the supply points - if that line passes through enemy held territory then the supplies just wont arrive. The next phase is the optional Nuclear phase, which gives the player the chance to use nuclear warheads on a tactical or strategic level. Next comes the action phase, this can be sub-divided into three minor phases including movement, airborne movement and the attack phase. The introduction of the hexes brings a real board wargame feel to the computer, and as such it is very good. Stretches your tactical planning ability whilst remaining thoroughly playable.

MACHINES: Spectrum/128K Spectrum/Amstrad/CBM 64/128
SUPPLIER: PSS
PRICE: £12.95 (cass), £17.95 (disc)
VERSION TESTED: Spectrum

This is one more from the PSS Wargamers Series, which now includes a very wide range of games, some good, some not so good.

There are already enough World War Three games on the market, all set two years in the future and some showing their age as the future becomes the past.

Battlefield Germany, covering a familiar scenario of a Warsaw Pact assault across the Inner German Border in 1989, would have to have been really spectacular to have made an impression.

In fact, I find the game completely unplayable. That isn't an exaggeration, I can't find a way of playing it. On either one or two player option you are presented with a main screen showing the immediate battle area, with top right a smaller screen showing the whole of Germany and the overall strategic picture.

Unfortunately this screen is so small that there is no way of matching it to the battle screen and working out what is happening.

It was also very confusing having half a dozen units all called nothing but "Sixth Shock Army", and having the Western Strategic Direction treated as a lighting unit, not a headquarters.

So I abandoned the Warsaw Pact forces and opted instead for NATO against the computer. After all, the game was only six moves long so it shouldn't be a problem. I selected the options and waited. The computer began to move Warsaw Pact forces across the battle screen, at times bleeping to itself excitedly.

Occasionally it would ask me which unit I wanted to defend with and then ignore my instructions by attacking another. It kept on, switching from one map to another, playing the game by itself and occasionally tolerating my interference. For 37 minutes. It then asked me if I wanted to make my first move. By that time, no thank you, I did not.

A NIGHTMARE SCENARIO OF THE NEAR FUTURE.

PSS
£12.95

Battlefield Germany is a full scale simulation of the war everyone hopes will never happen, a war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

According to the background information it took just a year for world events to escalate into a global conflict. Following victories by Iran, Iraq finally crumbled and was followed by Islamic governments in neighbouring Syria, Libya and Egypt. Israel is next. America responds to Israel's request for aid and sends troops. The Soviet Union objects and an American carrier is mysteriously sunk. As the Superpowers collide, troops build up in Western Europe. 17 June, 1989 the Warsaw Pact launch their offensive.

With one finger hovering over the nuclear "button" you must command the NATO forces to halt the Russian advance or take either side in a two player game.

Be warned, this is definitely an enthusiasts wargame featuring an incredible number of infantry, mechanised infantry, tanks, paratroops, helicopters and even mountain infantry on a massive scrolling map of Central Europe. Luckily, a small map in the top right hand corner of the screen lets you see the way things are going as it gives colour coded territorial map with the units represented by flashing dots. On the main map more detail is available with the forces represented pictorially with further information available when the unit is selected with a cursor.

The game itself is played over either six or twelve turns that can each take about an hour! Each turn consists of two phases, the supply phase (done automatically by the computer) and the action phase when you can move and fight to gain territory.

The computer opponent is tough, with any mistake ruthlessly punished. No quarter is given as the red hordes sweep to victory.

The victory point table that determines the winner and the level of victory depends solely on the expanse of the Russian advance (accepting that it can't be stopped!). Unless you're an accomplished wargamer used to the hexed maps of board games and possess almost total concentration you have little or no chance of winning. Here at last is a real challenge for the experts, beginners should cut their wargaming teeth on Tobruk before they try this one.