Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943
A real-time strategy game set in the Third Battle of Kharkov.
Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 is a single-player real-time strategy game released in 2010. It was developed by the Ukrainian studio Graviteam and published by Paradox Interactive.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Graviteam
- Publisher
- 1C Games (RU)
- Paradox Interactive (NA)
- Mamba Games (UK)
- Released
- 11 September 2009 (RU)
- 25 February 2010 (NA)
- 14 May 2010 (UK)
- Genre
- Real-time strategy, wargame
- Platforms
- Windows
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The game covers a short segment of the Third Battle of Kharkov from 2 to 8 March 1943, while the actual battle lasted from 19 February to 15 March 1943. Six historically accurate scenarios are available: two place the player in command of German forces and four in command of Soviet forces. An editor allows players to create their own scenarios, and several training scenarios are included. Units are organized in platoon-sized groups, with 250 types of soldiers and officers and 40 types of combat and tactical vehicles. A 3D encyclopaedia displays the capabilities of both German and Soviet units. Vehicles simulate penetration values, with each part of a vehicle and individual crew members modeled; a tank may become immobilized if hit in the tracks or engine, a Molotov cocktail may set it alight, and shells may ricochet or fail to cause damage. The game has two modes: a strategic map and a tactical map. The strategic map is a 2D topographical grid where players move units to key points while the enemy does the same; units left in a grid can dig trenches and foxholes. When two units meet in a square, a battle may begin on the tactical map, also involving units from neighboring squares. Each turn on the strategic map represents four hours of in-game time, so battles may occur during day or night. Night battles simulate light sources such as parachute flares and burning vehicles.
Reception
Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 landed with critics in a middle ground, earning a 70 out of 100 on Metacritic from six reviews and an 80.00 percent on GameRankings from five. The tutorial was widely panned as a slog, featuring large, slow-loading tooltips that simply describe buttons and symbols, which one critic called boring and drawn-out. The GamersGate download includes three PDF manuals, but they offer little help; the main manual suffers from poor English translation and is difficult to follow. Another reviewer agreed, noting the manual needs more pages and the tooltips better translation, and that the simplified RTS interface, while sensible in concept, ends up too cramped for its own good, requiring days of trial and error to understand movement, attack, and formation combinations. Pathfinding also drew criticism, with units often refusing to go exactly where ordered. Using specific movement buttons worked better than simply clicking a destination, but units do not automatically seek cover under fire—players must manually click a defensive button. This forces heavy micromanagement, which is not always welcome in an RTS. The developer claims the AI analyzes player tactics and adapts rather than following scripts, but the reviewer saw the enemy fail to flank clearly visible approaching forces and, under heavy fire, stay out in the open instead of retreating a few meters into nearby woods.
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