I originally played the Graviteam Tactics games a couple of years ago and I wasn't impressed. It seemed uninspired and unintuitive. The lack of micromanagement was frustrating. Not being able to build your divisions felt like a massive restriction, and put me off quite a bit from playing. Then having your units reject your orders on the field? Garbage. Absolute trash. I know better than the AI of when and when not to move, I know when you should be firing, and I know damn well where you should and shouldn't be going. I randomly downloaded Tunisia Warfare around a week ago and figured I'd see if it would scratch my RTS itch. I loved it. One battle in Tunisia Warfare and it was like a breath of fresh air. Thank God I looked at the store and saw that Mius Front was on sale. I love everything about it. It's quite an interesting RTS sim, as micro management is not required, but still existent, yet limited. This can be pretty off-putting for many, as I can guarantee it was for me. BUT when you have a good selection of RTS games, you have a very nice variety of micro management, yet a lack of it is rather uncommon. This functions much more as a commander sim, than an omniscient being that oversees a battlefield. You're the Commander. You tell your units where to go on the map in the planning stage, and then you trust them enough to fulfill their duties and react to warfare around them. Which, yes, they can do some stupid things like driving their Marder into a ravine. Or walking right past an enemy squad. But generally it handles itself rather well, even in those scenarios. Universally, they work pretty well on their own, though. It isn't better or worse than micro-managing in other RTS games, it just provides a fresh alternative, and is great to have in any RTS fans' library. The maps are fantastic. They cover the different aspects of The Eastern Front rather well, regarding variety. Towns, Swamps, Snow, Rain, Day, Night. Add onto that, the fact that the Developers accurately scale and recreate them to their geographic locations? Yeah. It's pretty rad. The campaign map looks really damn cool. It accurately depicts what you should be doing, and where you should go, but you have no helping hand. Which is nice, in my opinion. I don't want restrictions on what to do and where to go leading up to a battle. I like having the ability to construct my front line and adapt to the ongoing war. Real strategies are required, as depending on the campaign, encirclement can be quick and lethal. So can units be overrun, if your unit composition isn't balanced, or if your units aren't supported by nearby regiments. Unit composition on the map is a nice variety depending on the DLC. Personally, I like combined operations. I like a good dose of armor, infantry, and mechanized troops. Some campaigns lean towards armor, some infantry, some both. It's good to figure out which DLC fits your playstyle. Atmospherically speaking, this is incredible. It puts most RTS games to shame. The weather, seeing tracers fly through the air at 4 AM, the periodic flare to illuminate the sky. Seeing injured soldiers holding their wound before they either die, return to fighting, or surrender and walk over to your forces. Seeing tank columns roll through the snowy Eastern front, with troops in front of, or behind them is incredible. Seeing the soldiers reactions, the voice acting, and the overwhelming sound of gunfire is impeccable. The after battle reports are probably one of, if not, my favorite aspects of the game. While I'm 100% percent certain it's in Tunisia Warfare, I haven't played an armor campaign in this yet to see if it also has it, but seeing as It's the same game that takes place on the Eastern Front, and receives a bit more love from the developers, I'd say it's probably in this too. The after action report shows the entire battlefield after the chaos ensued. You're able to see everything without a fog of war, and here's the neatest part, you can see shots that penetrated armor, what caliber they are, what internals were hit from the shot, and how those damaged internals effected the tank. For example, A Tiger Tank knocked out a Sherman with its 88mm gun. You can see a brief trajectory upon entry, and what led to the demise of the tank and crew. I can see, post pen, that the radio was knocked out at some point, limiting communications. A followup shot was placed on the side armor, lower on the hull from the 88, igniting the fuel and causing the Sherman to burn out. Mind blowing. I love the amount of detail. You can also see which shots ricocheted, and the direction in which they traveled. I do have to say, making a review for a game that has as much intricate detail as this, simply because the UI is a bit wonky is quite laughable and ridiculous. Yes, the UI takes some getting used to. Is it bad? No. Far from unplayable. Is it weird and wonky? Yeah, kinda. But it doesn't slow you down, nor does it inhibit the gameplay. Not to mention, the game is somewhat slow paced anyway. My only real complaint is very minor, and not even much of a complaint. The description on DLC's can be a bit vague. I was looking for a more armor oriented DLC to compliment what I grabbed during the sale. I took a glimpse at Stalemate on Donets and it didn't provide much information to help me make the decision. Long story short I found myself researching the Izyum-Barvenkovo offensive, trying to find historically which units were used in the 17th Panzer division specifically in 1943. Long story short, I passed on it for now. I couldn't find any info. But this complaint is rather minute, and not one that should keep anyone from trying out this incredible game.
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