PANZER FRONT | December 22, 1999
In the context of the Second World War, the goal is to achieve the victory conditions for each scenario. Generally, there is no storyline or characters set up, and players can freely select and play any scenario they wish. The clear results of each scenario do not affect other scenarios. Multiple scenarios are provided from the perspectives of the German, American, and Soviet forces, with the clear score for each scenario being recorded.
The scenario mode is the basic mode for records and clearing targets, but a free mode is also available where the player can change the tanks featured in the scenario. The player can freely set the tanks for both allies and enemies, and can also swap vehicles or exclude certain tanks. However, the scenario content itself does not change, so the factions and communication remain the same as in the original scenario mode. No score is recorded in this mode, even if the scenario is cleared.
The player controls a single vehicle in the game system, which would correspond to the roles of the tank commander (for detection and situation judgment), driver (for movement), and gunner (for turret control and attack) in a real tank. The loading of ammunition is automatic, but the player can set the type of shells. The tank commander is set as the CPU, and they automatically detect and report any enemies outside the player's view. They also issue commands such as attacking, evading, or changing ammunition types, which are displayed as subtitles during the game to provide guidance and advice to the player.
This game emphasizes a high level of realism, and damage from attacks and hits is based on factors like the caliber of the gun, the type of shell, the thickness of the armor, and the angle, similar to real combat situations. Therefore, if the player’s vehicle has a small-caliber gun, the enemy has heavy armor, and the distance is far, it is common to shoot dozens of times without causing significant damage. The concept of armor durability is different from typical HP systems; instead of accumulating damage to destroy an enemy, the result is determined by whether the shell penetrates the armor or bounces off. As a result, if a shot is deflected, the player will often be unable to destroy the enemy unless they change the shooting conditions (such as distance, angle, or shell type).
However, each tank, both enemy and ally, has a set of status effects that can be triggered by being hit. There are two types of status effects: tracks damaged (immobilized) and main gun damaged (unable to fire the main gun). These status effects occur randomly when the tank is hit. If the main gun is damaged, the enemy tank becomes nearly incapacitated, meaning that even non-lethal shots still have an effect. Status effects are rare, so they cannot be relied upon, but in scenarios where the player can command a platoon, they can employ tactics such as continuing to shoot at the enemy to draw attention away from their own tank, while flanking the enemy with allies to destroy them.
