14 DAY TRIAL // My scouts are in a bad position. I pushed them forward and left them exposed to fire from both a normal infantry squad and a machine gun team. They survive, but just barely, and I will pull them back to make sure I keep losses minimal.
Meanwhile, my own infantry, backed by a Panzer III, has taken one victory point and is pushing toward another. I know where all the defenders are, which should make things easier as long as they don’t get significant backup. I am keeping both an off-map artillery strike and a smoke drop in reserve, waiting for the inevitable British counterattack. The Wehrmacht has no hope of stopping the Normandy landings on the beach and this will be a long and bloody campaign.
Headquarters: World War II is developed by Starni Games and published by Slitherine Ltd. I played a preview version on the PC via Steam. The game takes players to the familiar battlefields of World War II, using a turn-based approach.
The focus is on the Battle of Normandy, which saw the Allies launch a naval invasion to start the liberation of France. The title will feature three single-player campaigns and a range of skirmishes based on the campaign. Players will get to control forces belonging to Nazi Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Headquarters: World War II is a strategy title with a turn-based structure, with movement powered by squares. Players get a group of units, mixing infantry and armor, at the start of combat and have to achieve a handful of objectives. The preview mission has a force of Germans reacting to the landing in the British sector of Overlord, as they try to rally allies and then re-take a village.
Gamers have to use each unit’s action allotment to move, fire blindly at a square, aim directly at an opponent, or wait in overwatch. They also have access to global powers, like artillery strikes or the ability to replenish the crew of a vehicle. Objectives evolved during this first German-focused mission, forcing me to re-evaluate plans, shift forces to engage new threats, and sacrifice units to achieve a goal.
Headquarters: World War II has plenty of realistic elements. Infantry works well in buildings but those can be destroyed by sustained fire. Scouting ahead is important both to avoid ambushes and to identify enemy units. Flamethrowers deliver massive damage up close. Armor needs to be carefully positioned.
The combat system looks solid. I like that the battlefield morphs as gamers destroy stuff and new objectives appear. What the game really needs is extra innovation, especially when it comes to the turn-to-turn decisions. It remains to be seen if the three planned campaigns can deliver it.
Headquarters: World War II looks pretty good, at least when it comes to the beaches and small villages of Normandy. The interface is polished, giving players plenty of details about their forces and what’s known about those of the enemy. The short cutscenes associated with combat can become repetitive but can be skipped with a click. The voice acting and soundtrack are pretty classic World War II.
Conclusion
The biggest potential issue is that Normandy is well-trodden ground for the genre and some innovation is required to keep players engaged. Headquarters: World War II promises progression between battles and even hero units and I want to see how they affect the tactical layer.
Preview key provided by the publisher.
