This tank combat simulator allows players to command three of the best tanks ever built by the Soviet Union -- The t-72b, t-55a, and t-34/85. Take control of an entire platoon of tanks and all associated support units, or assume the role of a member in a complete tank crew.
I've played several tank simulators and the best and worst things about them come to mind when I played Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command. I love to be in control and take out other huge weapons of warfare with the simple click of a button but many of the tank games in the past were not that easy.
Strategy First along with Black Bean Games has released a 'not just another tank' simulator in Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command. This is a very realistic game that simulates the controls, feel and fighting from within a Russian made T72 or even some lesser model tanks. At least it seems like the real thing with the limited view of the battlefield and movements, sound and my limited time inside a real Russian tank.
I don't understand ballistics or much of the stuff that involves driving or operating a tank but with T72 you don't have to. If all you want to do is drive than go ahead and plow your way from one objective to another and let the tank commander do his thing. He'll actually do pretty well at hitting targets he calls out for the gunner. Otherwise you can pick any of the four positions depending on the situation.
Gameplay
Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command plays very differently to some of the other tank sims I have played. For one it's much easier to control the tank and you don't have any fancy maps to confuse the gameplay. The maps show your objective and terrain with any enemies you can see. Or you can turn on features in the setup menu to show all enemies or even play in god mode.
The controls and use of the various positions is straightforward and even controlling attached units is easy on your map. The AI controls any positions you're not in and does a very good job of handling the other stations in your tank.
While you're driving the commander will tell you to hold it steady when they are trying to fire or to slow down when you're going to fast. If you choose to be gunner your commander will call out targets for you using your compass as reference and you have to do your best to find them in the limited view of the gun sight. As commander you have to find and call out ranges for the targets and pick the most dangerous ones first.
Jumping into any position in the tank is a click away and the controls and handling of the three models of Russian tanks is pretty easy. The nice thing about this game is you do not have to understand much about the ballistics or how to actually use the sights of the guns. You can see pretty easily where the different types of rounds hit and adjust for range accordingly.
When a round or gunfire hits you your tank rocks and moves accordingly along with the sometimes deafening clang of the bigger ammo. The road dust when moving and dirt flying up from enemy rounds hitting near you is a very realistic touch to this tank simulator. Many times you will even have to use the pneumatic system to clean your viewing windows.
There are enough missions to keep you busy with a good variety of objectives that will task any veteran tank sim player. The objectives are not boring simple missions and can be quite fun with enough added variety to many of them. The terrain is different for each mission that adds to the gameplay and difficulty of the game. The best and worst thing in Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command is the realistic views you get. The worst being the limited views you have while at some of the different stations in the tank, not that they were bad in any way.
While the driver you have a broad frontal view that is great for driving the behemoth tanks. The commander has a good view of wherever he is pointing his spotting scope and you can quickly turn to see the entire 360 degrees around the tank.
The gunner has a more limited view and this is where the problems come in for you. If you play as the gunner you really have to listen to the commander calling out your targets or you'll not find them on the smaller view of the gunner's sight.
This makes for realistic views in all the positions and is very neat with the good graphics. Just hopping seats puts you in a different perspective on the tank as a whole and can lead to some problems like when trying to find enemies crawling around your tank in tall weeds.
T72 comes with multiplayer support and games you can play in multiplayer and cooperative mode over a local area network. There are network settings to play both head to head fighting against others over a LAN. The cooperative play uses the same tank with each player in a different position inside or in different tanks if the missions allow it.
Graphics
The landscapes in Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command are rendered very well and I saw no glitches or problems. Tall weeds and grasses look realistic and the explosions and rounds flying around look good. The maps are different enough with towns, wide-open fields and industrial areas that give good variety to the graphics but also good gameplay variety.
The game has a very wide range of settings that you can tweak your system to match what you want for gameplay realism. Texture detail, window size, graphics card settings and a wide variety of other characteristics are available for you to get what settings and gameplay realism you want including things like unlimited ammo or god mode.
The explosions and fires from hits are well done with the appropriate rounds looking realistic and even the tracer fire from the machine guns looking real. Many of the other tank sims I have played tried to recreate the inside of the tank as well as through the ports but in T72 they didn't bother. They concentrated on the action and other parts of the game to make a well-made complete simulation.
One thing I noticed in T72 that many other games do not simulate well is the rounds sometimes only throw dirt in the air with little or no fire color to them. This is realistic of rounds hitting nothing but dirt with no fire or huge red balls of flame to them. I think T72 did very well with the graphics as well as the sound.
Sound
Boy, do you know when you get hit with a round from your enemies in T72. The gunfire or smaller rounds of machine guns will ping off your armor but your bigger rounds will not only make your tank rock and the commanders scope to spin around but the sounds come through very nicely, especially in surround sound. Sometimes the rounds that are killers for you will almost be deafening when you're using headphones. This is a very nice touch to the game as a whole.
You can tell when the action is about to heat up with the background music picking up tempo. You quickly don't pay attention to the background music though as you try to concentrate on what you're doing as the rounds ping and clang off your metal sides. The engine also adds to the din of what really sounds like being inside a working tank. A neat crunch sound they added in is when you roll over an enemy, an effective way of neutralizing enemies crawling around in tall weeds near your tank.
I've been in a couple of armored vehicles among other military craft in my military days and this was very realistic. The limited views of the viewing ports or sights, the constant din of the engines and other mechanical things going on in such a confined space are very realistic. The sudden roar of a gun going off right near you sounds great in surround sound.
Value
Playing as a Russian volunteer fighting for the Serb National Forces you have the 18 single player missions in the campaign mode to run through that will take at least 16 to 20 hours to play. You also have the single player missions to play from the other side of the fight, fighting as the Croatians against the Serbs. These missions are the same but you play on the opposite side with the mission objectives being basically the opposite of what they were for the campaign mode.
You can also have fun creating or altering your own missions using the mission editor included with Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command. Campaign missions too hard or easy, just add or remove some enemy units to make the difficulty to your liking.
I really enjoy having a mission editor included with a well-made game to raise the value and replay fun of a game. T72-Tank Command is a very well made game with all the aspects of the game combining to make a good value as well as a good tank sim.
Final Thoughts
Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command is a very well made and complete tank sim game. All the various aspects that make a good game are here; good graphics and sound, interesting and varied missions, realistic damage and overall simulation realism all add to make a good tank simulation.
With the many missions in the campaign and single player missions as well as the mission editor to create your own missions or just alter the originals you have all kinds of replay value. Iron Warriors: T72-Tank Command is a very well made and complete tank simulation.
People who downloaded Iron Warriors: T72 - Tank Command have also downloaded:
Jane's Fleet Command, Joint Task Force, Korsun Pocket, Silent Hunter III, Jane's AH-64D Longbow Gold, Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege, Gary Grigsby's Pacific War (2000), M1 Tank Platoon 2
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