Sudden Strike

Sudden Strike is a real-time tactics (RTT) computer game set in World War II and is the first game in the Sudden Strike series. The game was developed by Fireglow in Russia and published by CDV Software in Germany. The player chooses a faction (e.g., Soviets, Germans or Allies) and takes control of many different units such as infantry, tanks and artillery. The games focus primarily on tactics, foregoing resource gathering and base building in the spirit of traditional real-time strategy. GAMES: The main story includes three campaigns (Soviets, Germans, and Allies). Battles are presented in an isometric perspective with line-of-sight cover and practical cover. Sudden Strike was one of the pioneers of the real-time tactics genre, building on the concepts of Counter Action for DOS, published by Mindscape in 1996. Sudden Strike uses accurate game physics with houses and buildings obstructing units' vision and range of fire, while clusters of trees can serve as cover to reduce damage from tank rounds. The game allows units to garrison a building to take up a stronger firing position, which is especially important for anti-tank infantry. Units can also hold their fire to provide much needed reconnaissance. Damage assessment is also realistic: tanks or other vehicles that have taken too much damage will be immobilized if they are not repaired. SUDDEN STRIKE FOREVER: Sudden Strike Forever is an official add-on to Sudden Strike that introduces many more historically accurate units and equipment, such as the upgraded Soviet T-34 tank (1944 version). There are also new terrains: a desert terrain for the British missions in Tobruk and Tripoli and a snow terrain for the Soviet missions. The expansion also polished the game engine, compensated for the damage of certain units and added a map and scenario editor. The add-on includes 4 interlinked scenarios for each of the campaigns for the Germans, the Americans, the British and the Soviets. Other units included in the add-on include the Universal Carrier for the British, the BR-5 artillery and 160mm grenade launcher for the Soviet forces, and more. The resupply system has also been revamped: Artillery crews now automatically resupply themselves with nearby ammunition boxes instead of relying on resupply trucks. However, the supply trucks are still needed to repair damage to the artillery units. The German campaign places the player in the wintry Russian hinterland, where he has limited troops and reinforcements available and therefore must rely on captured Soviet artillery and equipment. The British campaign deals with defending an unnamed seaport against German attacks, while the American campaign probably takes place in France during the fall season, as the foliage of the vegetation suggests. The Soviet campaign involves a counterattack by a large armored division on Russian soil and the storming of airfields controlled by the Wehrmacht. As with the previous Sudden Strike original campaigns, the briefings do not explain the historical setting of the campaign, but only give the player standardized orders, such as repel enemy attacks or simply capture a specific airfield in the east and so on. The add-on also includes 5 new single player scenarios. RECEPTION: As the cover image suggests, the game has been called "The best real-time strategy game of the year" and received generally positive reviews. Sudden Strike has a Metascore of 69 based on 16 reviews and a user score of 8.2 based on 15 reviews on Metacritic. Sudden Strike Forever has a Metascore of 70 from 5 critics and a user score of 8.8 based on 46 reviews.