Decisive Battles of World War II: Korsun Pocket

Gamers are no strangers to World War II games. Every type of game style imaginable has been covered, including FPS, RTS, and online gaming devoted to one of the most infamous battles in history. Matrix games has recently released their own version of a World War II title called Korsun Pocket, Decisive Battles of World War II which is not only a deep and involving RTS title, but resembles more of a board game format rather than your traditional RTS title.

Korsun Pocket focuses on the Russian / German aspect of the war in 1944, which focused on the town of Korsun and it’s airfield. The Germans moved in, and of course Stalin sent his troops to remove the German forces from Russian soil. This bitter and brutal battle that took place along the Dnepr River also was pegged by historians as what could have been another Stalingrad, and places you in a commanding position over the struggle between the two armies. In addition, they also included the Ardennes Offensive scenario that pits U.S. and German forces against one another in a bitter battle of December 1944.

As I stated before, this game takes more of a board game approach to playing. The board consists of a map constructed of hexagonal tiles, each on with it’s own unique terrain element such as a road, water, trees, mud, and so on, which may or may not effect movement of various units. There are multiple troop types to select from like infantry, artillery, and tanks and forces that fight one another are made up of stationary square pieces that slide from hex to hex. The gameplay consists of a turn-based format where you or your opponent move and perform all actions, then the other player moves and takes all of their turns, and so on until the game is over. In addition, all combat actions and chances are determined randomly by a die roll plus modifiers and bonuses to determine success or failure.

One thing that I found particularly impressive about Korsun Pocket is the amount of detail that went into the game overall. While this game is not your typical RTS title, everything that you can think of that could be done is included in possible actions each turn. Forces can move, group together, separate, send reinforcements or supplies, blow bridges, send out detachments, and any number of other things that you won’t find in typical board games. This virtually adds an unlimited amount of strategies to mess around with, including flanking, ambushes, or even luring an unsuspecting enemy into a volley of artillery fire.

Another nifty aspect in the detail area of the game is in the amount of information that was included for each unit type, both for you and your enemies. By right clicking a troop tile, you can quickly see how many operation points can be used for moving, firing, etc, who is in the overall battalion (if multiple troops are banded together), attack and defend numbers or morale bonuses, and can even select different troops or detachments to send out on their own from there. This really helps in getting a feel for what a potential battle can turn into, and helps you to plan strategy or attacks wisely.

Unfortunately, both of these great aspects of the game can also work against it with some gamers as well. For example, the sheer amount of detail definitely presents a learning curve and can get a little frustrating up front trying to figure out what’s going on. There is an included tutorial that walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know to get into and play the game, but it in itself can take about 2 hours to complete. Secondly, the massive size of the maps and scenarios also leads to some REALLY long games and turn times, and gamers with a little less of an attention span may quickly find it to be a little much for what they like their strategy games to do.

Korsun Pocket’s graphics are definitely nothing flashy, but they weren’t intended to be. Personally, I felt as though they did exactly what they needed to do with it in presenting stationary tiles that contain readable stats for information “at a glance” and also for making each unique hex look and report all information that you needed to know about it as well. There isn’t much sound in Korsun Pocket, and no music, but moving pieces will give off the sound of marching or tank treads and warring factions will interrupt the silence with the staccato of gunfire or booming explosions of battle.

Overall, Korsun Pocket is a must-get title for anyone who is a major armchair commander or loves military strategy and planning. Matrix spared no expanse in giving you as much detail as they could figure out, and you will spend hours playing against the polished and well-done AI or even in an e-mail game against a friendly rival. RTS fans may also get a lot of fun out of Korsun Pocket, but if you are more of an action-based kind of strategist only you may want to see about downloading a demo or trying it out before you buy.


Reviewer's Scoring Details

Gameplay: 7.6
I was really amazed at the amount of detail and options that were included in Korsun Pocket, and was really impressed that Matrix was able to take a board game and cover every possible movement and element that I could think of with little square shaped pieces and a hex map. Everything is included that gives you the information that you need to know, and there are a ton of possible strategy options that you could use to win. The environments are huge, and the amount of detail can also lead to some extremely long games and can be confusing up front trying to figure out what can be moved and where all of the pieces are on the giant map.

Graphics: 7.5
The graphics are nothing flashy by today’s standards, but look fantastic for what the developers were doing. Anything more may have wound up ruining the board-game style that they were looking to do. There are some neat things like icons changing to fighting troops during combat that were done, and each hex space shows little differences in what kind of terrain you will encounter, and a quick right click will show you exactly what is there.

Sound: 7.3
Again, it’s definitely not bad for the kind of game that Matrix was making, but there’s just not much to it. Troops will make marching or tread noises while moving, and combat will go into the sounds of battle. There is a neat little black and white FMV presentation of some scenes from WWII as well in the beginning.

Difficulty: Hard
There is a tutorial to help you learn all of the different possibilities in playing, but like I stated earlier it can take you two hours to go through. In addition, there are so many different things that you can do or options; there is a definite learning curve to playing. Once you get the hang of it, it gets a lot easier obviously, but some gamers may not give it that long to find out.

Concept: 7.7
Taking a board game style of play and incorporating all of the elements of a WWII strategy game into it was a great idea and it worked well. The lack of constant graphics or whatever also helped move the game along a little faster than I expected, but it is still very time consuming.

Multiplayer: 7.7
One really cool thing about Korsun Pocket is in the multiplayer game. You can find opponents on www.wargamer.com to play with, and play a game by taking your turn, then e-mailing the game file to your opponent, then they do what they do and e-mail it back. This helps to let both players play when they want vs. having to sit for a long period in front of the PC to finish a game. Definitely a good idea.

Overall: 7.6
This is a really great concept, and those of you who were fans of board games like Axis and Allies should definitely pick this one up. Also, you would be military leaders and strategists can also test your skill out in the Korsun Pocket and see what you’re made of. Run-of-the-mill RTS gamers will probably find it fun and amusing, but may also lose interest in it if they are looking for something a little faster moving.