PANZERFRONT (Anyone Here Remember This One?)

[trek]

I was doing some console gaming with my Grandson the other night on my PS3 and came across my old copy of PANZERFRONT published in 2001 in the PSOne format. I originally played it on the PS2 and since I own the original 60GB PS3 I fired it up.

Its' amazing how great that little game was for it's time. Even now, I think it is a great tank game. Good sound effects, a top-down tactical view, great authentic modeling of the armor and the ability to control and waypoint other tanks in your unit. Missions for Russia, Germany and the USA.

It also has historical missions like "Barkman's Corner" and Villiers-Bocage. Pretty authentic gunsights too. Winter scenarios and infantry on the move is also in the game.

And last but not least skirmish mod with several prototype tanks to select from. I ended up playing PF for about six hours, it sure brought back good memories, with the exception of the difficulty aspect which is not easy in the game. When you won a mission in PF, you really earned it.

[Oberon]

It looks good from the youtube clips I've seen of it, one that's marked down for a closer look should I come across it.
I believe they made a sequel (called Ausf. B cleverly enough ) which was mainly based in the Libyan theatre for the PS2.
For a console game, they look pretty good and fairly realistic

[trek]

Yeah, Oberon, you're right on the sequel PanzerFront ausf.B. I looked it up on Wiki and saw the PS2 Box Art. It was never released here in the states though. The box art shows the PAL format for the UK and Europe but not NTSC that works in the US.

There also was another release called PanzerFront bis. as well. I think that one was only released in Japan. I always hoped they would release the PS2 version here, but, it never happened of course.

[frinik]

Hi Trek, I have Panzer front Ausf B bis. A friend of mine brought I from Japan.It's not bad but unfortunately all the dialogues or messages are in Japanese.The game is also limited; there are only 7 missions but of course you can change the default tank to play to one you like better on a list of available tanks. You can also decide which tank you are going to take charge of and which platoon you want to play.Still the game is very limited in scope unless it can be somehow expanded but with instructions in Japanese there's no way I can find out! And it is a indeed a PAL-only game( my PS2 is PAL).I have tried to find and purchase Panzer front but without any luck.Do you know where it can be purchased?The graphics are not bad and the the game play as well but personally I would rather play Steel Fury or TvsT on a PS2 if those games were available.

[trek]

frinik,
The original PanzerFront was the best one. I called it a game in my frist post but it really is a sim. I've always hoped some developer would pick up the concept and create a PC game based on it. PF has 25 missions. You can choose between 40 different tanks. I forgot to mention calling in Arty strikes too.

If you google PF it has a Wiki entry and also a site and forum devoted to it with a FAQ.

Amazon US has copies of it. As it only came out on PS1, make sure your machine can play it, I don't know if PS1 discs had any coding like NTSC or PAL. I guess you could also check Amazon UK.

There has never been anything close to the original PF on a console like it and I'd put it up against any Armor Sim for enjoyment and authenticity. If some dev took the game's concept and features and updated it for PCs with state-of-the-art graphics you'd have one hell of a TankSim.

[trek]

Frinik, follow-up. I don't know if PF Ausf. B had Tigers and King Tigers, but the original had both and more. It also has a mission using German SP guns like the Nashorn. The Eastern Front missions had many in winter snows as did a couple of US missions during the Battle of the Bulge. Also night missions.

[frinik]

Thanks for answering Trek!

I know Panzerfront form youtube. I saw a few vids made especially of Barmann's Panther mission, the night battles on the Ostfront and other missions. Which why I was attracted to that game. I agree with you it's a SIM and I would say it's a SIN( pun intended) that they did not make it into a pc game because it would have been a great success and probably would have given Panzer Elite some serious competition.I also know that it offers a good variety of missions.

Panzer front bis does offer the Tiger but not the TIger VI Auf B nor the Panther.The game is focussed almost exclusively on the early Afrika Korps campaign 1940-1941 ,except for one mission which is located in France 1940?????

I am not sure why tanks that historically were not even fielded before 1942/1943 like the Tiger I or the Panzer IVF2 are part of the list but they are.The list is comprehensive and incorporates a lot of French, Italian, British and German tanks but no US nor Soviet ones.My only beef, besides the Japanese subtitles, is the limited number of missions.

Tough luck for me because the PS1 is not compatible with the PS2 Playstation(another little marketing trick that companies like Sony and others like to do to multiply sales and avoid people swapping games as they make sure that their products are not multi systems or even compatible(except for TVs and DVD players).Well I'll have to forget about it!

BTW I remember reading somewhere that there are ways to convert a PS2 game to make it playable on a pc.Or is it the other way around? You can google it and find answers on the net.

Good luck and thanks!

[trek]

Frinik, actually, the PanzerFront PSOne Game disc IS compatible and WILL play on the PS2. I never owned a PsOne Console, so I only played it on the PS2. What happened to the original PF is that it was released in the PSOne format at the end of the PSOne's life cycle and just after the PS2 had taken over. That is why the game got lost in the shuffle and not noticed by a lot of gamers.

I also play it on the PS3 because I purchased the first PS3 60GB version and it will play both PS1 and PS2 format games. I'm not sure if the current PS3 consoles have an emulator for PS1 games though. If you still have an old PS2 though you WILL be able to play PF as I stated above.

Google PanzerFront and you will see a link to the PF Fan site and forum, where there is a FAQ and I believe info on conversion for playing the game on a PC. Supposedly, the graphics look better when played on a PC monitor.

[frinik]

Unfortunately, Trek my PS2 is of the new model (I bought it in February 2009)I guess because I asked the sales guy and he told me that it's not compatible with the PS1 and will play PS1 games.

I think your idea of a dev taking over that game, updating it, modding and creating more missions would be great.If only we could have a ZeeWolf willing and eager ...or if only the Japanese would release the game with pc in mind!Or simply pool all 3 versions of PF and create one expanded game with all the missions!

One can only dream....

Are you in on the new TvsT developped by ZW?

Cheers

[trek]

Frinik,
Oh, I forgot the later model PS2s don't have the ability to play PS1 games. Bummer!

Yeah, I'm a hard-core tanker. I own T34vTiger, T-72, SteelBeasts ProPE, Steel Fury and PanzerElitePE. I've modded all of them with the exception of T34vTiger. For some inexplicable reason I can't get ZeeWolf's new Mod to work on my PC.

Seems my Vista on my particular PC doesn't like something about it and I haven't figured a workaround yet. Its' frustrating for a retired systems person like myself and a computer savvy one at that, to not be able to figure this out. I've talked to ZeeWolf about this and he's done all he can to help, but I've not been successful so far. But, I'm still enjoying the game as is.

Good talking to ya!

[frinik]

Look Trek may be I can help you.I have TvsT installed on 2 laptops equipped with Vista Home Edition and my installs work fine and so do ZW ´s mods.One thing you have to do if your game is installed in C:/programs/Lighthouse Interactive/T34 versus Tiger is disable the UAC, User Account Control otherwise Vista does not allow you to unzip or install mods.

How do you download ZW's mods? Do you save them into the game folder after downloading them? What I do successfully so far is saving them in a special TvsT folder .Then after disabling the UAC I just extract the file and unzip it into the game folder.Do not use JSGM or the game's mod folders that solution does not work.Only unzip the install into the general game folder.Then you ll see the results.Is this how you' ve done it?

[frinik]

Like you I am a fan of tank SIMS I own T72 but to tell you the truth I don't play it often.I am not inspired by that game.Not bad but too tepid for me. I also play PE modded with all the mods available Scenarios 2009/2010, PE3, Korea mod, Mid East mod, Britpak etc. Steel fury I have 3 installs one with Steel Panzer 1.4 and the Tiger 0.98 and the winter mod, another one with SP 1.3 and all those user missions created by Stone 2009 and the last one SP 1.4 with the desert mod, Tiger 0.98, T34/85,T60, Js2, Kv2 mods but no winter mod.I play Tvs T with and without ZW's mods but they are worth installing so don't give up and try again. I have Steel Beast installed but I ve never played it yet.I also have RTS Kharkov Panzer command and Blitzkrieg but play them sparingly. I also have tank shooters Field of Glory/First battalion in the US( and Dunes of war and Tank Combat but my children play with them. Finally IL2 but plane SIMs don't tickle me that much. I wanted Red Orchestra but it's MP and MP is not my cup of tea.

Nice talking to you and let me know if you are going to try ZW's mods. The man is amazing, modding and re creating this game all by himself. If he succeeds and I bet he will he could make tank sim history. I definitely will follow him and bank his work.No way Iam goign to miss that.

A successor to Steel Fury should come late this year or early next year,Can't wait to see it.I love SF.

Cheers

[trek]

Frinik, Thanks for the support. I disabled UAC on Vista a long time ago. I just keep it off now as it presents too many problems for gaming. I'm not on a LAN, so using UAC is really not needed for home use. I've tried at least three different installs of ZeeWolf's Mod to no avail. Also had to re-install T34 each time as something seemed to screw up the game each time.

I may try it again using your input in your post, as I can't remember exactly what I did on each try. I used the self-installer once and the generic mod installer as well which has always worked for me on other games. I also thought I did the seperate folder route too and physically dropped the files into T34. Usually with one of these three methods I've always been able to get any mod to work on other games.

BTW, I just pre-ordered TOW Kursk: 1943 over at Battlefront. I already have TOW and TOW Afrika. I also have Panzer Command Kharkov merged with Panzer Command Operation Winterstorm. I'm also looking forward to Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 (formerly Frontroads: Kharkov 1943) now that Paradox is soon to publish it for the Graviteam guys. I played the Russian Demo of the game but couldn't get too much out of it as my Russian is not as good as it used to be.

My feeling on TOW Kursk is that the TOW people are really going to hit the gaming "sweet spot" in the TOW series with this one, the numerous new features in the new game are everything I've always wanted in a RTS.

[frinik]

Trek here s how I do it.Don't use the mod enqbler because it does not work with ZW 's mods and it creates problr=ems with the installs.Me btoo I use it with other games but ZW's auto install is really simple.

First I save his download in a folder of my own which I call Tvst mods.I put it on the C:/usersocuments just to give you an idea but really you can create that folder where you want.

I don't save the download in the games folder.It s better not to do it.

2) I right click on the saved mod and in the list of options I click on extract here.

3) once extracted you have 2 files one of which is the application one.

4) right click on that one and you should get a prompt which asks you where do you want to install it.

5) chose the folder where your game is.Mine is c:/programs/lighthouse Interactive/T34 versus Tiger then I click on extract and the mod unzips itself automatiucally and you egt the message that file extracted successfully.

6) close the extratc and just open the game and play.

Try it and let me know

Cheers

[trek]

Frinik, thanks for the info. I'll probably give it another shot over this weekend. I'll let you know the results. Happy Hunting!