Cheap Ultimate Wargame Collection 2: World War 2 (Video Games) (Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows 98) Price

Many collections of older games are unquestionably worth the price, but the quality of the offerings in the Ultimate Wargame WWII Collection Volume 2 is so spotty we'd pause before spending $20 on it. Sure you get a great game like Silent Hunter: Commander's Edition, but then you're also paying for the laughably bad Luftwaffe Commander. This package still represents a significant value over buying the games separately, so WWII buffs may want to just go ahead and take the good with the bad.

Luftwaffe Commander is the biggest stinker in the bunch, and we can't come up with a single reason it was even released in the first place. The graphics are bad, the flight models are abysmal, and that about sums things up. Worst of all, it was released after several vastly superior WWII flight simulations came out, and you'd be better off spending money on any of those games than this tragically flawed coaster.

Fighting Steel simulates the naval battles of the period and isn't nearly as bad. Here you become admiral of a virtual fleet of WWII battleships, destroyers, and other surface vessels, all rendered in full 3-D (although the game runs at a low resolution). Battling with the big guns is fun for a while, but we soon were longing for aircraft carriers, submarines, or anything else that could add some variety and complexity to the gameplay.

Panzer Commander puts you in charge of a squad of tanks. Gameplay is a little too simplistic, and the other members of your squad are complete idiots (they get stuck on walls and buildings all the time), but it's still a great deal of fun. The game models lots of different tanks, and their varying weapons systems require vastly different tactics for effective use. Half the fun is in watching your tanks bounce around from an outside view, as their suspensions are modeled in terrific detail.

Finally there is Silent Hunter, which is probably the best WWII submarine simulator of all time. The game is aging well, since its crisp graphics were good to begin with, and the tense gameplay never loses any of its charm. There are enough difficulty settings to satisfy both novices and die-hards, and the historical information included on the disc gave us a fascinating look at the troubles real-world submarine crews faced in the Pacific theater of WWII. Don't miss this one if submarine simulations interest you. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Silent Hunter is perhaps the best WWII submarine simulation ever released
• Fighting Steel is fun--while it lasts
• One of the few collections that gives players air, land, and sea simulations

Cons:

• Luftwaffe Commander is one of the worst flight simulators ever released
• Panzer Commander has infuriating flaws that put an enormous dent in its fun factor

PLATFORM:	Windows 95, Windows Me, Windows 98
AGE GROUP:	5 years and up
CATEGORY:	Video Games
MANUFACTURER:	Broderbund
ESRB RATING:	Everyone
TYPE:	World War Two (II), Luftwaffe Commander, Fighting Steel, Silent Hunter, Commander's Edition, Panzer Commander, Submarine Tank
MEDIA:	CD-ROM
ACCESSORIES:
UPC:	772040792800