Panzer Corps 2 from Flashback Games and Slitherine promises to bring World War 2 strategy and action to your PCs. Here’s our technical review which delves into the game’s graphics, settings, performance, and HUD elements. You can also check out our official review.
Panzer Corps 2 system requirements
Minimum:
- OS: 64-bit Windows 8/10 (the game runs on Windows 7 but no support will be provided)
- Processor: Intel or AMD, Dual Core or better (Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system)
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia or AMD, 2GB VRAM
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 11 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound device
Recommended:
- OS: 64-bit Windows 8/10 (the game runs on Windows 7 but no support will be provided)
- Processor: Intel or AMD, Dual Core or better (Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system)
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia or AMD, 4GB of VRAM
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 11 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound device
Author’s:
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-7700 4.2 GHz
- RAM: 16GB RAM
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (8 GB)
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500 GB
Panzer Corps 2‘s system requirements come from the game’s Steam store page. Oddly enough, it seems specific CPUs or GPUs weren’t listed. I’m well above the, ahem, recommended specs, but there were a few problems that we’ll address in a while.
Graphics settings.
Graphics settings and performance
You can see Panzer Corps 2‘s graphics settings above. Options include being able to adjust the quality of shadows, textures, tesselation, anti-aliasing, post-processing, and the like. Selections include low, medium, high, maximum, or completing turning off the feature. Shadow quality tends to make each map a lot livelier, but it can also have a few downsides.
When using 4K UHD resolution, I found that I could only get up to 30 FPS with high settings selected. There were even times when the game would go below 30 FPS, and lowering some of the settings only netted minor improvements. Lowering shadow quality down to medium seemed to provide the biggest improvement to framerates.
Graphics comparisons
Below, you’ll see several sets of screenshots comparing maximum and low settings. Click on each image for a larger view:
Unit encirclement
Maximum settings.
Low settings.
Destroying a tank
Maximum settings.
Low settings.
Start of the Kursk campaign
Maximum settings.
Low settings.
Choosing the lowest graphical settings definitely makes the operational map quite bland. You might even think that you’re playing older Panzer General games due to the downgrade.
Display and UI options
Since Panzer Corps 2 is a turn-based strategy game, it’s even more important to take note of its UI and display options which you can see below:
Display and UI settings.
Also included are settings to have 2D representations of units on your map, as well as terrain and atmosphere features such as the sun’s placement or cloud effects:
More display and UI settings.
The aforementioned 2D sprite settings do provide a unique take whether enabled or disabled, though that’s only when you zoom out. The operational map is drawn back depicting the entire zone, and your units will either be shown as symbols or as 2D representations.
Unit symbols.
2D units.
Additionally, you can tweak the scale of unit sizes. In case you’re like me and you’ve also got terrible eyesight, having larger units can be quite a godsend. You can see a couple of comparisons below:
Default unit size.
Max unit size.
Hotkeys
Panzer Corps 2 allows you to make changes to your keybinds. Unfortunately, a bug prevents your changes from being saved. Still, an important keybind to remember is “F.” It’s not so you can pay your respects. Rather, it’s to remove all HUD elements completely if you just want to look at an uncluttered landscape.
Hotkeys.
Audio and language settings
Lastly, here are the audio and language settings for Panzer Corps 2. I’ve just combined them into one image:
Game settings for audio (left) and language (right).
Panzer Corps 2: At a technical glance
Speaking of audio, the Panzer Corps 2 review build provided to us was missing several tracks. As such, it doesn’t matter if you’re invading Poland, France, or Russia because you’ll hear the same music over and over. As mentioned, the hotkeys not saving at all should also be remedied.
The most glaring concern, however, is that Panzer Corps 2 fares poorly and isn’t fully optimized for 4K resolutions. Since I have a modest rig that can run action and adventure games at 60 FPS or higher, I was surprised that Panzer Corps 2 was chugging along like a Tiger tank in need of repairs. At least it’s a turn-based title, so this flaw can be forgiven only so slightly.
Panzer Corps 2 releases on March 19, 2020. You can purchase it on Steam for $59.99.
Published: Mar 14, 2020 07:14 am