The game is based on the great World War II, as U.S. General George S. Patton would have said. The player is the general in charge of various units from one of three armies: American, German or Russian. Each side has subtle strengths and weaknesses, so once a player gets the hang of ordering around G.I. Joe, there’s Fritz and Ivan to command. This keeps the game fresh and provides more opportunities for new experiences.

It didn’t take long before I really liked this game. Maybe it stems back to Phil Hartman in Small Soldiers when he admitted, "World War II was always my favorite war." For the Americans it was a crushing victory, and unlike Vietnam or Korea, easy to sort out. No village massacres, no ambiguous goals. That makes it easy to base a game on.

In many ways, Sudden Strike reminded me of my favorite war movies:

1. Tanks slicing through to the rear (Battle of the Bulge, Patton)
2. Carpet bombing (Apocalypse Now)
3. Pontoon bridge building (Kelly's Heroes)
4. The importance of field artillery (Lawrence of Arabia)
5. The tribulations of maneuvering armor in shattered cities (Kelly's Heroes, Saving Private Ryan)
6. The general waste of men in an infantry charge (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)

But ESCmag's dedicated editors wouldn’t be denied, and I got over it. Sudden Strike is fun to play, and not really that complicated once you get the feel of it. You right-click a lot more than you're used to, and it takes more mouse action than you'd think it should to get some things done. But these soldiers are like little Terminators running across the country roads and farmlands of Europe. They're crack shots and gung-ho. You can't hate them.

I wasn't sure a game without the challenge of balancing combat and production would be interesting enough, but Sudden Strike pulls it off. Half the knack of many recent RTS games, after all, is in building up your bank and rapidly increasing the sophistication of your production facilities. Sudden Strike, by contrast, is all about combat.

Tactics revolve around immediate objectives. You'll take and hold bridges, rescue cities or secure beaches. You will not get reinforcements just because you want them. You will get your butt kicked. You will come back for more.

There's a nice touch around the Fog of War. An enemy unit can sneak up on you and explode from grayed out terrain, guns blazing. When a handful of powerful enemy tanks materialize from the gloom, your pulse definitely picks up. First the forests are empty, then there's fierce fight.

In truth, I found plenty of nits to pick. More on the problems later. Let's talk some more about the good stuff:

• It's like playing with little plastic Army men who fight hard. "Fire at will" is the command I liked hearing; some officer had taken charge of the rabble and was pouring fire on an enemy position. In that way, it was like "having the game on." I was Carol O'Conner in Kelly's Heroes, saying "That's the fighting spirit!"
• I worked with a cannon crew and took out trees, buildings, stumps, logs — sometimes you just gotta blow stuff up. This game lets you do it. And these little guys are good shots. The effects as they blaze away draw you in — erupting dirt explosions are especially well done. Sure, it’s a waste of ammo, but the boys need some target practice once in awhile.
• After just minutes fighting in one area, the field of honor is littered with red bloodstains and blackened craters. There's wreckage galore. War is sure hell on the environment.
• Transportation is a challenge. Realistic roads wind through forests and small towns. Sometimes they peter out into dirt paths, but you need those ruts on occasion. I had to build a pontoon bridge in one scenario, and I quickly ran out of workers because the enemy was picking them off as they added to the structure and came within range. That's the sign of a game with brains.
• I found the attention to forest and foliage detail engaging. There are umpteen shades of green and plenty of well-made trees, shrubs, and hedgerows. The gaming landscape was just what you'd expect for European farmland: flat, dark and foggy. It sure beats a 4x8 piece of plywood, a sack of lichen moss and a bottle of glue. Anyone who has built up layouts for Warhammer, model trains or slot car tracks can relate to that.
• The term "killer app" applies to this game, because it could spur hardware sales. It will put your current video chip to the test unless you've recently upgraded. At 1024x768 the game is stunning, in a word. But your whole setup might be strained by the game's requirements. You could easily find yourself upgrading other pieces if you were looking for an excuse. I found myself adding Windows Me well as DirectX 8.

Still, there are things about this game that will leave you frustrated:

• Sometimes the men sounded downright wimpy when I clicked on them. They probably were trying to tell me to give them access to a First Aid truck. I had a tough time waiting long enough to pack the men into the field hospital. There was always something else to do.
• I didn't get many vehicles repaired, either. Re-supply seemed annoying. The same trucks that laid pontoons were able to repair and supply. Getting them picked off early in a scenario was a big problem. I thought they should have been coming up from the rear constantly, but there was no "auto-resupply" button. I found myself right-clicking a lot more than I'm used to. I'd get lost when I was trying to figure out how to load men into trucks, man artillery pieces or lay pontoon bridges.
• My strategy for winning relied on patiently bringing up artillery pieces. It wasn't that exciting watching them move up. But getting them off of a truck wasn't that intuitive, either. And sometimes they just needed to move into range of the next building or next mortar station. It took too long to move them.
• You have to save often, but you're restricted to 10 characters to name a save. Maybe I'm just a long-winded and verbose writer, but 20 characters would be better. I was making four or five saves per level.
• More motorcycles and Jeeps would have been nice, to zip around and probe unknown areas. But revealing terrain is only temporary. I didn't like the way the Fog of War would fall back over an area I'd investigated. That didn't seem fair.
• I once massed at least 50 men at the edge of the board on a main highway where the enemy was bringing up tank reinforcements. I must have blackened a dozen heavy tanks before they stopped coming. I only lost 30 or 40 men. It seems doubtful that those big tanks would have that much trouble with infantry.
• Sometimes the mission objectives were too complicated, or required too much gray matter to remember. A running tally of the chores left would have helped.
• The installation was overly complicated. First, it splattered six or seven icons all over my desktop. At first, every time I'd click on the main icon for Sudden Strike, I'd see a dialog box that gave me the option to install or play. It got annoying after awhile. Then, magically, it went away.
• I crashed out quite a few times. I never know if it's my system or the software, though.
• Discipline seemed pretty lax. In one scenario, reinforcements came but I couldn't control them. They ignored me. Hey, I gave you an order! And twice a unit got too close to a building and wouldn't get back into battle. I could get them to acknowledge my commands, they just never moved. This happened with a vehicle and a French Resistance fighter. The French guy I could understand, but that vehicle was close to insubordination.

It was worth it, though. I miss those little guys.