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Decisive Battles of World War II: Korsun Pocket

EMAIL PRINT pc

7.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 6 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 19 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Matrix Games

Developer: Strategic Studies Group

Genre(s): Turn-Based Strategy

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: RP (Rating Pending)

Release Date: July 31, 2003

Summary

Korsun Pocket is the long awaited sequel to "The Ardennes Offensive" in the Decisive Battles system. The game uses a greatly improved version of the Ardennes Offensive engine to recreate the desperate German attempt to escape encirclement on the Russian Front early in 1944. The battle is a tense and exciting struggle, with neither side having a decisive advantage, as the Russians struggle to form the pocket, then try to resist successive German rescue efforts and last ditch attempts at breakout. [SSG]

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Computer Gaming World

Somehow, Korsun Pocket manages to capture everything that's compelling about historical wargaming and presents it as a tremendous game. [Sept 2003, p.103]

GameSpy

Simply put: Korsun Pocket is a gem of a game and is one of the best wargames ever designed.

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PC Gamer

A monumental achievement in game design...It is the Mount Everest, the Beethoven's Ninth, and Moby Dick of PC Wargames, and it absolutely qualifies as a genuine work of art. [Nov 2003, p.106]

GameSpot

Korsun Pocket is an excellent game, is compelling and addictive for anyone interested in deep strategy games, and is easily the best 2D wargame for the PC to date.

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Computer Games Magazine

The whole thing fits together elegantly, quickly becoming intuitive and fluid, which isn't something you can say about many computer wargames... This is traditional wargaming at its best. [Sept 2003, p.81]

GameZone

A deep and involving WWII strategy title.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 19 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Sean G. gave it a9:
This has to be the deepest, most sophisticated, most gripping strategy I've ever played! It's a very complicated game (it took me about 20 hours of intense effort to finally learn how to play) because you are given so many pieces of information for every move you make, and there must be hundreds of different icons and symbols to know, but if you tough it out and go through the long tutorial (which is excellent) and read the excellent player's PDF manual, you'll be greatly rewarded. Sure, there's no "action" per se in Korsun Pocket (it's turn-based, and plays like a board game), but the game, once you learn how to play it, will grab you like no other and won't let go. The AI is amazing and will challenge veteran wargamers and novices (I'm a novice). Here is a TRUE strategy game - in my opinion, RTS games are nothing but action games from a top-down perspective. You're not a real strategy gamer until you've played Korsun Pocket!

Eric Le S. gave it a 9:
This is a truly complex and challenging simulation of the Eastern Front. You have to study the map carefully as the terrain has a large influence on movement and combat. In the larger scenarios, you have so many units to deal with that the état major in your head stays silent for a minute, pondering how it will deal with the complexity. The user interface is easy to use, and the maps are gorgeous. The main visual problem is that the game is playable only on full screen at a fixed resolution of 1024 x 768. Some UI elements appear blocky and old school. That's where I remove 1 point to the score. One great feature, on the visual side, is the ability to dump the full map to disk as a 2048 x 1616 pixel image! (CTRL-P) This is a wonderful game if you enjoy planning your attacks. Yesterday I spent 2 hours on a single turn. I sent it by email to my opponent and went to sleep proud of a job well done.

Steve J. gave it a 10:
If you're an old board-gamer looking for the computerized answer to the classic hex based games, this is it. The interface does all the tracking for you and let's you spend time on designing a strategy. I got it second hand from one of my neighbors kids who was looking for a shoot em up 3-D game. He may have been disappointed, not me!

Jef J. gave it a 10:
Great.

John U. gave it a 9:
I only wish the size of the units were a little larger so I could see them better. If you don't like to think then don't buy it.

John P. gave it a 10:
If you have Attention Deficit Disorder don't buy this game. You'll hate it. But if you enjoy strategy and thinking problems through you'll LOVE this game. It's a fantastic game.

Vampire gave it a 9:
The first game in years I've really been looking forward to. It is at good as I hoped it would be, this game will keep me from the streets for a long time!

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Decisive Battles of World War II: Korsun Pocket

Game Info

Summary

What The Critics Said

What Our Users Said

Upcoming &
Recent Releases