Steel Fury Kharkov 1942

Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942 was never intended to be a game for the masses, placing complexity above all else, and instead focuses on recreating with high accuracy, some of the most dramatic tank battles of World War II. Unfortunately, this niche game dedicated to the genre fans that were neglected by mainstream publishers, fails to provide a challenging yet enthralling experience, harassing the gamer with its unreliable controls.

The game benefits of an overwhelmingly favorable background, with the action taking place during some of the most exciting episodes of World War II, when tanks played a major role in every decisive fight. Surrounded by the raging Wehrmacht, three Soviet armies were desperately fighting to push the invaders back and stage a massive counterattack destined to end the offensive outburst of the Nazi war machine. Furthermore, missions are based on the true events, unfolding between May 12^th and 28^th 1942, and are well documented so the result is very close to the real thing, making this title a very tempting proposition even for those unacquainted with tank simulators.

Someone who is playing a tank simulator for the first time will probably be stunned by the complexity of the game and the unbelievably high numbers of controls that must be quickly picked up. Virtually every key has a purpose and most of them are also hiding another use if you press the Ctrl, leaving the newcomers speechless and quite intimidated about this grand endeavor. Most of them won't give up easily and will seek aid and comfort in the tutorial, which seems like the best option for learning the basic moves and commands, before plunging into the brutal conflict.

This is where the first problems occur, because while you get the answers for a great deal of questions, a lot of them remain unsolved and many more emerge to the surface on this occasion. Very upsetting is the fact that at a certain point during the tutorial you suddenly run out of shells just when you are ordered to destroy an AT gun. There seem to be no more special rounds left when you try to reload and restarting the tutorial is not going to change this a bit; what happens is that you are stuck in the middle of the most important part of the game, and the only way to learn the rest of the moves and tactics is the hard way: trial and error.

First of all, the views are very confusing for a beginner who will frequently find himself in the middle of a raging inferno, trying to figure out how to run for cover or how to annihilate the imminent threat. Inside the tank the visibility is awful, you'll just get short glimpses of the outside world so one will quickly decide that choosing the external view as default is the only way to see where you're heading. The camera is frequently moving when you need to turn and it gets stuck that way, so you only see the side of the tank and it takes a lot of time to return to the original view.

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Besides the crazy controls you have to deal with some awkward situations such as the sudden defeat caused by the death of the tank commander, which doesn't necessary put an end to the mission. After getting accustomed with the game, players will tend to settle on the commander's seat because they can select targets, instruct the driver about the right direction or choosing ammunition. All too often the crew continues the fight, ignoring the window announcing your defeat and you are unable to switch with any of your teammates, which is downright silly.

Those willing to play a tank simulator will prefer in an overwhelming majority to sit on the commander's place no matter the drawbacks, and the more optimistic ones will probably think they will eventually overcome any inconvenience. Even if they get lucky and won't find themselves watching how the rest of the crew fights a losing battle, the constant issues about designating targets will sooner or later get on their nerves. Sometimes, although the enemy vehicles are within striking range and clearly in sight, the gunner won't react in any way to your orders and the only solution is to take his place and finish the job yourself.

Speaking about annoying situations it would be impossible not to mention the fact that the main gun seems to be crafted out of plastic, always being the first to break down after sustaining damage. I understand that this key part of the vehicle is not indestructible and it's probably more vulnerable than the actual tank, but the rate of failures caused by its downfall is simply frustrating. Add to this issue the fact that you'll frequently receive the information that the main gun is damaged too late, and you've got the whole picture, a very unpleasant one as well.

There are of course some powerful scenes like destroying an AT Gun with a well placed shell, while the crew is scrambling to keep the gun facing you and then leveling the site with the tracks. Even when it's not firing its devastating gun, the tank is a mighty weapon that can knock down trees or even houses and it's only fair to say that during some intense combat scenes the environment looks alive and you experience at first hand the turmoil generated by war. It pays off to be extra careful regarding the terrain, because the tank is really difficult to steer, just like the real thing and ascending on a steep slope during a firefight can lead to disaster.

The developers made considerable efforts to craft a game aiming to recreate the actual feeling that a tank commander experienced in the brutal conflicts of World War II, and they were determined to stick to the plan even if they risked launching a title unplayable for most gamers. In this context it's even more surprising that there are a couple of settings available that players can choose from, with the risk of altering the entire gaming experience. These are nothing more than poorly disguised cheats, such as invincibility, high morale, increased shell damage or insanely weak AI, that one can select to make sure every single mission will be completed even if they use less than 10% of all those commands available.

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Conclusion:

Tank simulators are not among the most popular games out there these days and there's a good reason for this situation: the sheer complexity of this genre is pretty scaring and has a deterring effect on most gamers. Combine this with numerous glitches and a bunch of crazy controls and what you'll get is a title that makes the entire experience an exhausting one, seemingly as complicated as the real thing but without any trace of contentment.

Gameplay: 56

If things would be working smoothly it's most likely that one would be willing to take the considerable amount of time needed for mastering this game, but the erratic controls cripple an otherwise appealing project of grand potential. It's only fair to say that the only mission everyone would be eager to replay is the tutorial, because after going through it once and preparing to start a proper game, you'll discover that you've already forgot most of the basic controls.

Graphics: 48

Even with all the details on the highest quality this game is unimpressive, both the interior of the tank and the environment look bland and pixilated. While the tank models are fairly good, inside the armored vehicles things are quite dull, everything is grey and lifeless, proving once more that this was a low budget game with high ambitions.

Sounds: 53

When you are not stuck in a trench or advancing with excruciatingly low speed towards an enemy position, the sounds are a welcomed distraction, although they are far from impressive. There is really nothing wrong about the audio part, except maybe for the mediocre music and poor voice acting, while the combat noise, artillery barrage and flying shells sounds fit in nicely.

Multiplayer N/A

Hardware: 44

The loading screens between scenarios are quite time consuming and while playing each mission the frame rate rarely climbs above 20, which is quite upsetting considering the low quality textures and lack of details. If you don't own a very powerful computer that you'd most likely have to upgrade it just to play this game, and considering the overall low value of this title, this is not an investment worth making.