A gamer suddenly has about $45 USD for a game and has a yen for a serious but not-too-detailed strategic game of the European Theater in World War II. He looks around and sees two games that came out within weeks of each other, Battlefront’s Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare (SC2WW) and Matrix’s Commander – Europe at War (CEW). Both games have the same topic and similar scales. Both are getting good reviews—even the screenshots look pretty much the same. How to choose? The differences can only be found at a level of detail that reviews of either one alone can’t reach. What is needed is a side-by-side, controlled comparison of play.

To compare, both games will be played as Axis beginning in September 1939. Strategic Command 2 Weapons and Warfare will be played on the “Hard” level and Commander – Europe at War is played at “Even” advantage with the oil consumption and Fog of War options on. Difficulty levels in both games deal with resource availability, not AI ability or direct numerical advantage although experience levels for the AI can be changed in SC2WW.

Underlining the Obvious

Several differences between the games appear within a few clicks. SC2WW is an add-on and requires Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg to play. This game has an editor and scripting while CEW just has scripts. CEW’s scenarios start the game at the beginning of 1939 through 1944 as opposed to SC2WW’s many smaller scenarios. Battlefront’s game includes an LAN option.

SC2WW’s map is isometric and foreshortened to the point where Prague looks like a suburb of Berlin. The map also simplifies geography by combining the Low Countries into the Benelux. However, its terrain and units are 3D with square tiles while weather and seasons are shown graphically. CEW has a more traditional 2D zoomable approach to graphics. One important yet subtle difference between the two maps is the display of ports. SC2WW allows most major costal cities to function as seaports while CEW has distinct seaport hexes off some coastal cities. Thus, CEW has fewer embarkation points than Battlefront’s product, a major point for cross-channel operations.

Terrain effects in CEW can be seen through symbols in the hex info box while these effects are in SC2WW’s manual. Zoomed out, units appear as NATO symbols; such symbols are toggleable in the other game. CEW has mini-maps to show several features while SC2WW uses different modes to show the same things on the main map. Matrix’s game uses a symbol interface while SC2WW has radio switches. Sound effects are similar in both products.