By the present day, about 100 billion Nazis have been killed by the superior might of the Allied forces when you factor in the countless virtual ones that have been vaporized by virtual Allies in their various reincarnations throughout gaming history. So, when we received Blitzkrieg: Burning Horizons, our first reaction was astonishment that there were yet more WWII baddies out there to waste. Haven't we killed enough to defeat Hitler's army about 600,000 times over? Suffice it to say we felt a bit WWII'd out, but we hoped Burning Horizons would give me a good surprise.

In preparing to play the game, we went through the manual and the online tutorials that Nival made available to get up to speed and were pleased by their thoroughness. Movement and combat are addressed, along with the complexities of constructing tank obstacles and keeping your army supplied with ammunition and resources. The control system is nicely explained as well. Each unit has a set of commands that they can carry out, and these commands are all accessible through the same 3x4 bank of keys on the keyboard (Q down through V). The symbols for each key are displayed on the screen at all times when you have a unit selected, so telling your units what to do doesn't take much effort once you get used to it.

One very refreshing aspect to this game is the variety of missions. From playing other WWII games, you might surmise that the Normandy landing and the push into Europe from the west were the only battles fought during the war. You might also think that the US and Britain comprised the entire Allied side, with Russia playing only a minor role. Burning Horizons makes sure this is not a problem, with nearly 20 missions following the campaign of Gen. Erwin "Desert Fox" Rommel, who gave the allies a vicious fight in North Africa. You are able to play in some missions as the Allies and some as the Axis, as the campaign begins with the Germans blitzing through France and ends with the fall of Berlin.

When you start playing the game, you'll notice one huge element missing that almost all other RTSs have: resource management. Your main task is to use the troops that you're given to exploit weaknesses in the enemy. You can re-supply and replace fallen troops, but you can't arbitrarily build them with resources. Occasionally you will be given reinforcements at key checkpoints, but for the most part, you're on your own and you must protect the people and equipment that you've been given. Because of this, each mission starts out a bit slower than in a run-of-the-mill RTS. You first need to use recon techniques to scout the enemy out, and then prepare an offensive or defensive plan.

Another twist in the game is the supply system. Your infantry and vehicles all have limited ammo to chew through before running out, making them virtually useless. When there are breaks in the battles, you need to run in your supply trucks and re-supply your units. These trucks are highly vulnerable and need to be protected at all costs. You can also bring in your engineering units to repair vehicles and make changes to the battlefield, like setting up obstacles and mines. They can also dig trenches to improve your defensive position.

We were impressed by the fact that the game's goals aren't entirely about ratcheting up the body count and conquering land. The way you conduct yourself during battle is also recorded. A running tally is kept on your tactical and logistical abilities, along with your sense of caution in battle and your sense of duty in completing all objectives presented to you. Along with victory, these are a more accurate indicator of a general's effectiveness than just enemy KIAs. Those KIAs aren't anything to sneeze at either, however. The enemy AI in this game is pretty effective, rushing at you when they think they can be victorious and hanging back when you're too big to tackle.

Blitkrieg: Burning Horizons was a surprising breath of fresh air in a generally overtired genre. The ability to play as the Axis along with challenging missions and an intuitive control system made this game a great pleasure to play.