Tannenberg – Review
Follow Genre: First person Shooter
Developer: M2H, Blackmill Games
Publisher: M2H, Blackmill Games
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC

Tannenberg – Review

Site Score
4.5
Good: Outfits, gear and historical facts are correct
Bad: There's not a big community for this game so some game modes can't be played
User Score
5.3
(3 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 5.3/10 (3 votes cast)

After the official release of Verdun in 2015, M2H and Blackmill Games have now released a sequel to this World War I first person shooter called Tannenberg, named after the battle of Tannenberg that was fought between Russia and the Germans in 1914. This sequel is a standalone game and can be purchased without owning its predecessor Verdun. In November, this game came to Steam Early Access and has now been fully released on Steam as of the 13th of February this year.

Story

Tannenberg’s story is all about the period of the Battle of Tannenberg. This battle took place in East Prussia. When you start each game mode for the first time, you’ll get an explanation of what your targets are and which period you’re in. Except for the area and two opposite factions battling at a specific battle, there’s not much to the story. Aside of some loading screens with some information about a battle, it’s just a regular first person shooter in which you’ll need to try to gain territory on a battlefield. There’s no progression in the story either.

Graphics

The graphics of Tannenberg look a little outdated as they look like they came from a game developed in 2015, the cause of this is Tannenberg being a standalone expansion to Verdun, which also uses those models. You won’t have to expect to see very high quality graphics, but this game definitely has some good qualities in this category. The outfits look exactly like how they looked in that time, and the weapons and equipment also look exactly like how they looked in that period. So in matter of realism, this game has done it quite right. The maps in Tannenberg also look the part as they are based on the real battlefronts in East Prussia. But the physics lack some ragdoll physics because when players get killed, they just fall down like mannequins.

Sound

The menu is accompanied by some great orchestra music with some gunfire and artillery fire in the background that really sets the atmosphere of the game. The music accompanied in the loading screens fits the setting a lot. When in battle, there’s no music, only a lot of gunfire, explosions and other sounds of war, typical for this genre.

Gameplay

Tannenberg is a first person shooter that seems to be inspired by games such as Battlefield a lot. The main game mode is called Maneuver. In this game mode, two teams battle to gain sectors and hold them. By holding these sectors, each team earns control points. The team with the most control points will drain the other side’s resources. The game ends when one team runs out of resources, when either team’s HQ sector is captured, or when the match time runs out. The only difference with Battlefield’s Conquest game mode is that you get specific tasks to do. You can’t simply run to another sector to try to capture it because you will get executed if you do after a little while. The other game modes are  Attrition an Rifle Deathmatch.

Attrition is a team deathmatch in which two teams are locked in a battle of attrition and the team with most kills at the end wins. Rifle deathmatch is a free-for-all game mode where everyone is on their own with only a bolt-action rifle. The player with the most kills wins. In all game modes, you’ll get killed mostly by one hit, so it’s important to make your shots count as reloading an old bolt-action rifle can take a while. This will result in new players getting killed very easily by the more experienced players.

You can level your character by making kills. Kills will earn you career points that can be spent to purchase new weapons. These are mostly different rifles you can choose from. On the battlefield, you will be part of a squad in which each player has his own role. You will be assigned to one of these roles automatically and you’ll have to fulfill it. Each role has its own loadout and can be changed a bit in the form of changing your rifle.

Player indicators that show if they belong to your team will only appear slowly if they are in your aim. It could be easy to mistake them for the enemy. If you hit your own allies, you will get small penalty in points. Apparently, this is part of the realism of this game, because in the actual war, you could only recognize your enemies by their voice and clothes.

One of the biggest downsides of this game is its player base. If you are lucky, there’ll be 100 players playing in the Maneuver game mode. The Attrition and the Rifle Deathmatch game modes will rarely have some players playing it. This prevents you to play the other two game modes as there are no players to play against, limiting you to the Maneuver game mode. In our time we spent on this game, we weren’t able to start a decent game of Attrition or Rifle Deathmatch. Another bug occurred when a game was finished and a new game was supposed to start. From then on, you will be stuck on the map of the battlefield and you can’t spawn. The only way to get out of this, is to leave the match and start a new one.

Conclusion

Tannenberg is a decent FPS that has some resemblances to games such as Battlefield. The outfits, guns and equipment for each faction all look exactly like how they looked in World War I, but the overall gameplay of the game could’ve been a lot better. In terms of graphics, it’s also not the best looking game with some outdated models, due to it being a standalone expansion to Verdun. If you appreciate a game with historical characteristics being spot-on then it’s a great game, especially if you’ve got some friends to play with who think the same. But if you are looking for a great modern FPS, it’s best let this one be and look for something better.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 5.3/10 (3 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Tannenberg - Review, 5.3 out of 10 based on 3 ratings
Nickskuh


Administration is my job but gaming is my passion!

1 Comment

  1. […] has announced the release date for their upcoming WWI first-person shooter Isonzo, the successor of Tannenberg. Isonzo will be coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Italian […]

    VA:F [1.9.22_1171]
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