Just when I have a craving to read someone's review of Steel Panthers, and here it is!
Interesting read, except at the end...where seemingly SPWAW is superior to SPWW2.
It's funny how the author inferred that SPWAW has a more beautiful graphics, yet all screenshots are from Camo's/Shrapnelgames version.
SPWAW, according to the author, is noteworthy for its "...improved art and sound" and
"...for its additional bells and whistles, including an armor-penetration model that uses real-world armor values and game mechanics such as the ability to plan parachute and glider landings, infiltrate special forces behind enemy lines and decide whether or not to take opportunity shots."
Anyone who has played the Camo's version knows for sure that those are not the specialty for just SPWAW. In fact, I think SPWAW art-style seems cartoony, and its map graphics has too much contrast, not a lot of color shades there, as compared to Camo's version (which is more gritty & realistic-looking in my opinion). Realistic armor-penetration model, SPMBT & SPWW2 have that too. Parachute & glider landing, ditto. Infiltrate special forces behind enemy lines...what the hell? As if it's a "unique feature"!
The only exception would be the choice whether to open Opportunity fire when on enemy's turn.... well, this feature is rather cumbersome, it really slows down gameplay for no appreciable benefit on realism, and besides, the AI doesn't utilize it, and human players rarely bother with the much slower playing workflow. Camo's version tackles this problem beautifully with the OpFire Filtering mechanism.
But the most important and hugest difference between SPWAW and the Camo's versions is the fact that Camo Workshop continually updates (and is still continually updating) the games, not only fixing bugs, but also expanding, researching, & correcting OOBs, more unit icons & graphics, new gameplay features, and more Campaigns & Scenarios. As if that's not enough, the fact that the developers are actively interacting with users on the Forum & listening to user feedback, is a huge huge difference.
RD