When it comes to representing World War II in videogames, there’s practically a whole smorgasbord of games from which to choose. From shooters to flight simulators, now comes a two-player card game starting with the Invasion of Normandy through to the war’s end.

I’ll admit that card games usually aren’t my bag, but I was pleased to find that Panzer General: Allied Assault feels much like turn-based strategy games that I know and love, like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem. Playing as the U.S. forces, you begin the campaign mode with a deck of cards representing troops, tanks, Howitzers and cards granting special abilities (like calling in an air strike). You square off against German forces that have an army every bit as strong as yours.

Turns consist of placing your units on the map, advancing them toward the goal and attempting to destroy the enemy’s troops. Combat in this game at first seemed deeply complex to me, but I got the hang of it quickly and before too long, I was smoking Nazis with the best of them. The game’s tutorial does a great job in showing you the ins and outs of battles, and I always felt like I was fighting the enemies, not the game itself.

Before you attack, the game shows you how your attack power stacks up against the enemy unit’s defense, letting you know right away if attacking is even a good idea. If friendly units are nearby, or if you have long-range artillery, they can boost your unit’s attack from the get-go. If you decide to go for it, battle begins. Before your unit actually shoots, you can choose to play a “battle card” from your hand, which could do anything from increasing your attack to negating the enemy’s support artillery. Of course, the defending enemy has battle cards of its own, so it’s always hard to tell which way a battle could turn until it’s actually over. There were definitely a few times during the campaign when I thought success was easily in my grasp, until the enemy played just the right battle card to ruin my entire offense.

Still, I never felt like I was a victim of a “cheap shot.” As long as I had a good strategy and didn’t rush blindly into things, I was sure to do well. Panzer General: Allied Assault did a great job of always making sure the enemy played fair, even in love and war.

The single-player campaign is only 12 missions long, but since so much strategy goes into every single battle, the campaign doesn’t feel short at all. Even though it’s a downloadable game, Panzer General: Allied Assault has all the strategy you’d expect from a full-priced game you’d get from a store shelf.

Apart from the single-player campaign, Panzer General: Allied Assault lets you battle others over Xbox Live using a custom deck you can create in the included Deck Editor. Again, strategy is key to victory here, because you could have the strongest deck possible, but you won’t get anywhere unless you know how to use it. Like with any other online game, you’re likely to get creamed the first few times, but once you get to know the difference between fighting a human player and a computer player, online is a lot of fun.

My one gripe with the gameplay, though, would have to be that the pace can feel a bit slow. I understand why combat is as meticulous as it is, but the game requires the player’s confirmation of every single step. “Select a battle card.” Press A. “You have no cards in your hand.” Press A. “Germany passes its turn.” Press A. And so on and so on until you just want to shout, “Hurry up and throw some grenades already!” If the next Panzer General game finds a way to streamline the process that you go through in every single battle, I think that game may be nearly perfect.

Although the card system in the game is very deep and well-developed, I didn’t see any reason why there had to be a clichéd World War II setting. With the battle system this game has, it could just have easily been a humans-versus-aliens or elves-versus-orcs game. Nothing I found told me it could only be World War II. I’d like to see the same system from this game used in a different context, which I believe would help set it apart from all of the zillions of other World War II games already out there.

Still, Panzer General: Allied Assault is a lot of fun while it lasts, sure to please hardcore and casual strategy fans alike. Even if the thought of playing a “card” game usually turns you off, you owe it to yourself to at least try this game. You won’t regret it.