In today's modern, fully mechanized armies the tank has taken on the role of armored cavalry – it is the quick moving “eyes” of the army with the power to punch through enemy lines. But the tank is also highly vulnerable on the battlefield and many computer simulations fail to really depict this aspect of the lumbering steel giants. Real-time strategy simulations can often be won by “tank rushes” and even many specific tank simulations seem to present the notion that an armored vehicle is an all-powerful and mighty destroyer.

After a brief glut of tank simulations, including several lackluster WWII-based games, military buffs were left high and dry without a decent virtual depiction of mechanized combat that put players in charge of the armored vehicle – made more so by Microprose canceling M1 Tank Platoon III. Now wargamers looking to blitzkrieg across digital battlefields can take heart and climb into the virtual cupola with Shrapnel Games' Steel Beasts, a tank sim that could help redefine the game genre.

This modern day military simulation puts players in a number of hypothetical situations; ranging from established hotspots around the globe and offering numerous geographical settings, and letting would-be tank commanders take charge of some of the most advanced armored vehicles today. Players have the option of commanding either the American M1A1 Abrams or the German Leopard 2A4. Note that Germany continues the tradition of using feline-based names for tanks, which began in WWII with the Tiger and Panther. The primary enemy vehicle, as is probably expected, is the T-72 and T-80 mainline battle tanks that were developed in the former Soviet Union, and which remain the primary tanks of choice for most of the game's expected antagonists.

Of course since tanks in the real world don't tend to go out as lone wolf hunters, the game includes the real world support vehicles including the controversial Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Marder, both of which can assist in bringing the support infantry to the front lines. Players can't directly control either of these vehicles, or the aforementioned infantry, but they are included and do make up part of the units at the player's overall command.