It changes the pacing on these maps considerably, and requires you to play them a little more deliberately. I actually like this system, despite how gimmicky it is. Infantry can survive blizzards by riding in vehicles, or warming up inside buildings, or by huddling around fires that you can build on the map. On winter maps (there is a "winter version" of most every multiplayer map), blizzards arrive at semi-regular intervals, cutting down line of sight and freezing infantry that stay out in the open too long. Second, there is ColdTech, which seems to be stretching the definition of "tech". First there is TrueSight, which the rest of the gaming world knows as line of sight: Units don't have a magic vision radius that sees through obstacles, but must actually be able to see their targets. There are a couple of new features to combat in Company of Heroes 2, and each comes with a loathsome bit of branding. Likewise, tanks can be brutally hard to kill, but if they get flanked by an antitank gun or another tank, their light side and rear armor will betray them. But that same team is dead meat if it gets flanked by a single infantry squad equipped with grenades. A machine gun team in strong cover with a good field of fire is a death sentence to any infantry that step into its kill zone. So really, even your economy comes down to how well you use terrain, suppression fire, line-of-sight, and combined arms tactics to control the battlefield. Some provide extra fuel or ammunition, both of which are crucial for some of the more advanced units and powers available to each faction. You have to manage your economy efficiently, but that economy is powered by control points on the map. This is a series that straddles the line between wargame and RTS. Still, combat in Company of Heroes 2 is as exciting and spectacular as it ever was in its predecessor. Suffice it to say that for a game about a war featuring some of the biggest tank battles in history, Company of Heroes 2 is pretty light with the heavy armor. This is just a generic World War 2 army with Russian accents.Īnd let's not even talk about the lackluster selection of tanks. Honestly, the Imperial Guard in Dawn of War 2 is probably a better, more interesting take on the Red Army than the one found here. The units you're pushing around the map have to feel fun and distinctive. RTS games aren't history, of course, but faction design is a question of character. In real life, these were basically suicide units full of convicts sent to die on dangerous assignments. In Company of Heroes 2, Soviet squads are slightly larger than their German counterparts, and they can send conscripts to reinforce depleted units.ĭo you see what I mean about being disappointed? Where is the Stalinist brutality, or the endless supply of poorly armed, poorly trained cannon fodder to send against the German guns? There are references to the kind of absurd callousness that defined the Red Army, like including "Penal Battalion" troops. As the war continued, the Soviet army became much more competent and powerful, backed by massive numbers of tanks and aircraft, but to the end it was shockingly profligate with human lives and merciless to those it considered cowards. In real life, this was an army that often went into battle at gunpoint, held together by the brutal discipline of Soviet commissars – who would execute soldiers for retreating or attempting to surrender – and its own growing hatred of the German invader. RTS games are partly powered by how well they communicate their theme, how well they connect the game you're playing to the story it's telling, and Company of Heroes 2 sometimes seems a little more like an Eastern Front skin than a fresh take on an old design.%Gallery-192671%Let's start with the Soviet faction. Even the Eastern Front never quite comes alive. It's still a great design, but most of its sequel's innovations are fairly conservative, and along the way it's also borrowing some dubious features from modern mainstream shooters, like a grindy progression system filled with perks and unlocks. Company of Heroes 2 just feels like More Company of Heroes. Which is probably why simple goodness feels slightly disappointing. With Relic finally returning to Company of Heroes in a sequel set against the bloody grandeur and brutality of the Eastern Front, greatness seemed preordained. An Eastern Front expansion or sequel seemed like a no-brainer, but Relic never got around to it, and Company of Heroes was set aside as Relic became a Warhammer 40K studio. It was a sharp change from almost everything else in real-time strategy, and cemented developer Relic's reputation as one of the best strategy studios in PC gaming. First, it's been seven years since the original was released and achieved instant-classic status. It hasn't been easy to wait for with Company of Heroes 2.
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