A handy in-game plugin allows for players to instantly begin streaming gameplay once they've registered, and the online scene has proven to be full of both capable and not-so-capable commanders. The missions provide hours of bonus entertainment, and the online itself is ripe with replayability.
If the squad gets wiped out before conscripts can reinforce them, however, they're gone for good.Ĭompany of Heroes 2 also boasts a well designed Theater of War mode, which provides more missions beyond the campaign that can also be used in co-op gameplay. Squads gain experience whilst in combat, and having veteran units is an invaluable tool. As each squad engages enemies, the screams and shouts of individual soldiers will drift up to the player. These have cooldowns after each use, encouraging well-timed tactical choices on when to utilize them. Like the last title, different types of squads will wield different special attacks like grenades, Molotov coktails and war chants. Utilizing the existing cover will be one of the most important aspects of fighting, as soldiers naturally scramble for the sandbags, trucks and fences that will ultimately be the difference between life or death for most. The battlefield is always well designed and realistic, with abandoned buildings, sandbags and gritty weather all combining to forge what look like feasible towns and locations from the actual battles. With 14 missions of decent length, the campaign will take players from retaking Russian cities to the fall of Berlin, and Relic Entertainment has done a good job of showing off some of the true horrors that took place during this time. It's a subtle change of gameplay, but drastically changes how gamers will play when they're the Soviets. While the conscripts aren't so useful on their own, they can be split up into existing squads of more experience. Each mission has its own sets of challenges as the Soviets start off on the run despite their superior numbers, and all difficulties but the hardest will allow for players to send in unlimited conscripts to aid their cause. Dated cinematic graphics coupled with strained-accent voice acting and a relatively weak storyline take away from what is a challenging and riveting single player campaign. While the missions themselves are taken from real conflicts on the eastern front in World War 2, the cutscenes leave much to be desired. This income is used to 'purchase' helpful combat tools like airplane bombing runs when they're available. Players will command a large amounts of squad and vehicles in each game mode, moving them around and setting objectives in an effort to take control of the battlefield and gather more supply income. The horrors of the eastern warfront are hard-pressed into Company of Heroes 2, from the aforementioned weather and environment challenges to the way the Soviet army treats conscripts themselves - the campaign will often have the player throw waves of unfortunate conscripts at entrenched machinegunnners or even light up flaming fire traps behind the player's own soldiers, dooming them to a horrible death to cover a bulk of retreating soldiers. This adds a lot to the experience, creating a lot of brand new strategies and evoking a lot of new styles in gameplay when online. These dynamic environments introduce a new level of tactical consideration, and as the hecticness of combat takes over many a player are apt to forget that the enemy soldiers aren't the only threat. Soldiers trying to move in the middle of blizzards risk being snuffed out by the cold itself, and anyone traversing over a frozen lake risks a watery death should enemies rain explosives down upon them. Relic Entertainment has introduced environmental affects into combat, which all commanders must take into consideration during winter warfare. Combat and gameplay will feel and look the same at first, but it's all the under-the-hood changes and improvements which make the difference for the second title.
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Luckily, the UI is already very polished, and newbies will quickly grasp how to switch through units and react quickly as the shape of the battlefield changes around them. Those who played the original game will immediately be able to jump in and play, as the controls and user interface remain largely unchanged.
It's very similar to the original title, but the improvements made since (and previewed at E3) allow for a more matured, fleshed-out and entertaining strategy experience. Company of Heroes 2 isn't a perfect game, but both its single and multi-player modes ultimately leave those looking for an entertaining strategy game very happy. While the release of Company of Heroes 2didn't come as early as most predicted, Relic Entertainment has produced a polished real-time strategy title which does a great job at displaying the chaos and hazards of warfare.