Unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction and immense loss of life is how the fighting on the Eastern Front during World War 2 is described.
Company of Heroes 2 takes us to the battlegrounds of the Eastern Front where the enemy in front isn’t the only thing you should be afraid of.
Relic have set themselves the task of trying to capture the unforgiving and harsh winters and the brutal battles that went on between the Soviet Army and the Axis forces.
The game’s interface will be familiar to those returning to the series from the original Company of Heroes. Manpower, munitions and fuel can all be used to purchase units and upgrades, while command points are obtained by completing objectives on the battlefield. These are used to unlock commanders and their respective abilities, such as artillery strikes.
Bases are built up by engineers and progressively unlock different units, such as tanks, snipers and anti-tank guns. All of these are readily available for the Soviets as long as you can afford to build it. Meanwhile, the Axis forces must arrange different orders to allow them to build the required bases. The Axis units are more expensive units and take longer to unlock, but they make up for it with power.
That doesn’t mean the Axis forces are outright better than their counterparts, the Soviets also possess strong units, such as the National Guards and the Katyusha rocket artillery known as Stalin’s Organs.
CoH 2 does an excellent job of depicting Russian winters. Temperatures average at −20°C and Relic want players to feel the full force of their wrath. Several maps will exist in winter frontiers and in addition to gun warfare, players will also find themselves fighting against the conditions. On frozen-over lakes, tanks will struggle for traction and a well-placed mortar round will break the ice below, submerging whatever was unlucky enough to be above. Blizzards will occur throughout the battle, forcing units to retreat to the safety of buildings, huddling around camp fires to stop them from freezing to death. Players can either choose to use the cover of the blizzard to their advantage and risk their units dying or fall back to safety.
Other maps will show the open fields and rolling greens of Eastern Europe. These are open battlefields allowing for intense fighting across a large front.
Company of Heroes 2 sounds fantastic, whether you’re listening to mortar shells being fired, tanks taking dents in the hood or bullets whizzing past units, all are morbidly pleasing on the ear. Weapons are easily distinguished by their sound and bullets can be heard ricocheting off any object they may hit. Music is also used in the game very effectively, it blends in perfectly with the battle and adds to a grand sense of epicness. It’s never overwhelming but it definitely assists with the game’s mood and immersion.
Relic have not only managed to replicate the harshness of the environments in their design, but also in how they look. Watching an infantry unit get hit by a mortar shell is unbelievable, I expected it to just be an explosion followed by my units disappearance instead I was treated to a brutal explosion followed by my units’ limbs flying up into the air. That’s just one of many ways the game will make your jaw drop during battle. Each unit is loyal to its original design and some of the winter units look absolutely fantastic in the snow.
How players command each unit will make a huge difference. There is no zerg mentality that other RTS games can suffer from and taking that approach in Company of Heroes 2 will result in quick defeat. A well positioned mortar squad can cause havoc to infantry units clustered together. The same applies for a convoy of tanks that are left exposed to enemy anti-tank fire and have no infantry support.
Domination was the only game mode available in this preview, 3 points are spread across the map and the more locations the player holds, the faster their enemies points will deplete. The mode forces players to learn restraint; push the enemy back too far and it could cost them their army, ultimately leaving the locations exposed. Company of Heroes 2 almost has a ruthlessness to its learning curve; making mistakes isn’t game-changing but it puts players in a very precarious position.
Attention to detail is what makes Company of Heroes 2 so brilliant. Whether it’s recognizing that women were used as part of the Soviet army, watching your tank fight. then seeing its impending fate as it is swallowed up by a frozen lake or even listening to soldiers complaining that you’re doing nothing with them.
I cannot wait to see what else Relic have in store for us when Company of Heroes 2 released on June 25th. There’s a lot of potential for expansive growth in the game and it’s going to be very interesting to see how that is approached in the months ahead.
