So we played the solo campaign of the real-time strategy game Company of Heroes 2: could a press version with five missions of the Russian campaign to test already - with mixed feelings.
We run almost nude against the Germans: no training, no clever weapons without coverage. We have only one enough: men, men, men. Dozens, yea hundreds they charge next to us in the MG-fire, again and again. Only our own two infantry so should turn the tide with six men and the remaining army in Stalingrad bite firmly.
Image source: www.bringthenoiseuk.com
Image source: www.rtsguide.com
Who played the predecessor from 2006, will quickly navigate in Company of Heroes 2 , but experience a very different gaming experience over long distances. As shown in the example above, we burn on the Russian side of troops without end - no matter whether scripted or by your own actions.
While we often only tells shot German positions with artillery in the predecessor, and advanced with tank support, now ill-equipped Russians, however, race, pluck abandoned weapons, storm continues. We can replace fallen with a button click, then comes running over fresh cannon fodder on the battlefield and populates the rows.
Withdrawal rates
The Verheizen of our men to the doctrine is explained in one of the five missions. Only the material is important, we should stop the oncoming Germans during their March on Moscow as long as possible, sector pull back us, burned Earth left. Where scorched earth is really meant: with flamethrowers, we burn not only stocks down, but also houses - where civilians still endure.
Company of Heroes 2 shows the brutality of the war, again, body parts flying around, burn soldiers - despite USK-16-release. Because the flamethrower command is no optional via point, but it is essential for the existence of the mission, we here simply have no other choice if we want to continue to play.
It is because from the outset clear that we this mission only with a withdrawal win, a queasy feeling is also, because we send troop to troop into a hopeless situation. In the predecessor there was not so little, since we have course individual sectors but never lost a whole map. That this usage is still as hectic as exciting, is the clever design of the mission.
Gradually, the game gives us better equipment at hand, after the flame throwers for example anti-tank mines against the oncoming Germans who were previously only with infantry. We may not use the own tanks that parking at the train station, on the other hand – you should protect even the capital.
Now's it!
But then, in the second of two playable missions of Stalingrad, the tide turns – now we are attacking. The game takes us not more so by the hand as before, the big flashing arrows are fortunately rare.Two strengths of its predecessor are again extremely important: sector conquer and the proper equipment for our troops. We turn off machine Gunners and assume their light and heavy weapons, loot all anti-tank guns. Sectors in battlefieldmanner provide replenishment of ammunition and fuel, we need not only for troops, vehicles and barracks, but also for upgrading existing units – so get a flamethrower, or infantry machine guns instead of simple carabiner pioneers at recruiting.
As of now, also the individual teams count more than the former cannon fodder. More experienced fighters have more skills, places such as enemy vehicles only by their noise and display on the minimap. This ability is important in the last of the five playable missions, where we hunt a single Tiger through a village, while desperately searching anti-tank weapons such as PTRS AT rifles or anti-tank ghasts, and fight it as long as until he at least stays and the crew from Bordet.
Is the mission that managed? By because: we should repair the monster and across in our Feldposten bring back through the village. That the Germans will find this idea not humorous, manifests itself in violent counter-attacks on the Tiger and the pioneers of our torch. Fortunately, at least his Tower-MG works...
Grey war
The Russian winter is of course a different caliber than the Normandy in June. It has a visually strong on our five missions, grays prevail, above Tiger hunting in addition takes place at dusk. The stakes are thus realistic, dirty, not like Hollywood war films, in which heroic Wayne's and Burton's led knightly GIs in the battle.In our Lite version we could play but also just five of the 15 missions in the solo campaign and earlier screenshots have shown already snow settings. Overall the game looks with still more like a contemporary update of its predecessor, still good to very good animation, but no longer full WOW! effects such as seven years ago.
The effects of snow and ice are not kriegsentscheidend playful nice, but - at least in this game. Annoying assault gun, which itself has ventured too far on the ice, we could by Molotov cocktail» sink «.» In the hunt to the Tiger, his tell-tale chain tracks in the snow helped us, and troops without coverage get frostbite in the long term. Along with the other (Physics) effects such as various damage effects of tanks (engine, drive, Tower), blast radii and flamethrower fires, which spread out, this gives a credible game world.
Also the interplay of forces contributes: tanks without infantry protection are failing, the already inaccurate Katyusha rocket launchers existed organs without objective investigation too far in addition, mg and PAK shooters should have at least a few riflemen to fend off attacks from the rear or the side - because it's long be nerve wracking, to reorient the heavy weapons.
Motivational side jobs
Occasional company of Heroes offers 2 side quests to us. As a troop stands comrade under enemy fire, or we should switch off two German artillery positions. There's double rewards: the guns were really a plague, and in addition we collect stars, which we put in the general improvement of our units.
The system was still not enabled in our press release, we could but at least peek, which upgrades are later grab the stars leave: for example, in slightly stronger armor for our light T-70 tanks, or in shorter subsequent load times for the PAK 40.
Upgrade-upgrade there's also, if we create an achievement of kind of with the particular type of unit - with our PAK 40 hundred light crack vehicles, or with T 70s 150 men turn off PAK-shooters. That should motivate better to watch his boys in the finished game then just yet. Even if it doesn't matter to the Soviet commanders...
