The concept is interesting, if somewhat limited by the fact that only the Allies move around and cause things to happen, which is not a good representation of the way a major operation in World War II actually worked.
Company of heroes 2 reviews upgrade#
The Germans start off mainly in control and have reinforced territories, but the Allies can move around to deny them assets and to try and limit further strengthening of their best supplied areas.Įach of the companies has a strength, affected by movement and by the losses suffered, and it can also gain both experience and requisition, which can be used to replace losses or to upgrade its capabilities. Gamers can control three companies, each with its own set of unique powers and special units, and each can move independently on the map, capturing territories.
Company of heroes 2 reviews series#
Relic also offers plenty of historical context and I found myself often reading up on the various locations and situations after completing the missions in order to gain more knowledge about the Battle of the Bulge in the real world and to try to compare my performance with that of real world commanders.Ĭompany of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault keeps the core elements of the series when it comes to the tactical battles, but it introduces an all new strategic layer which involves some interesting new choices for players and will increase the replayability of the entire content. The structure of the campaign is very inspired, with the player able to choose three out of four core forces to command. This was the thinking of the German leadership, but their move was doomed even under the best conditions, and the offensive, even if it posed major problems for the Allies, failed to reach any of its major objectives.Īmerican forces were the most affected and had a lot of casualties, but Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault, while staying close to history, fails to explain that, on a strategic level, the Battle of the Bulge was not a potentially catastrophic moment. This would have allowed it to move resources to the East and slow down the Russian advance, and maybe enter into a separate peace with the United States, France, and England. Players will be taken back in time to the moment in December 1944 when Nazi Germany launched the last major offensive of the war, trying to gain some time on the Western Front and to put the Allies on the back heel for a while. The standalone nature of the new Ardennes Assault is clearly chosen to make sure that as many gamers as possible get access to it, and the structure of the single player itself points to how the series might evolve in the future and has some very solid ideas, even if not all of them are fully developed.Ĭompany of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault chooses to explore one of the moments of the war that has not received too much attention in the gaming space over the years and it does so competently. The Soviet campaign had some interesting ideas, but it failed to be as accurate as some fans wanted and as dramatic as other envisioned it, and Relic has since been focused on expanding the multiplayer side of the title, which manages to attract a solid audience and can still deliver some impressive matches. Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault feels like an attempt to show that the development team at Relic understands that it failed in its attempt to create a historically complex and engaging campaign for the original version of the title.