Review

Company of Heroes 2 review: same intensity, little innovation

It is just unfortunate that after waiting so long for a sequel, Company of Heroes 2 doesn't offer much in the way of innovation. That said, it still is everything its predecessor was: an intense and enjoyable RTS that gives you the feeling of really being an armchair general.

John Keefer

June 25, 2013 1:00 PM

For many, Relic Entertainment's original Company of Heroes is the standard by which RTS games are measured. The seven year old classic refined resource gathering to be more realistic. Players had to go out to capture and hold objectives to build a war machine, allowing them to focus on combat and strategy. Units were to scale, as infantry was dwarfed by armor. Infantry squads bolstered by a remarkably intelligent AI knew how to take cover and not stand in the open, and they could be equipped with machine guns, mortars, and other items left by dead units. Company of Heroes 2 plays to the strength of the series: building up a force and going to war, combined with a depth that few strategy games can match. Unfortunately, it does little to move the series forward aside from some minor bells and whistles. Relic continues to do its homework on World War 2, this time with an accurate portrayal of the Eastern Front. The campaign offers a lot of variety to test your ability, from all-out armor-and-infantry slugfests to infiltrating enemy territory to free prisoners. But, even with the core gameplay still in great form, it isn't long into the game before it starts to fray around the edges. The more ambitious missions highlight one of the game's main shortcomings: the inability to zoom out for a full battlefield view. The limited view was particularly tedious when trying to keep up with battles in three different areas of the map. The mini-map and audio cues were the only recourse to knowing something was happening elsewhere. The maps are also so large that it's easy to leave units behind or miss them amid the rubble of a town. In addition, the interface isn't particularly well designed, overloaded with all the details it is trying to impart on the screen at once, such as type of units, special weapons, unit health and cover status, etc. Like its predecessor, the game is once again a visual stunner, with the realistic sound and ambiance that was so impressive in the original. However, one of the most highly touted aspects of its improved graphics engine--the tech used to create lifelike Russian winters and the gorgeous blizzard conditions--is used sparingly, with only one mission actually forcing you to manage your troops carefully through the bitter weather to keep the from dying of hypothermia. It's a shame, because it was this aspect of the game that really gave a feel for how radically different the Eastern Front was from the other areas of the war. And while the original game's AI was ahead of its time, the computer seems to have trouble identifying paths through obstacles this time around. For example, units would take a roundabout route to a spot I sent them, when a clear and more direct route was available. Tanks would plow through stone walls, but go around fences. In one particular case, AI-controlled units that were part of my team actually blocked the most direct egress out of my base, causing a backup as they tried to get to a waypoint. New for the sequel is line-of-sight. While many games have a fog of war, CoH2 takes it a step further with a new system where players must scout enemy positions and have a unobstructed view of a target to call in air strikes or indirect fire. While this may change troop deployments, the system also makes it easier to create ambushes against approaching enemies. For example, I would sometimes have enemies chase me into choke points where I would have troops lying in wait. Granted, these are small frustrations. The campaign does its job of teaching the basics so players can dive into one of the game's strong points: multiplayer and the newly added Theater of War. My favorite part of the new mode--which also includes co-op and AI mission--is the challenges, where I had to complete certain objectives within a particular amount of time. One challenge gave me nothing but conscript troops and I had to destroy all marked German buildings within a certain time before I was ordered to withdraw. Not only are they an enjoyable addition to the game, they also prepare players for multiplayer.

Yes, the action can get pretty intense

Theater of War also lets you play as the Germans. With the campaign being told from the Soviet perspective, there are no German missions. That can be a bit daunting in multiplayer since there is no real tutorial available for the tech tree or unit special abilities. While Relic has recreated a historically accurate version of the Eastern Front, the story is the least compelling part of the game. It is rather heavy-handed, portraying atrocities the Red Army used--such as shooting its own soldiers retreating out of fear, or killing "allies"--as an "end justifying the means" for the Soviets to win the Eastern Front. It is poorly scripted and acted, making the cutscenes just morality-laced filler between the meaty scenarios. Company of Heroes 2 is everything its predecessor was: an intense and enjoyable RTS that gives you the feeling of really being an armchair general. It is just unfortunate that after waiting so long for a sequel, it doesn't offer too much in the way of innovation. [6]

This company of Heroes 2 review was based on a digital version of the game provided by the publisher. The game was tested on a system featuring an Intel i7 2600 3.4 GHz quad core CPU, 64-bit Windows 7 OS, 16 GB RAM, and an nVidia GeForce GTX 660. All graphics options were set to "high." The game comes out today.

John Keefer

Contributing Editor

Filed Under

From The Chatty

Refresh Go To Thread

Shacknews

 reply
June 25, 2013 1:00 PM

John Keefer posted a new article, Company of Heroes 2 review: same intensity, little innovation.

It is just unfortunate that after waiting so long for a sequel, Company of Heroes 2 doesn't offer much in the way of innovation. That said, it still is everything its predecessor was: an intense and enjoyable RTS that gives you the feeling of really being an armchair general.
- daggot
  
   reply
  June 25, 2013 2:13 PM
  
  Well, if it's at least a prettier update of the old game, and we can get some awesome community maps again, it could still be worth a new purchase. I sure played more than my share of games on the original.
  - noven
    
     reply
    June 25, 2013 2:32 PM
    
    I'm so on the edge. I loved COH 1 so much, the mods I played to this day.
    
    COH2 alpha or whatever was kind of a disaster... imbalanced, terrible UI, stupid hard cheating AI.
    
    Then they fixed about 1/2 the problems in the beta; better balance and somewhat better AI. The one thing keeping me from buying it 100% is the mod support. They've been seemingly unwilling to say mods are allowed, and Relic's previous few games have been not very mod friendly from my understanding (Dawn of War II / Retribution).
    
    I want this to be a great game so hard! But multi is going to suck without mods and stupid vanilla balance where a tiger takes 6 shots to kill a half track.
    - Keefinator
      
       reply
      June 25, 2013 2:39 PM
      
      In the campaign, a Tiger killed a Halftrack in one or two shots. Tigers took a ton of hits even from AT guns. As always, best shot was side or rear and disable the track.
- Saldrin
  
   reply
  June 25, 2013 3:46 PM
  
  $50 of day one DLC is disturbing, but it is mostly cosmetics. I see there are doctrines for sale, I don't know how I feel about that in the grand scheme of multiplayer. Be it as it may, I feel kinda of dirty for considering to support that day one DLC nickel and dime scheme but I'll pass and wait for steam sale.
  - NFXFSX
    
     reply
    June 25, 2013 3:48 PM
    
    All the DLC available is just the collector's edition stuff.
    - Saldrin
      
       reply
      June 26, 2013 3:26 AM
      
      And the collectors edition is $100 on steam.
    - gibolas1234
      
       reply
      June 26, 2013 1:44 PM
      
      So is this like the BF3 deal where you pay for the unlocks or is it stuff you only get from the CE or DLC?
- wytefang
  
   reply
  June 25, 2013 6:43 PM
  
  Seems like a fairly inaccurate review here (no offense to John - not that he should care what some random pleeb on the net thinks anyway but...).
  
  The game adds a fairly huge innovation with the line of sight and weather additions. I'd call that a decent enough amount of innovation. Perhaps John hasn't played much in the way of RTS game lately? I don't know...
  
  Also, this comment: "It is rather heavy-handed, portraying atrocities the Red Army used--such as shooting its own soldiers retreating out of fear, or killing "allies"--as an "end justifying the means" for the Soviets to win the Eastern Front."
  
  Well the problem is that is EXACTLY how the Russians viewed their actions. We had some pretty interesting discussions about this topic in my WW2 History class a few years back in college. Lots of intriguing aspects to how the Soviets handled themselves in WW2.
  - Keefinator
    
     reply
    June 25, 2013 8:42 PM
    
    Both weather and line of sight are mentioned in the review. However, in the campaign, the Blizzard conditions are used ONCE. That's it. It is available as an option on some winter MP maps, but an innovation for one mission strikes me as blowing something bigger than it should have been. Cool, yes. Intricately woven into the game. No.
    
    I liked the line of sight and even mentioned it is one of the really nice additions to the game.
    
    And I know the Russians viewed their actions that way. I was familiar with Order 227 before the game came out. However, being beaten over the head with the atrocities between missions, especially when they are poorly scripted and acted, is moralizing for the sake of moralizing.
    
    And I have played a ton of RTS games: C&C, Warcraft, StarCraft, Total Annihilation, Homeworld and more. I really liked COH2, minus the points I mentioned.
    - wytefang
      
       reply
      June 26, 2013 3:54 AM
      
      I realized that you mentioned both of them but you seemed to discount them more than necessary. I had read quite a few previews where they made it pretty clear that the weather would be used primarily in the MP maps, so that wasn't a real surprise to me.
      
      I do agree with you, it's a shame they didn't use it more in the campaign. :(
      
      Thanks for clarifying what your point was in the review - I think I mistook what your slant was. I would agree that "moralizing" just to moralize is annoying and pointless, in games.
      
      Thanks for the response. :)
- dedgecko
  
   reply
  June 25, 2013 7:07 PM
  
  I agree that that UI sucks, but you can easily keep track of your squads by seeing whether they're in combat or not; freezing or not-- by paying attention to the icons in the upper right. All rts games have a learning curve. Part of the joy ;)
  
  But I really wish the list of units was dead center, in the lower third of the screen
- TheGeneMachine
  
   reply
  June 25, 2013 8:10 PM
  
  No mention of the new weather system? Managing the cold and bluzzards is a big part of skirmish matches.
  - Keefinator
    
     reply
    June 25, 2013 8:34 PM
    
    Fifth paragraph for those of you skimming at home:
    
    "Like its predecessor, the game is once again a visual stunner, with the realistic sound and ambiance that was so impressive in the original. However, one of the most highly touted aspects of its improved graphics engine--the tech used to create lifelike Russian winters and the gorgeous blizzard conditions--is used sparingly, with only one mission actually forcing you to manage your troops carefully through the bitter weather to keep the from dying of hypothermia. It's a shame, because it was this aspect of the game that really gave a feel for how radically different the Eastern Front was from the other areas of the war."
    - Keefinator
      
       reply
      June 25, 2013 8:45 PM
      
      And it is in a couple MP maps, but again, overall it is only a small part of the overall game.
- ehaykal
  
   reply
  June 26, 2013 12:00 AM
  
  So good to have a new RTS in the market :)
  - nrgXs
    
     reply
    June 26, 2013 12:32 AM
    
    Amen to that brother
- Sailor of Fortune
  
   reply
  June 26, 2013 12:44 AM
  
  This game looked great and played great but I was made weary of the stuff they carried over from the COH Online F2P game with all that DLC stuff.
- nwillard
  
   reply
  June 26, 2013 6:16 AM
  
  Innnnteresting.
- beastrabban
  
   reply
  June 26, 2013 6:23 AM
  
  I got the beta, installed and played it for approximately 3 hours and haven't picked it up since. I love CoH1, and will still play it for hours when I'm burnt out on other games, but CoH2 didn't seem to offer anything new.
- [deleted] 2084680424
  
   reply
  June 26, 2013 7:51 AM
  
  [deleted]