Seven years ago, when I got the original Company of Heroes, I thought about the fact that in a strange way to release a new game on the engine, and from a strategic model of the old one. Of course, we are talking about Dawn of War, elements of which have migrated to CoH almost completely. Replacing the Space Marines and equipment infantry and tanks from the Second World, Relic released a new game that has become legendary in the strategy genre. As a prototype, actually. Were later additions, new maps and the nation. First, it inspired, but then came the addon Tales of Valor, in which it became clear that the extra body movements in Relic generally prefer not to do.

However, seven years – this is not a joke. Time has flown a lot, so the announcement of the Company of Heroes 2 promised something new and interesting. The number “2” in the title at all great responsibility. But then something went wrong. Hastily closed free online Company of Heroes Online, there were the first arts and screenshots of the second part, after which the plan Relic has become quite clear.

In the continuation of CoH involve only two of the nation, and fighting transported to the east. Strategies based on historical wars are always interesting, and the Eastern Front can not be called poor in events. Battle of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army was overshadowed by its scale battles on other fronts of the Second World War – there’s enough material for games for many years. However, the creators of CoH 2 went down a slippery slope with section B and the corresponding booklets in which truth catastrophically low compared with the dose of cranberry and advocacy.

The only single player campaign Company of Heroes 2 – a classic example of a game “based on”. Taking all of the unpleasant stories, remembering and think out the other nasties in Relic mixed it all in the story that lays claim to the title of “Bear with balalaika year.”

Moreover, it is noticeable that the degree of idiocy purposely raised. Detachments, the shooting of civilians and leaving their own troops, the destruction of villages during the retreat, the dreaded NKVD officer and a good character, Lieutenant, the shooting of captured German soldiers – if somewhere in the tabloids once slipped rumors that the soldiers of the Soviet Army eat babies , in Company of Heroes 2 dedicated to this single mission. It is clear that the history of that time is black, and packed full of events of this kind, but carefully pushing out these facts to the fore, even build on this storyline, says a lot. War – a terrible time, and bloodthirsty psychopaths-dictators none sane person does not evoke any sympathy, but a careful isolation of all the dirt and building game based on that dirt does no credit to the developer and publisher.

Insanity affected not only the plot. The main character – a man with a strange name Lev Abramovich Isakovitch. Characters speak in a horrible mixture of English and Russian languages, screwing distorted emphasis obscene speech. Soviet snipers running around in Budyonny caps and use of suppressive fire “mosinok.” Penal battalion, armed with PPSh-41, looks at all delusional. The impression is that the experts on the history did not involve the creation of the game at all. The whole campaign is intended to show how cruelly and senselessly killed Soviet soldiers. In the first half we were constantly retreating after a successful defense for a set time – something rarely found in such games. Usually after the defense is counter-attack or something fun, and then as an ax chop off all initiative – spent 20 minutes on the defensive, and then comes an even greater multitude of Germans and enters the command to retreat. Further attacks becomes greater, but then make a special emphasis on the fact that it is not necessary to protect forces and to attack, regardless of losses.

At the same time the Germans as a combatant simply missing. There is no character, no officers, no voice – the silent boats did not even wiser for seven years and continue to behave as troops armed loony. Aimless driving on the map Stug III with damaged weapon (?), A sudden attack of a small group of well-fortified positions – it is clear that the enemy is not interested in the current situation, and they do exactly as they were given scripts. Never mind that the point where they moved, was busy – they come running and die.

All this is happening, by the way, on the background of scary movies shot with antediluvian resolution and the same quality. Scary face, blurry textures are poor animation – usually such inserts adorn the game story, but here the clips look mockery.

The gameplay itself is, in principle, has not changed. It was hard to spoil something, and even managed to improve the graphics component. Visually CoH 2 began to look better, but it is not noticeable at first glance. The strategy, which requires constant monitoring of a large number of units, does not need a detailed animation of each soldier – it is simply not visible in the course of battle, when the view from above, appears not remote. By the way, this nuance remained unsolved – a critical shortage prevents the removal of the camera to control the battlefield. Sorry, I’m not here to watch beauty come and command the troops, which I find it difficult to manage if the split-screen is a house or a tank.

In addition to the campaign, for fans of single player or cooperative transmission mode was implemented “Theatre of War” – a group of individual jobs, the purpose is often survival. The rest – for fans of multiplayer.

Here is revealed, as usual, everything slipped from view in the single player campaign. Lack of maps offset their division in the winter and summer. The main feature of CoH 2 are exactly the winter map, where climatic conditions hinder or help the players. These cards is dangerous to ride on icy rivers – the enemy could easily sink the detachment or self-propelled, damaging ice mortars or artillery fire. Periodic storms were frozen whole department fighters, forcing periodically to warm them in buildings and equipment. Long-term transitions are difficult, normally behave in such a situation feel snipers adapted to the harsh weather conditions.

The difference between the two warring nations and simple on the surface. The Soviet army relies on the infantry and guns, the Germans prefer technique. Balance is achieved by the first cheap to order, and German tanks will be by the middle of the battle. Until now, the “deal” will be infantry and light armored vehicles. It is therefore of particular importance flamethrowers, which are equipped with Soviet engineers and German tracked vehicles. Sometimes it comes to the point of absurdity when two lendlizovskie M3 laden engineers with flamethrowers and trophy pantsershrekami can make a small genocide. It looks absolutely ridiculous and implausible, and the constant need for micro-strains – alas, but the algorithms to find a way to Relic do not learn at all, not even a magic function helps dealers responsible for reversing. If you let things slide, you can watch the funny situations, when the SU-152 will attempt to attack the anti-tank gun at close range, and calculation tools selflessly will continue to bombard the infantry. Generally, in any fights Company of Heroes 2 greatest irritation is this one here is stupid pathfinding. Troops and equipment necessary to drive the handle over the map, otherwise the loss is inevitable. The more troops – the more difficult to control what is happening.

The main objective of the warring sides in multiplayer – the capture zones, which are located in the center of flags. This change only small things. For example, no longer need to stand back to back with the flag – just go to the area to start the capture. More areas – more fuel and ammunition that are needed to bring infantry and vehicles. Sami units gain experience and additional capabilities in the battle, so veterans should appreciate and cherish. In the Soviet army replenishment can occur in medical bunkers, a specially equipped vehicles, as well as on the base. In addition, the main fighting force – draftees – serve to recruit other units.

The system of doctrines in Company of Heroes 2 is canceled, is now available only choice “general”, which has a range of additional features – call the command tank shelling of the zone, surveillance aircraft, attack aircraft strikes, and more. Such a system Relic seemed a good source of income, so Steam is already sold more commanders with new sets of special functions. In addition, the player can earn bonuses to a certain type of units, performing some task. For example, snipers kill 50 by razvedmashiny to get a permanent bonus of 10% to the range of the review.

The system itself is search online battles simplified and became a little uncomfortable. All automatic, no list of servers in your own customized game with manual selection of cards can only be played on the invitation of a friend, and with random players will have to be content with auto-search. Balance is also not taken into account, so it is really a beginner to get into the room where the cunning strategists sit 30-40 level. Statistics and the overall rating is also not yet, but I think that it is a matter of time.

For whom and what made ​​Company of Heroes 2? I do not know. If we reject the single-player campaign, which is terrible, the asset will be a multiplayer game mode, not sparkling with some innovations. Yes, add winter. Yes, two of the nation and the Eastern Front. It draws a maximum of complement, but not with the number “2” in the title. Much more interesting additions to the original place – saving there, and polished gameplay and balance patches are expensive.

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