Written by Jeff Buckland, 12/3/2007
Played on:
Windows
2GHz Pentium M CPU
2GB DDR2 RAM
GeForce 7800GTX Go
Minimum:
2GHz CPU
512MB RAM
or 1GB for Vista
64MB DX9 Video
It's only been a year since RTS veterans Relic Entertainment unleashed Company of Heroes on us, and already we'll be jumping back into the muck to battle it out again, Axis versus Allies, in what seems to be an endless struggle during World War II. I say endless because game publishers have been continually shelling us with WW2 games for far longer than the actual war's duration. Many of these titles are derivative and dull, and often their sequels are even worse. But with Relic's new "stand-alone expansion" pack, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, you'll find at least a few fresh perspectives on WW2 games. Even Hollywood seems a little nervous with war movies now, as the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers was so good that it seems there's nowhere else to go but down. And while game companies have quite a ways to go to match the glory of Band of Brothers, the Company of Heroes franchise is surely a step in the right direction.
The rundown
If you've never played Company of Heroes before, well, the premise goes a little like this. You'll control squads of troops from infantry to paratroopers to engineers, as well as ground vehicles, in pitched battles that at least vaguely resemble the real fights from the war in Europe. Your "resources" are gained simply by capturing and holding points spread throughout the map, and you spend them on upgrades for your troops and their special abilities (like a sniper's camouflage or a grenade toss, to start with). With a more detailed simulation of the battlefield than many games supply, cover, suppression and flanking all become a big deal, and destructible environments will keep you moving around as you realize that some old wooden cart will simply break apart under fire from an MG42. When your (or your opponent's) troops get caught in the open they will become pinned down, and might get wiped out unless they get rescued by other troops you have in the area.
All of this is brought together by a physics and graphics engine that goes beyond what you expect out of a conventional RTS game. Buildings can be destroyed and new abilities allow the enemy to leave a little surprise for the enemy that tries to garrison inside later. Soldiers run, duck, hit the dirt, fight and die in quite realistic ways, and this adds up to being more than just pretty pictures as the guys at Relic have littered the battlefield with hard choices. Sure, you can take cover behind those barrels, but the wall or house with their better cover is just a little bit further ahead - should you take extra fire on your way and risk getting pinned down to get to the better cover? The action keeps flowing since Relic has removed the need for manual collection of resources, and while having a HQ or a base of operations can be beneficial, there are no peons out there chopping wood or gathering gold. Your resources are still an important commodity as they fuel the important special attacks your troops have. After all, engineers are just soldiers with mediocre aim until you put a satchel charge in their hands and have them toss one at a nearby heavy gunner nest.
Bring in the new guys
In Opposing Fronts, the focus moves away from the standard US/German army troops over to more specialized ones - the highly trained British Army and their ability to construct emplacements and trenches, and the German Panzer Elite who can often use Blitzkrieg-like tactics and high mobility to get behind enemy front lines. There's a story as well, as the game doesn't always take place from the usual RTS top-down perspective. In-engine cutscenes will set up the situations in many of your missions and keep a few recurring characters coming back, adding an interesting link between RTS gameplay and the more personal nature of many WW2 action games. The mid-battle briefings are interesting as well, as you often don't know your next objectives until you complete the current one; it adds a level of urgency and surprise to many of the missions.
Unfortunately, your objectives and the cutscenes you get just don't seem as exciting this time around as last time, but it might also be the battles Relic chose to do this time. The storming of Normandy Beach and capture of the French town of Caen has been done ore than a few times before in WW2 games, and on the German campaign you fight during Operation Market Garden. That whole mission was a major flop for the Allies, and isn't as heavily covered in history classes and our gung-ho war movies - especially from the whole perspective of Germans winning those battles. Of course, few German soldiers were the sick and twisted Nazi murderers that seem to be much more common in our movies than reality showed, but I still find it hard to get behind the Germans' cause when I'm controlling them. It was the same in the original Company of Heroes for me, but at least there the German missions felt like familiar fights from a new perspective, rather than unfamiliar battles while playing as the faction I wasn't too excited to play as in the first place.
