Do you risk sending unprotected soldiers to a desolate capture point, hoping they can make the trek without freezing to death? If it's later in a skirmish or multiplayer match, you might have half-tracks for transport purposes, but the possibility of an early lead might make it worth taking a gamble with a few squads. Infantry trudge slowly through drifts of snow, and crossing an icy pond could prove fatal if the weight of a tank-or the eruption of a grenade-proves too much for the flimsy ice to handle.Ī flaming tank is not the kind of warmth a soldier needs to stay alive.Īnd so you don't confront just the forces of the enemy, but the forces of nature too, and make important tactical considerations in the process. Soldiers feeling the frosty sting need a warm fire (provided by a resourceful engineer or pioneer) or the confines of an available structure to avoid succumbing to a frigid death. On snowy maps, the fearsome rush of cold and wind don't just make for a chilly sight, but also make for chilly soldiers.

Interesting new mechanics, too, effectively communicate the helplessness of an individual combatant, and not only during the campaign, but in AI skirmishes, online multiplayer, and elsewhere. Instead, let the missions themselves do the talking the best ones communicate the hopelessness and despair the cinematics fail to capture.Įven early missions impress upon you the disposability of your troops, frequently commanding you to retreat when you are overrun, all while you order in one nameless conscript squad after another. It's best to ignore the decidedly old-looking cinematics, the cast's uncomfortable accents, and the cliched attempts at dramatizing a strained soldier-commander relationship. Given the excellence of many of the campaign missions, it's disappointing that the surrounding cutscenes can't meet their levels of excitement, try as they might. The narrative is not, however, a return to form for developer Relic Entertainment, whose Homeworld games brought RTS storytelling to great heights. Given the series' penchant for explosive multiplayer confrontations, you might be inclined to overlook Company of Heroes 2's campaign, though you would be missing out on some of the game's better moments in doing so. Now Playing: Video Review - Company of Heroes 2

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