COMPANY OF HEROES 2 is an adrenaline heart pumping strategic thinking triggering work of gaming art. The last time I saw this level of strategic depth and detail to realism was when playing table top war games like NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. Here the computer takes the number crunching out of the players hands while delivering tons of statistical info on screen as things like weather and terrain play huge roles in the outcome of battles.
Weather such as snow can effect armies by freezing them to death and slowing them down. And having one type of snow variable effecting different things wasn't enough for RELIC they also had to add in blizzards which effect line of sight while magnifying the consequences of regular snowfall. By building fire pits or entering buildings units are able to stay warm and be protected by the demoralizing elements of nature. Snow banks can be blasted away to clear a path and make traveling easier.
I found myself getting attached to ground troops as they would survive battles and become experienced veterans only to feel my heart sink a bit as a veteran infantry tank killing unit got decimated by a almost dead King Tiger tank. Then there were those times when only one soldier was left squeezing off that final rocket which lands a lucky shot making a armor unit into a slag of burning metal.
Pretty much every unit in COMPANY OF HEREOS 2 can be upgraded with better weapons and defensive measures like smoke screens to better survive the brutal battlefield.
Graphics are stunning looking like something out of a table top miniatures war game with detail one can zoom into seeing the wood grain on rifles and the whites of the enemies eyes.
Sound effects are unequaled in their immersive power putting me in a different world consumed by unrelenting remorseless war where the only choice is to fight or die. It was a electric mind jolt of terror hearing soldiers screaming in agony as their bunker was drenched with cascading waves of flamethrower fire. Where's the Thorazine!? I think am having a flashback!
COMPANY OF HEROES 2 a nonstop battle fest of screaming metal and unbound heroism by valiant Russian men and women fighting for what they believe in. Buy it! Play it! Experience the horror and the glory that is COMPANY OF HEROES 2!!!