Previews// Company of Heroes 2

It is said that one of the many reasons why Germany lost the second world war was because they chose to invade The Soviet Union. After being stymied at Stalingrad their ultimate defeat along the Eastern Front was inevitable and the German military were driven off by the twin forces of the Russians and the winter frost, just as Napoleon's formidable forces had suffered 130 years prior.

Company of Heroes 2 (CoH2) is set in this theatre of war. Covering the events during Operation Barbarossa as the invasion into the USSR was known to the Germans, CoH2 continues the tradition of small engagements. This time around, though, it is set across the Eastern Front during the dead of winter. The key component being that the weather is just as much of a killer as a bullet, mine or tank shell.

Canadian developer Relic Entertainment has made a name for itself in making excellent RTS titles. The first Company of Heroes was a massive success with many people still playing the game six years after its release in 2006. Two expansions later and a brand new Company of Heroes game looms in the form of CoH2, which very much builds on the strengths of the original while making some enhancements along the way.

Via the use of the Essence Engine 3.0, CoH2 boasts two new gameplay features that the developers hope will make for an engaging and entertaining experience. Those two features being 'Truesight' and 'Coldtech'. Truesight creates a line of sight dynamic to the game as it requires units to be able to see their targets in order for them to hit them.

This sounds rather basic, but in the vast majority of cases RTS games generally ignore things like foliage and smoke and rely almost entirely on the fog-of-war mechanic.

CoH2 attempts to go one step further than this by allowing smoke, fences and hedges to create visual cover. This makes it possible for players to effectively shield their units from enemy fire under the cover of smoke.

Coldtech is how the Russian winter is represented as a foe to both sides of the conflict in CoH2. It doesn't care if you're Russian or German, you'll still freeze to death if you're caught out in a blizzard. CoH2 exploits this by requiring all foot-soldiers to be either shielded from the relentless snow storms by entering vehicles and buildings or creating camp fires for them.

The issue of death from exposure can be used to a player's advantage as it is possible to undermine an attacking force by simply preventing them from gaining shelter from the cold. This is done by blowing up buildings and camp fires and then letting the environment do the dirty work for you.

It is not just the temperature that affects units; the snow on the ground and frozen over lakes make an impact on unit movements. In CoH2, snow isn't merely painted on as a texture, it is actually coded in as a physical object that foot soldiers have to wade through, impeding their movement while making them very cold.

This places the importance of troop transports much higher up the proverbial ladder, as troops cannot simply trudge their way to areas on foot without risking death from exposure.

The ice sheets that litter the battlefield have an impact on armoured units. Thanks to the Coldtech system, it is possible in CoH2 to target the ice underneath an armoured unit as it traverses over it. This breaks the ice and results in the armoured unit sinking into the freezing waters underneath.

Tracked units also leave a furrow of snow behind them and this aids the travel of foot units where armoured units have been. Again, all of this is thanks to Relic Entertainment's desire to embrace the concept that the environment is an enemy to both sides of this conflict, hence the introduction of the Coldtech.

While there is a significant number of changes, there are elements that remain the same from the previous game. That being the core mechanic of conquering territory to gain the right to build units.

There is no resource gathering in CoH2, just as there wasn't in the previous game and in Dawn of War, the game that adopted the concept of territorial control vs. resource gathering, just as Z and Nether Earth had done before it. This is an extremely effective system when done right, and Relic Entertainment certainly knows how to utilise such a system.

Having managed to get some significant hands-on time with CoH2, it's fair to say that the follow-up to one of the most celebrated RTS titles looks to be turning out to be just as good as its predecessor. With the added features of Truesight and Coldtech alongside the familiar Company of Heroes set up, the early part of 2013 cannot come soon enough.