Amidst the carnage and cacophony of the first level of Company of Heroes 2 there are some valuable lessons to be learned. Like many an opening level, Stalingrad Rail Station is primarily intended to introduce you to basic concepts and teach you some of its core mechanics. Here, that involves understanding the necessity of utilising cover, the tactical advantage of adopting flanking positions and the basic orders with which to deploy troops, hurl grenades and capture enemy artillery.
However, there is a more subtle and yet more important lesson here, too. Stalingrad’s smoke-choked streets, crumbling buildings and corpse-ridden kill zones teach you to manage your expectations. As scores of allied Soviet troops swarm through the scarred wreckage of a ruined Stalingrad in a bid to repel the German invaders, the chaotic desperation of their efforts epitomises the spirit in which you will be fighting the bloodiest conflict of World War 2.
By the time you reach the end of that first level, Relic Entertainment has set the tone in which its story is to be told and so what you are left feeling most keenly is not the warm glow of victory but the cold relief of survival.
In the snowy wastelands the weather is as much your enemy as the soldiers you're fighting.
It’s this feeling that carries through each of the five levels of the preview build. It quickly becomes apparent that there is very little macho bravado or fierce pride to be found in routing the enemy or repelling an attack. Instead, there is the grim determination of soldiers who understand that their entire unit might be sacrificed to buy just a few more minutes in which civilians can be evacuated or a vital encampment can be fortified.
There’s also a rich vein of black humour of men being sent to die to such rousing battle cries as “Those that try to run will be shot; those that attempt to surrender will be shot,” and the assurance that the allied army’s “zeal and overwhelming numbers” means soldiers should not be discouraged by a “few losses.”
The driving force behind this bleak approach is Stalin’s Order 227, which effectively sanctions the execution of allied soldiers who attempt to retreat. While Company of Heroes 2 depicts this order being carried out to its literal extreme, its ramifications are more profoundly felt in the sub-objectives and overall mission goals. Through the destructive strategy of Scorched Earth, combat engineers armed with flamethrowers are used to destroy the farmsteads and homes of the civilian population, lest the German troops claim them for respite from the encroaching harsh winter.
Elsewhere, allied supply depots that must be abandoned are ordered destroyed and whole towns are rigged with explosives in the hope of incapacitating enemy armour and thinning their lines. Fittingly, it’s hard to find glory in a victory that involves destroying your own resources for the sake of denying the enemy the chance to claim them.
Of course, Relic is still able to reward you with a sense of achievement for carrying out the goals of the game’s early levels, but it nonetheless stops short of an out-and-out celebration of your hard-won and costly victories. The most effective tool in balancing positive feedback with its sobering cost is Lieutenant Abramovich Isakovich, whose sardonic tones can be heard as he recalls his own part in the campaign, some five years after the end of the war. Isakovich is disillusioned with the Soviet doctrine and has published a set of written work based on his war experiences that have landed him in a Soviet labour camp and brought him face to face with his former commanding officer.
It’s through Isakovich’s interrogation that the campaign levels play-out and Relic captures a snapshot of different points throughout the war. The recollection technique is used effectively and serves as a reminder that the suffering did not stop when the last bullet of the war was fired. Relic took inspiration from the real-life story of Soviet war correspondent, Vasily Grossman, whose own disillusionment with post-war Soviet Russia led to his persecution and the seizure of his work, which makes Isakovich’s portrayal all the more relevant.
Relic Entertainment has worked hard to ensure that Company of Heroes 2 is a worthy successor to its much-lauded and still-popular RTS original. To this end, it is entirely possible to view Company of Heroes 2 simply as a technically impressive and enjoyably challenging strategy title. You can revel in wanton destruction, watch the world burn and then freeze-over courtesy of Relic’s Essence Engine 3 and focus on the accumulation of awards and medals that chronicle your deeds. However, it is to Relic’s credit that it also provides you with the opportunity to look beyond your monitor and appreciate that not all of the lessons in Company of Heroes 2 revolve around how you play the game.
Stace Harman is a freelance contributor to IGN and is convinced that zombies will one day inherent the Earth. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source : ign[dot]com
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