I don't quite know how they got there, but Relic & Sega managed to pull back CoH2 from the brink of a major RTS let-down - and get old CoH players (like me) - back inline.

The core issue I think was with the vanilla CoH2 release. It featured the well documented Eastern Front struggle between the Germans and the Russians in WW2. As savage and tragic as that campaign was (from both sides) - it didn't necessarily make for a good RTS game.

Frankly, the Russian side was boring. It used units that unless you had some specific interest in that arena of WW2, meant very little. Worse, the developers seemed to take the stance that there were endless streams of Russian infantry cannon fodder to take on the German might. While there may have been some historical truth to that - again, it didn't make for a good RTS game. Added to that was the awful, awful 'freeze-factor' where your troops had to maintain a proximity to a camp-fire, otherwise they would freeze to death. The final nail in the coffin were the system requirements. Despite having a PC that easily surpassed the recommended spec for the game, CoH2 ran very poorly indeed.

CoH2 was initially a MASSIVE disappointment for me. Having put in around 500 hours into the original game, including completing the excellent campaign modes several times over - CoH2 just left me cold. The base building that was such a central, yet small part to CoH had now simply been left in as a game function. It was a legacy addition - as your new units crept in from the side of the screen, with little bearing on the building that they 'should' have spawned from. The buildings also looked (and still do) - very weedy. Like ramshackle constructions rather than a dedicated factory for producing units and machines of war. Gone were the little turreted Germans atop of buildings from the Fortify Perimeter of the Axis Defensive Doctrine - ones that provided the ultimate last-ditch defence and reminded me in a fond way of the Sensible Software classic - Mega Lo Mania.

CoH2 was uninstalled - and for quite some time. I purchased the occasional DLC, retried it, but the old demons and natural anti-bias against the game that I had built up, quickly made me remove it from my hard drive, yet again.

More add-ons came over time. The Ardennes Offensive was added, as were the new units of the US Forces and the Oberkommando West. Still, the game didn't drag me back - even when strangely I decided to purchase the British Forces DLC (why buy expansions for a game that you don't play? :P). I gave in several weeks ago - CoH2 had been out for a considerable amount of time and Windows 10 was now installed on my PC. A recent update patch came on the update list, so I decided to give CoH2 one last try....

I chose the British Forces - as they were never a favourite of mine in the original game and I wasn't expecting much anyway. A quick-fire skirmish resulted in my win over an Easy German side. I retried it - this time alone against two AI and I won again. The familiar paper-scissor-rock mentality of using units started to come back. Not only that, but Relic had added some immensely useful shortcuts within the game and being on Steam, the Greenlight community was in full swing.

My all-time favourite map from CoH of Achelous River was faithfully recreated and freely available for download. Knowing that map intimately, allowed me to take time and try out different units and combinations in the new CoH2 front-end. More of the game made sense - and more importantly, it began to flow.

Since then, I've fired up the Ardennes campaign and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It's different, subtly so against the benchmark set on the previous CoH campaigns (Opposing Forces itself is a example of RTS structure genius) - but it still ticks all the relevant boxes. The attack/defence balance is never too far away - stretching your probing units to dangerous limits, or conversely, setting up the perfect defensive kill-zone. Do you churn out units en masse, or reserve and protect small concentrations of highly skilled units?

It's taken a while, but CoH2 is certainly back on track with the Company of Heroes franchise. Currently, all RTS games have to acknowledge what CoH represents and has achieved. Even if you have no interest in the WW2 setting, from a game mechanic and progress position - give it a try.

All I will say to Relic or whoever may read this for CoH3 is......

- Where is the Pacific campaign of the US and Commonwealth forces against the Japanese?
- Please, no more Russian sides - UNLESS you bring CoH3 up to a fictional WW3 backdrop

8/10

I don't quite know how they got there, but Relic & Sega managed to pull back CoH2 from the brink of a major RTS let-down - and get old CoH players (like me) - back inline. The core issue I think was with the vanilla CoH2 release. It featured the well documented Eastern Front struggle between the Germans and the Russians in WW2. As savage and tragic as that campaign was (from both sides) - it didn't necessarily make for a good RTS game. Frankly, the Russian side was boring. It used units that unless you had some specific interest in that arena of WW2, meant very little. Worse, the developers seemed to take the stance that there were endless streams of Russian infantry cannon fodder to take on the German might. While there may have been some historical truth to that - again, it didn't make for a good RTS game. Added to that was the awful, awful 'freeze-factor' where your troops had to maintain a proximity to a camp-fire, otherwise they would freeze to death. The final nail in the coffin were the system requirements. Despite having a PC that easily surpassed the recommended spec for the game, CoH2 ran very poorly indeed. CoH2 was initially a MASSIVE disappointment for me. Having put in around 500 hours into the original game, including completing the excellent campaign modes several times over - CoH2 just left me cold. The base building that was such a central, yet small part to CoH had now simply been left in as a game function. It was a legacy addition - as your new units crept in from the side of the screen, with little bearing on the building that they 'should' have spawned from. The buildings also looked (and still do) - very weedy. Like ramshackle constructions rather than a dedicated factory for producing units and machines of war. Gone were the little turreted Germans atop of buildings from the Fortify Perimeter of the Axis Defensive Doctrine - ones that provided the ultimate last-ditch defence and reminded me in a fond way of the Sensible Software classic - Mega Lo Mania. CoH2 was uninstalled - and for quite some time. I purchased the occasional DLC, retried it, but the old demons and natural anti-bias against the game that I had built up, quickly made me remove it from my hard drive, yet again. More add-ons came over time. The Ardennes Offensive was added, as were the new units of the US Forces and the Oberkommando West. Still, the game didn't drag me back - even when strangely I decided to purchase the British Forces DLC (why buy expansions for a game that you don't play? :P). I gave in several weeks ago - CoH2 had been out for a considerable amount of time and Windows 10 was now installed on my PC. A recent update patch came on the update list, so I decided to give CoH2 one last try.... I chose the British Forces - as they were never a favourite of mine in the original game and I wasn't expecting much anyway. A quick-fire skirmish resulted in my win over an Easy German side. I retried it - this time alone against two AI and I won again. The familiar paper-scissor-rock mentality of using units started to come back. Not only that, but Relic had added some immensely useful shortcuts within the game and being on Steam, the Greenlight community was in full swing. My all-time favourite map from CoH of Achelous River was faithfully recreated and freely available for download. Knowing that map intimately, allowed me to take time and try out different units and combinations in the new CoH2 front-end. More of the game made sense - and more importantly, it began to flow. Since then, I've fired up the Ardennes campaign and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It's different, subtly so against the benchmark set on the previous CoH campaigns (Opposing Forces itself is a example of RTS structure genius) - but it still ticks all the relevant boxes. The attack/defence balance is never too far away - stretching your probing units to dangerous limits, or conversely, setting up the perfect defensive kill-zone. Do you churn out units en masse, or reserve and protect small concentrations of highly skilled units? It's taken a while, but CoH2 is certainly back on track with the Company of Heroes franchise. Currently, all RTS games have to acknowledge what CoH represents and has achieved. Even if you have no interest in the WW2 setting, from a game mechanic and progress position - give it a try. All I will say to Relic or whoever may read this for CoH3 is...... - Where is the Pacific campaign of the US and Commonwealth forces against the Japanese? - Please, no more Russian sides - UNLESS you bring CoH3 up to a fictional WW3 backdrop 8/10