and published by Sega for the Microsoft Windows platform. It is the sequel to the critically

acclaimed 2006 game Company of Heroes. As with the original Company of Heroes, the

game is set in World War II but with the focus on the Eastern Front, with players primarily

controlling the side of the Soviet Red Army during various stages of the Eastern Front,

from Operation Barbarossa to the Battle of Berlin. Company of Heroes 2 runs on Relic

Entertainment's proprietary Essence 3.0 game engine

In January 2013, Sega acquired Relic Entertainment and along with it the Company of Heroes intellectual

property from THQ. The game was released on June 25, 2013 in North America and Europe.

Gameplay Resources

The resource-generation system from the first game has been modified. Players will still

capture specific flagged points all over the map to collect munitions and fuel credits,

which will be invested in assembling their units. Most armies can construct caches to

increase the fuel or munitions income from these points, though some points produce a

higher income of one material. Instead of the soldier units actually gathering at the

flagged point itself, capturing the point is possible if the player's units are inside

a specific zone with no enemy units in the same zone. The accumulation of these resources

and the size of the player's army can be much faster if players capture various flagged

points all over the map. In order for a player to receive the benefits of a flagged point

he owns, it must be part of his contiguous area of captured territory, thus allowing

an unbroken chain to be traced back to his headquarters. Thus, the resource intake and

population cap will be curtailed if the opposing side captures territory that isolates owned

points from other allied sections in the map. Manpower is used to build common units, and

the amount will decrease the larger a player's army grows.

Buildings Units can occupy a civilian building and use

it as a temporary strongpoint. However, the occupants can be flushed out through attacks

by artillery or soldiers using flamethrowers and grenades. The building-damage system from

Company of Heroes is retained and enhanced; wooden buildings set afire will continue burning

until they are reduced to cinders. The Soviets' main structure is the Regimental Field Headquarters,

which is used to produce conscripts and field engineers. The Special Rifle Command, Support

Weapon Kampaneya, Mechanized Armor Kampaneya, and the Tankoviy Battalion Command are the

respective Soviet equivalents of the original game's barracks; weapons support center, vehicle

center, and tank hall. A field hospital can help treat seriously injured soldiers.

Combat mechanics Combat includes controllable units that are

recruited and ordered directly by the player, as well as activated support actions, such

as artillery bombardment or air cover suppression. Every controllable unit type, whether infantry

or vehicle, has an associated construction cost and recruitment time, as well as a range

of fighting abilities. Vehicles and infantry can eventually be upgraded by purchasing specific

capabilities. Upgrades generally improve the unit's effectiveness. Some upgrades are global,

granting immediate benefits to all deployed units, while others must be purchased on a

unit by unit basis. Most combat takes place through direct, line-of-sight engagements.

As with the original Company of Heroes, colored dots will show locations that provide varying

degrees of cover for soldiers and support units. Soldiers can also climb over low terrain

obstacles such as fences and walls. The game also offers the player a chance to complete

side quests in a mission, which are denoted by an inverted triangle icon.

TrueSight The game's Essence 3.0 engine introduces the

TrueSight system, which aims to better emulate troop visibility in real combat. In contrast

to overhead visibility seen in other strategy games, TrueSight more accurately represents

a unit's visibility range based on environmental conditions and type of unit.

Weather Weather conditions are a major factor in Company

of Heroes 2's gameplay, under the new ColdTech weather-simulation system. Since many battles

in the Eastern Front occurred in winter weather, troops can die of frostbite if caught in the

outside during severe weather; a thermometer-shaped bar to the left side of the unit icon denotes

a soldier's body temperature. The soldiers can recover their body heat if they are close

to a bonfire or have found a building to shelter in. Players moving through deep snow will

move at a reduced speed unless they are on a road; their footprints are also visible

to the enemy. Certain maps have frozen bodies of water, allowing for more movement options.

However, players face the danger of being attacked from the other side; as a result,

the ice can buckle under the weight of the units in movement or shattered by explosions.

Theatre of War The game introduces the "Theatre of War",

a series of single-player and cooperative missions detailing various aspects of the

Eastern Front campaign from both German and Soviet sides. Eighteen missions set in 1941

will be part of the game upon release with the missions from 1942 onward available as

downloadable content. The first of these offerings is Case Blue, a package only free to pre-ordered

copies and Red Star editions of the game, featuring the Axis forces during the Fall

Blau campaign on the Eastern Front. Order 227

Company of Heroes 2's campaign also tackles Joseph Stalin's Order No. 227, which prohibits

retreating except under the direction of senior officers. Starting from the fourth mission

set in Stalingrad, Order 227 will be in effect if the player deploys Frontoviki Squads. A

time bar appears on the left side of the map display; for that duration, players must not

have their soldiers go into full retreat back to headquarters or else said soldiers will

be executed for doing so. Downloadable Content

Relic has released downloadable content for the game aside from the Theatre of War packs:

1) Commanders: Add new abilities and units to a players arsenal, which are available

in skirmish and multiplayer matches. A player can choose up to 3 commanders of which he

can choose one during a skirmish. This commander will then give access to 5 unique units/abilities.

However, some commanders have been given away for free at certain events by Relic.

2) Vehicle skins: Alter the camouflage pattern of certain vehicles and tanks and are a purely

cosmetic change. 3) Faceplates: Another cosmetic change only

visible in the main menu or loading screen. Plot

The game's story focuses on the Eastern Front campaign as narrated through flashbacks by

Lev Abramovich Isakovich, a Soviet Army lieutenant locked up at a gulag in Siberia in 1952. An

Army colonel – his old commanding officer – interrogates him about his experiences

during the war. Development

THQ first announced the sequel to the acclaimed Company of Heroes in May 2012. THQ executive

vice president of core games Danny Bilson noted that the publisher will continue working

on Company of Heroes 2 following its launch next year. On December 19, 2012, publisher

THQ filed for bankruptcy just after postponing the release date of the video game. The following

month, on January 23, 2013, it was announced that THQ had sold Relic Entertainment to Sega

for US$26.6 million as part of an auction of the company's properties in result of the

bankruptcy. Company of Heroes 2 takes advantage of DirectX

11 but also supports DirectX 10. The game also utilizes Valve's Steamworks technology

with matchmaking and achievements. On March 6, 2013, Sega announced that Company

of Heroes 2 would be released in North America and Europe on June 25, 2013. A few weeks later,

the company announced that the first closed beta will begin April 2, 2013. The open beta

was released to the public on June 4, 2013 after the stress tests and the closed beta

sessions were finished. Reception

The game has received generally positive reviews. PCWorld gave the game 3.5 out of five stars.

PC Gamer rated the game at 80 concluding that "Company of Heroes 2 is the USSR of real-time

strategy games: huge, powerful and just a little bit broken." IGN gave the game an 8.4,

saying "More sequel-sized expansion than true successor, Company of Heroes 2 repeats many

of the original Company of Heroes feats. As of March 31, 2014, the game has sold 680,000

copies in Europe and North America. Controversy

The game drew criticism from different players for a negative portrayal of the Soviet Army

during the Second World War. In a 25 minute video, Russian video blogger "BadComedian"

felt that the game portrays their war effort in a negative light, taking issue with multiple

in game examples including portrayals of brutality, inhumane tactics and national stereotypes

and clichés, especially when compared to the positive portrayal of the Americans in

the first Company of Heroes. The controversy led to a "review bomb" in protest of said

portrayals through the review site Metacritic, giving it an overall low user score.

In an article written for video game website Polygon by Colin Campbell reflecting on the

subject said that the "comments on forums and on Metacritic are testament to the strong

feelings that the war still generates". In the same article, it cites the game's director

Quinn Duffy who in regards to the creative direction of the first and second game felt

that "the second game is painted on a broader canvas", whereas "in contrast, the first game

focused on a small group of soldiers and did not seek to take a wider view".

Russian game publisher 1C-Softclub stopped distribution of the game on 26 July 2013 due

to the strong negative feedback. Following the news, the game's publisher SEGA released

a statement that they were "taking this issue very seriously and are investigating these

concerns thoroughly with all relevant partners." References

External links Official website