Company of Heroes 2 – The Western Front Armies (PC)

Always true to form, Relic has released The Western Front Armies, the first standalone expansion Company of Heroes 2. This test will determine how well it compares with Opposing Fronts, the first expansion to the original Company of Heroes.

 

From the Atlantic to the Caucasus

As you might be able to tell from the title, The Western Front Armies takes the focus of the game back to the Western Front. The new German faction “Oberkommando West”, like the “Panzer Elite” from Opposing Fronts, looks suspiciously like the Waffen SS under an assumed name. But that’s not the only thing the two have in common – like Panzer Elite, OKW relies on mechanized units and elite infantry units. Right at the beginning, OKW’s Sturmpioneers are superior to any other non-mechanized unit at short to mid range, and later in the game they’re still a force to be reckoned with. But if you think OKW is just a clone of Panzer Elite, you’re mistaken. The developers have done a really good job of combining familiar concepts with new units and other changes to create something really new. Playing as OKW you can actually feel how scarce your resources can get, and you have to take better care of your units than you do with other factions, as it’s much harder to recoup your losses. Building a base is also a lot different  – you recruit your units from vehicles, which like the Commonwealth “buildings” in Opposing Fronts have to be called in when they’re needed and can be deployed anywhere in the territory you control, though once they’re in place you can’t move them again. Some of them are armed with flak cannons however, and are capable of defending themselves.

Not just the Germans, but the Allies too have gotten a new faction – this is where the US Forces make their debut. US Forces play a lot differently than their German counterparts, starting off with a complete base, though you can’t use all of it until you recruit certain officers. And like the Russians, US Forces are clearly geared towards infantry, which can be equipped and deployed in a variety of ways. Using the new Commander Abilities you can even train them into specialized elite units. The Barracks also includes a “weapons rack” where you can equip a squad with certain weapons at the cost of ammunition, allowing you to react quickly to your enemy’s deployment patterns. For example, you can turn a standard squad of riflemen into an effective anti-tank unit, or equip them with the BAR to give them an edge against enemy infantry. Of course US Forces can also deploy tanks and other armored vehicles, but these are clearly inferior to their German counterparts in direct combat. This means that they have to rely on superior numbers and/or infantry and air support.

All in all the two factions play very differently, and are both impressive in their own way. Neither one is at a real disadvantage, and conversely, neither has a clear advantage either.

In addition to the 23 maps from Company of Heroes 2, The Western Front Armies adds eight more, all of which depict the Western Front of the European Theater, of course.  Unfortunately, that’s the end of it though, as far as new content goes. You read that right – there isn’t any new campaign, not even any new missions or anything like that. It’s pretty much the same with the Commanders – each new faction has just three. To get more, you have to play a lot and hope you get one of the rare ones, or you can pay another $3.99 per Commander. When you consider the fact that each faction costs $12.99 (or $19.99 for the two of them), that’s a lot of money for a purely multiplayer expansion with no single-player content.

You can play as either of the new factions against any of the four factions on any Company of Heroes 2 map, even if you don’t own the main game.