#EL 3 COMPANY OF HEROES 2 SERIES#

Next up is the second campaign in Company of Heroes 3, the Italian campaign. Overall, the North African campaign is a solid introduction (or re-introduction) to the Company of Heroes series, and I was overall impressed with how it sets the stage for the game for a new or returning player. In between missions, you’ll hear the harrowing story of the Axis occupation of North Africa and its effect on the local populace – I thought the voice acting was pretty good and really added to the campaign, and the story itself was pretty heartbreaking and really brings home the reality of war.

Over the course of the campaign, you’ll take part in some of the famous battles of the North African conflict, such as at Tobruk and El Alamein, and make your mark on history.

#EL 3 COMPANY OF HEROES 2 SERIES#

You’ll also get to use the new Italian units as well, a first for the Company of Heroes series and a fun addition to the game. This campaign acts as somewhat of a tutorial for the game, introducing you to the mechanics needed to learn the game such as commanding squads, commandeering vehicles and repairing or salvaging equipment such as heavy machine guns or tanks. The first campaign is a narrative campaign set in North Africa, with you taking control of the German Afrika Corps in several narrative driven scenarios. Both, as mentioned, are underrepresented areas of the war in popular media, and its good to see them take centre stage in a WW2 strategy game. Starting off with the single player modes, there are two types of campaigns set in North Africa and Italy. The game launches with 2 different types of single player campaigns, as well as a multiplayer and single player skirmish mode, so on the surface there is a lot to do. Whereas the first game took place on the western front, and the 2 nd game took the fight to the east, Company of Heroes 3 instead takes the fight to oft-forgotten theaters of the war North Africa and Italy. It’s a good formula that worked well in both prior games and their respective expansions and it continues to work well here too. You’ll also need to choose a company for each game to specialise in, which will give you access to unique units for that company, such as Panthers for the Wehrmacht armoured battlegroup or my personal favourite, the Guastatori Italian engineers from the Afrika Korps infantry company. Finally, in single player you’ll need to capture objectives to advance your missions, and in multiplayer you’ll need to capture victory points to win the battle if you can hold the majority of them for long enough. Generally, infantry will cost manpower to requisition, fuel will be used to call in light armour and tanks, and munitions will be used for squad upgrades and abilities such as artillery barrages and air strikes. You command squads of soldiers and equipment from that conflict within engagements in a real time setting, where you need to take and hold land for resources such as manpower, fuel and munitions in order to fuel your war machine. To begin with, Company of Heroes is a series which features real time tactical battles that take place in WW2.

So how does it stack up compared to its predecessors? Gearing Up For War It’s been a while since the last release but the next entry into the series, Company of Heroes 3, recently released. Company of Heroes 1 still holds up well even against some modern games, and Company of Heroes 2 was a flawed but extremely fun entry that solidified the franchise as a staple of my steam collection. Back in 2007 I was addicted to the first game and it helped my through quite a few years of my childhood, which has left me with a bit of a soft spot for the franchise. It has issues, but Company of Heroes 3 is a solid new entry to a beloved series.

El 3 company of heroes 2