Review: Company of Heroes 2 - Ardennes Assault (PC)

Ardennes Assaults shakes up Company of Heroes. The gameplay was already a deep well of strategy, tactics, and being able to quickly refocus attention elsewhere on the battlefield without completely abandoning anything, unless it served some larger purpose, but Ardennes Assault layers additional strategy and long-term planning on top of that with a Risk-like map of the area between Germany and France as borders ebbed under the push of the Allies against German forces.

With this seemingly simple addition, it makes relatively minor loses on the battlefield a big deal. Considering aspects like veterancy of units, unlocking combat bonuses for the three US companies, and  striking a balance between using existing units and calling up new ones to crush the Germans with overwhelming numbers rather than any kind of sound strategic thinking, has bigger implications for the ultimate outcome.

I was taken aback the first time a company was wiped out during a skirmish and was no longer playable. The odds tipped away from me and it was downhill from there. The two remaining companies were wiped out quickly after that and it was game over.

After scaling the difficulty back to “Easy” rather than “Standard” I held out much longer but my tendency to amass numbers to overwhelm the enemy still meant ultimate failure.

So, I tried again. This round taking my time; considering my moves into conflicts.

The fact the game continued to trounce my attempts at any forward momentum and I still found myself wanting more, says something for this expansion of the much-lauded Company of Heroes series. At most other times in my life, I would have given up, especially because the developers have allowed only one option to save: “Save and Quit.” This prevents constant reloads. No longer is it possible to stab into the fog of war, see what's there, reload a save prior to the stab, reinforce the crews and crush the enemy hiding in the fog of war. The option to “Save and Quit” is merely a way to pause the game and pick-up where the player left off. It means that all decisions are unchangeable and should actually be considered.

It's a one-way ticket each and every time the player starts and because of the variety of companies and paths to victory, it's imminently replayable. For that reason alone, Ardennes Assault is a must buy expansion.

- Aaron Simmer
Follow @EmpireArmchair

The Good:
- The extra layers of strategy don't add to the complexity, but it certainly makes things more interesting
- Still looks awesome
- Pathfinding issues seem to be much less of an issue than they ever have been
- Repeated loses and I still kept playing

The Bad:
- Having a fourth company locked behind a paywall feels a little gross