14 DAY TRIAL // I love almost every second spent in the multiplayer-focused beta of Company of Heroes 2, even those when I am getting defeated thoroughly by Russian jeeps with flamethrower infantry that I fail to counter appropriately.
Relic has managed to once again hit real-time strategy gold with its mix of respect for World War II, solid map design and interesting roster of units. The multiplayer experience of the sequel is more demanding and tactical than in the original title in the series.
Matches in Company of Heroes 2 are pretty long, especially when the automatch feature does its work well, which it usually does.
The units introduced, from infantry to tanks, all have their uses and the player who ignores the mortar team or the rocket launcher to focus on Grenadiers or on medium tanks will regret his decision in a hurry.
The only disappointment so far are the various Generals, which seem to be designed to force gamers into certain play styles and often fail to offer any interesting choices in terms of special powers.
The level-up rewards are also interesting, as they open up new generals and improvements for various units.
The battles also feature some influence from General Winter and the blizzard conditions can really make a difference, especially when the fires strewn across the battlefield are destroyed and engineers fail to start new ones to warm the troops.
I also played Company of Heroes 2 during the closed stress test earlier in the year and since then, the Relic team has improved the mechanics a lot and has also tweaked both the maps and the units to make matches more balanced and interesting.
Company of Heroes 2 will also offer a full single-player experience and a new Theater of War mode.
Launch will take place on the PC on June 25 and those who play the beta and buy the game can keep their progression.
You can get a better feel of the gameplay of Company of Heroes 2 by taking a look at the attached video.