Company of Heroes Overview

The love between game developers and world wars is no doubt a quixotic relationship and still continues to encourage game developers to create World War II inspired games, including - "COMPANY OF HEROES".(perhaps the one and only good thing wars have given us-inspiration to game developers)

But is the industry heading towards an overkill? We are in the year 2008, and have been bombarded with countless World War II based titles. Gamers are now becoming fed up of the same old theme being used and abused in every possible way! This is where Company of Heroes- opposing fronts comes in.

Opposing fronts (OF) is the standalone expansion to 2005's original Company of Heroes. This is a real time strategy game.

While CoH was based entirely on the American point of view, OF lets players decide between two factions in both single and multiplayer- The Allied British or the German Panzer Elite, each of these factions comes with its own pros and cons, and is perfectly balanced out.

THE ALLIED BRITISH:

The British army is the most cautious one, focusing on safety and defense tactics. There infantry prefers defensive stances which hinder their speed. The brits also heavily depend on firepower from the Cromwell tanks and Royal Artillery. The 'barrage' and 'creeping barrage' attacks are the most effective and need to be used extensively in order to mellow down the German defence.the British also tend to rely on mobile headquarter vans to keep supplying them with reinforcements and 'sappers' or engineers who are infantrymen who can also repair damaged vehicles.

Another influential regiment in the British force is the 'royal commandos' regiment. This regiment can deploy 'commandos' whose only objective is harassing the enemy infantry. The light Tetrarch tank can also be deployed by this regiment (on of the most effective tanks in the game), through the means of a glider plane.

THE GERMAN PANZER ELITE:
True to Hitler's 'Blitzkrieg' strategy the Panzer Elite mainly focuses on speedy attacks with the aid of numerous vehicles. Unlike the British, they cannot build entrenchments for defense, but can use halftracks to hold territory. The Germans also have the special ability to fire grenades, mounted weapons and heavy weaponry from inside the vehicles.

The Scorched earth tactic is the most conniving of all Elite tactics. Using this tactic, players can booby trap buildings and strategic points. Or even better, disable strategic points altogether. This little trick comes in handy when you are playing multiplayer, as by using this you can disable victory points as well. Since both factions are brilliantly balanced out, it's quite a challenge to play with either of the two. The single player campaigns revolve around the battle of Normandy for the German prospective and liberation of Caen for the British prospective.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Windows xp/vista
• Dual core processor 2.5 GHz
• 256 MB video card (GEforce 7x/8x/9x series should do it)
• 1 GB ram

CONCLUSION:

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is a brilliant gaming experience for both multiplayer and single players. The single player campaigns are detailed to perfection and have an immense entertainment value. The in-game battles are epic and truly bring in the authentic WWII feeling. The multiplayer mode is as usual great as usual especially with the interplayability factor. OF also has a dynamic weather system, which means you have to fight battles in the night time as well as in the daytime, and also in rainfall.

However this little gimmick has no effect on the overall gameplay. The game looks gorgeous as expected. Watching building explode and collapse while debris files all round was fun while the game ran in all its glory at our end.

The only flaw that we could find (if it can be called a flaw) is the reccuring world war 2 theme, which we mentioned earlier. Sure, we have had World in conflict, which is a strategy game set in the present/near future, but to have Company of Heroes - with its entire superb multiplayer and single player elements- set in the present word would be great.

By Ryan B