Company of Heroes : Opposing Fronts
Developer: THQ
Publisher: Relic
Score: 8.5/10
Released: Sep 24 2007 (US) / Sep 28 2007 (EU)
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is the next instalment in the successful Company of Heroes series, this time bringing in the British and the fearsome German Panzer Elite. New specialized units, with beasts such as the King Tiger and the lethal 105mm Priest Artillery sets up for hours of fun.
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts was released just about a year after the official launch of Company of Heroes itself. For those that haven’t played the series at all (shame on you), it’s all about WW2 tactical RTS combat at it’s very peak. The AI introduced, along with the graphics, was extremely well done at it’s time, there’s still very few titles to this date that can match the quality of this over two year old engine.
Opposing Fronts introduces two brand new armies to the game, the British and the Panzer Elite, both which are highly specialized armies that more or less lacks the bread and butter units like the US Riflemen squads and German Grenadier squads. What they lack in versatility, they gain in sheer fire-power and even more nasty surprises for careless enemies.
The Panzer Elite is focused heavily on mobility, with the initial squads being able to both repair your damaged armour, as well as packing quite a heavy punch against other infantry units. The strength with this army lies in movement, you rarely see a Panzer player ducking behind cover and taking up a defensive role. Their strength really lay in their mobility, usually raiding behind enemy lines and taking down any US or British foes that are stupid enough to go behind their lines.
This is not the case of the British player though, the Brits are extremely capable of setting up defensive positions, much thanks to the new trench building, and the awesome power of their 17-pounder Anti-Tank cannons which easily turns any German panzer unit, beside the Jagdpanzer and the King Tiger, into a pile of twisted metal within seconds. If that weren’t enough, they can also build the heavy 25-pounder Howitzer Gun to make German infantry caught in its blast fly sky high.
Factions
The new factions are both leaned towards veteran players, since they require a whole different playstyle than the regular armies, but the rewards for mastering one (or both) of them is so rewarding it’s well worth the hours spent honing your skills. There’s rarely anything as satisfying as steam-rolling into your opponents base with dozens of heavily armoured units leaving a trail of destruction in your steps, or on the other hand, watching the same convoy get massacred by a fortified British position.
Two new campaigns will easily keep you hooked for another good 15 hours of play, and when you’ve finished them both, it just takes a matter of minutes before you can start rocking out in the superb multiplayer part of the game – just be careful not to go in over your head, it’s quite easy to get overwhelmed at the beginning by experienced players.
Jens “Bonius” Albonius
AllUPlay
2008-09-01
