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Hi, Relic / Sega have lifted the NDA restrictions on discussion only, so sadly I can't post screenies or anything. I've been playing in the Beta for almost ten days and thought I'd share some thoughts with those of you who enjoyed the original game and are thinking about perhaps picking up this one. CoH2 is all about the Russian Front. It has rousing choral music that sounds like the Red Army choir, blizzards that kill your troops if you can't make it to sources of fire and deep snow that can bog down vehicles. Oh, and iced-over lakes that you can blow up, sinking any units attempting to cross it. It also tries to capture the meat-grinder character of the theatre, which has led to some controversial gameplay changes. Hardcore fans are slightly concerned, but speaking as one of them myself, I am adapting the more I play. And, bejaysus, there is a lot of Arty in CoH2. If you like dropping inordinate amounts of indirect fire on your enemy and blowing them into paste, then you'll enjoy this game. It was identified immediately as OP (on the Beta forum it quickly became dubbed 'Company of Mortars') and I think is having some timely nerfs applied. Anita whatshername would approve of the heroic depiction of Kommunist sniper-chicks in CoH2 nyhow, here is the meat and potatoes... Eye-Candy TBH it doesn't look like we've had seven years of progress from the original. Having said that the first game still looks great. Blizzard / weather effects are excellent. Unit models are good, some of the new units are great (Katyusha rocket trucks, SturmPanzers etc). The Soviet sniper teams come in a boy / girl combo but my favourite unit is the T-70 tank, a crazy lightly-armoured Dalek of a unit with a female commander who can pop out of the turret to increase line of sight. There are also scout cars and halfies you can load snipers and flamethrower units into for even more mayhem and incinerated Fascists. The GUI is frickin horrible and we all want it changed: too busy, clumsy and distracting. Here is an NDA-free example that has already been released... The resource stats are to the right (not shown here) and are horizontal. I hate it. I think given the barrage of nerdrage Relic might tweak it. Big battles (3 v 3 & 4 v 4) look utterly brilliant - swarms of armour rolling across arty-strafed battlefields. I would prefer the camera to let me pan out a bit more, again a common complaint on the Beta forums. Ear-Candy CoH2 has the best sound I've ever heard in a computer wargame. All of the historic weapons were fired for real and recorded. The armour clanks and groans as it trundles onto the battlefield. The music is solid and rousing, although will never surpass the genius of the original. The soldier chatter is, as usual for a CoH title (one German AT gunner is moaning about dragging the gun, the other reminds him that's because they ate all the horses). Gameplay We have seen nothing of the official campaign, only multiplayer so please bear that in mind. Faster than CoH1. Much faster. Tanks roll out quicker, units cannot build the static defences prevalent in CoH1 (no concrete bunkers or zombie grens or tank traps) so it is a game of fire-and- manoeuvre. This has led to allegations of the "Command and Conquer" style dumbing down of the franchise, but TBH this is a tad harsh (although I wish they'd slow the pace down a bit, it's very frenetic for an old fart like me). A primordial meta is developing that might put this into context. The Soviets play a little bit like Amis from CoH1 but the Germans have devastating late game armour (most 3 v 3s and 4 v 4s have StuGs running around by the twelve / thirteen minute mark, they are very cheap to build and get spammed). A critical hit system against vehicles allows for all sorts of mayhem (stunned crews / damage to vision blocks / engines / weapons). Swarming suicidal Soviet penal troops armed with satchel charges onto crippled Nazi armour is a totally do-able tactic in this game and is very Eastern-Frontish in feel. The VP / resource system has changed too. You can now build resource OPs on any point and choose which resource to boost (Fuel or Munis). This makes cut-offs less of an acute problem, which changes the meta completely. There is an interesting roster of units and 'Commanders' (who you can customise, I'm slightly underwhelmed as you have to take their abilities in order, unlike CoH where there were skill trees). The Russians have penal troops, cannon fodder conscripts, elite Guards infantry (wearing capes!), metal-armoured close combat infantry with SMGs, all sorts of tank destroyers etc. Germans have less infantry varieties (one squad is rifles / MG42 with upgrade the other MP44 / Panzerschreck with upgrades) but shed-loads of armour and vehicles. Conclusion It's... different but still CoH. It will take a lot of getting used to. It's as if a diehard BG fan had opened up NeverWinter Nights and discovered that it didn't suck donkey balls. If you want a fast-paced but tactically deep WW2 RTS game that is less fussy than Men of War but more gritty than something involving hex-squares and men with beards, then you really might like this. Feel free to ask questions! Cheers MC