Difficulty is more important than accuracy for Relic

Dec 18, 2014 15:26 GMT  ·  By

The Battle of the Bulge tends to take on outsized importance in most media and Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault is no exception, with the development team at Relic aiming to tell a heroic tale in which the Allies, specially the US forces, are underpowered and unable to call in reinforcements, while the troops of Nazi Germany are on the cusp of reversing all the advances gained in 1944 on the Western Front.

The in-engine cutscenes created by the studio tell stories about underpowered American troops that are only holding on to various strategic locations, as the power of the Wehrmacht tries to dislodge them and throw them back into the Atlantic.

The slightly apocalyptic tone of Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault continues even when the campaign is almost over and the player controls most of the territory, with the German army reduced to just two or three well-fortified territories.

This is a problem because in the real world the Battle of the Bulge, while important, was not the kind of strategic move that could have changed the course of World War II in any meaningful way.

Hitler basically forced his generals to gamble even if their forces were not capable of achieving the stated objectives, and the airpower of the Allies was sure to cause problems once the bad weather was no longer an issue.

Relic focused on gameplay more than on history

From a gameplay perspective, it makes sense for the team at Relic to portray each engagement in Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault as a decisive one because this raises the stakes for most players and creates more tension when they face the enemy.

This also matches a gameplay mechanics that tends to make late game German forces more capable than in the initial attacks.

This makes sense for the video game because it needs its late game battles to be difficult, but it does not mesh well with historical realism.

The choice to prioritize gameplay over historical accuracy is a solid one on the part of Relic, but it would have been nice to see some more context in the game.

As it stands now, gamers need to hit Wikipedia or a history book to learn what really happened during the final stages of the Battle of the Bulge.

Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault remains a solid experience, anchored in history but never forgetting that players are mostly interested in battles and not in learning a lesson.

Company of Heroes 2 – Ardennes Assault Images (8 Images)

Into the Ardennes
Winter combatRanger path
+5more