Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

The second World War has been the center of attention in countless movies and video games, with every major battle being simulated and reenacted on multiple occasions. However, very few strategy games actually offered you the possibility to take full control of the troops and employ your own warfare tactics, regardless of how ineffective or bound to fail they turn out to be.

Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin is the second title in the highly-acclaimed turn-based strategy series that revolutionized the wargame genre, by allowing the players to try out basically everything that went through their heads and put it into practice under very realistic conditions. The mix of TBS and RTS turned out to be very inspired and effective, since it did not affect the amount of tactical options available, while it also spiced up the gameplay quite a bit.

In this sequel, the very same mechanics are reused to maintain quality, but a few other gimmicks have been introduced as well, which have the role to improve on what was already there and extend the amount of freedom you have out on the battlefield. The story revolves around the conflict between the German forces and the Soviets, starting with the massive invasion organized by Germany.

The genre mixture mentioned earlier has remained largely unchanged between the episodes however, since the mechanics are basically the same and they should be all too familiar to the fans of the series. Hence, you are allowed to give orders to every unit under your command while the pause mode is active, which means that there are no time limits to how much you can think your strategy through. After you finish and you are ready to see the outcome, you can start the simulation and watch the soldiers carry out your orders to the best of their abilities.

Just like before, the collection of historically-accurate troops, vehicles and locations is staggering, especially when you consider the length of the main campaign and the variety of missions you have to complete to reach the end. Moreover, the graphics engine has been heavily improved as well, which can be clearly observed by looking at the detailed units on the battlefield, as well as by enjoying the particles and special effects whenever something blows up on the map.

There are many other things that can be praised at this sequel, such as the accurate ballistics and the realistic troop response on the battlefield, due to communication delays. However, the best way you can enjoy them is by actually playing the game, because Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin is a textbook example of how wargames should present themselves.