Does today's new cinematic Company of Heroes 2 trailer in any way inform you of how good the game will be? Not in the least. Does it give you a pleasant two minutes of watching something pretty? Oh absolutely! In that spirit, here, brighten up your morning with a miserable look at the trials and tribulations of a Red Army soldier.
The beta for Company of Heroes 2 is rolling on through the end of April. In the meantime, Shacknews got a chance to check out the new Theater of War mode, which offers special challenge missions for anyone looking to take a side turn from the main campaign and get some additional training before heading into the multiplayer arena.
Now that Sega will be publishing Company of Heroes 2, it has decided to up the ante a bit by offering a new Digital Collector's Edition that will include a few more perks than the one originally announced by THQ back in September.
Company of Heroes 2 was originally slated to come out this month, but the bankruptcy of former publisher THQ and the subsequent sale of developer Relic Entertainment to Sega has pushed the game's release date back to June 25.
Relic Entertainment was among the studios picked up in yesterday's THQ auction announcements, having been acquired by Sega. The Homeworld franchise pioneered by Relic, on the other hand, apparently wasn't part of the deal. As a result, mobile studio teamPixel has started a crowd-funding campaign to purchase the IP.
In an auctioning process, THQ has sold many of its studios and upcoming games. Sega has agreed to purchase Relic Entertainment, developer of the upcoming Company of Heroes 2. Given the publisher's penchant for PC strategy games (like the Total War series), Relic's future may be relatively safe in the House of Sonic. According to @DDInvesting, Sega fronted $26 million in the auction, proving they want ownership of the PC strategy space.
Koch Media, owner of the Deep Silver publishing label, has agreed to purchase publishing rights for Metro: Last Light, and Volition, developer of THQ's successful Saints Row franchise. Koch Media offered $22.3 million for Volition, $5.8 million for Metro.
Now that Relic has finally taken off the wraps off the multiplayer portion of Company of Heroes 2, we chatted with global communication manager Simon Watts about how the game has changed since 2006, and whether it needed to change.
The biggest addition to Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes 2 has to be winter. Braving the elements in a bone-chilling Russian winter will force players to approach online multiplayer in a new way.
"Tactical RTS is about being a smart commander and making smart decisions on the fly," communication manager Simon Watts told Shacknews at a recent multiplayer event. "If they're a great player, it shouldn't be just about having one build order. If a blizzard blows in, they should be ready to adapt to that. If they don't have a contingency, they aren't a great player. That's what strategy is all about."
Got yourself a big shiny DirectX 11 video card, have you, but furious that few games seem to do much with it? You'll be pleased to hear that Company of Heroes 2 dabbles in DX11 for a few shiny effects, then, shown off by publisher THQ in a trio of new screenshots from Relic's RTS.
THQ's recent bankruptcy filing led to a flurry of speculation, but the company's new president wants to reassure fans that this actually means good things for the company's future, pointing out that "whatever happens, the teams and products look likely to end up together and in good hands. That means you can still pre-order Metro: Last Light, Company of Heroes 2, and South Park: The Stick of Truth."
Company of Heroes 2's tagline is "Winter if Coming." With the Soviets serving as the primary protagonists this time around, such a (faux) tagline makes sense. It is, after all, very cold in Mother Russia. But how will that affect the multiplayer?
For a rather large contingent of fans, this is not a trivial question. The original Company of Heroes remains one of the most popular traditional real-time strategy games this side of StarCraft, and it retains a devoted multiplayer following. Much of that appeal is derived from sheer novelty. Where StarCraft, Command & Conquer, and every other RTS are high-speed clickfests, Company of Heroes is slow and realistic. It prides itself on simulating a real battlefield.
Read more: Is the winter tileset too brutal for multiplayer? »
Company of Heroes 2 takes place on the Eastern front during World War II, featuring some of the bloodiest battles of World War II. A new trailer for the game from THQ shows off the "Turning Point" of the war from the Russian perspective.
Two of THQ's most anticipated games are now expected to ship in March, "later than initially planned."
Metro: Last Light, a first-person shooter from 4A Games, was already delayed to Q1, but now we're certain of its March release. Company of Heroes 2, a long-awaited RTS sequel, has also been delayed. But hey, at least you know what pre-order bonuses you'll get.
You may not have put down your money yet for Company of Heroes 2, but the game features Russian conflict. The Russians have ways of making you talk -- or, you know, pre-order. THQ announced its Digital Collector's Edition today, along with a handful of pre-order goodies.
The Russian front in winter is a cold, desolate, unforgiving landscape. Armies have fallen by underestimating the bitter, bone-chilling conditions of the country's northern regions. Company of Heroes 2 puts this experience in stark relief by making the environment itself as dangerous as any enemy army, and looks to give the real-time strategy genre a fresh dose of realism.
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