While DLC has the potential to introduce imbalance, with purchased items that give advantage, so far CoH 2 has not had this issue. What it does offer through DLC is new campaigns and features such as Twitch support. This allows for more to be added to the game to do and see, which keeps players that enjoy the game coming back when purchasing these items.
Other things such as cosmetics can also be purchased through DLC (really micro-transactions), which do not impact gameplay at all but offer a way to individualize oneself from the masses.
The multiplayer of the game tends to be where the majority of fun can be seen. While single player is a worthwhile en-devour in the game, it just can not stand up against playing with real people.
The included multiplayer has plenty of competitive maps as well as a section of co-op maps that are similar to the campaign mode (though not as plentiful).
Company of Heroes 2 is an RTS game that focuses more on smart decision making of micro unit control over macro control and actions per minute. This allows for a more deep strategy to the game as user will need to think aggressively and quickly.
Strategy plays a big part as units can utilize cover with buildings as well as vehicles. The action on screen can often be slow which also allows for more micro management and planned out attacks.
While not a huge improvement over the first game in the series (Company of Heroes), the graphics to be found in CoH2 are still quite astounding for an RTS. Being that the genre tends to have many moving parts in any given level, the graphics tend to take a backseat to gameplay, but CoH 2 decided to offer better graphics than most in a very rich and detailed environment as well as troops.
There will be plenty of realistic explosions to watch, as well as smoke after the fact that looks quite real. The animations to be found are also quite good, troops run as you would expect real people to run, vehicles move exactly as expected as well. Just about anything in the graphics department for this game stands out with a ton of polish.
When facing off against units or vehicles that use flame weapons, the users troops can be killed a little too quickly. being that the weapons can often come out of nowhere, it can be frustrating as the level will most likely need to be replayed with the knowledge that flame weapons will be coming up.
Some of the missions in the game can require the player to keep track of up to 135 units at once, on three different fronts at that , which can be difficult to manage. While not completely unmanageable, this is something to consider for those that want something a bit more simplistic out of their RTS.
The cutscenes, even though they are not animated with the in game engine look pretty abysmal. Why they are animated so poorly is unknown, but it definitely stands out.
There is a direct control setting where the player can control their troops actions in real time, which makes it more like a third person shooter over a RTS.
Unlike a lot of RTS games where you keep building troops to spam at the enemy. Assault Squad requires constant micromanagement where the player must plan meticulously who to send where and at what time.
Campaign lacks a story. It's just 15 skirmish missions that the player chooses from with no over arching plot at all. This game is focused on the gameplay and has left the story to the wayside.
It will take a good bit of practice before you get used to the gameplay and all of its mechanics, so for those without the time to invest the learning curve may be a hurdle not worth getting over.
Each mission in the campaign plays out slowly and requires careful planning, slight mistakes and the game is not that forgiving. this means the player must give full attention to the game and its enthralling story as it unfolds.
The pacing is quite slow, which may take a player quite a while to get interested in the game. This may be a turn off for some as it can take too long before interesting plot points happen.