Blitzkrieg 2: Fall of the Reich (FotR) is a stand alone expansion pack for Blitzkrieg 2, the 2D WWII RTS released by CDV in late 2005. Unfortunately, while the game offers new scenarios that focus on the Eastern Front at the end of WWII, there is little variation in the missions which makes it quite unlike its immediate predecessor. Yes, you’ll fight your way through summer and winter, but you don’t get to move between jungles, desert, and everything in between, and this is perhaps the first let down of the expansion – though you don’t really find that out until you’ve completed several missions.
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| Proud troops of the Fatherland march in formation past the bovine reviewing stand | Scratch one Panzer division! |
One thing you will notice almost immediately is that the missions are substantially harder than in the original game, even on the easiest difficulty level. While Blitzkrieg 2 was generally felt to be easy to play, unless you’re experienced with some of the intricacies of that game getting through even the first mission of FotR is going to take several tries. This isn’t helped by some quirks that compare unfavourably with newer RTS games – like the ability of anti-tank guns to take out your tanks with sometimes just one or two shots without being revealed in the fog of war. This can be incredibly annoying in a game where you can’t actually produce any units and must rely on those afforded you at the beginning and then made available as reinforcements later on. The fact that your units also tend to be slow to respond to commands, and are much better at getting themselves killed than doing any killing exacerbates this annoyance.
The missions themselves are relatively varied, but unfortunately tend to lend themselves all too frequently to being completed merely by lassoing all your armour together and sending it charging towards your next objective, rolling over every tree, house, and telegraph pole on the way. What you will be able to do is enjoy some of the bloodiest battles of WWII as the game features the Siege of Budapest, Operation Bagration, and the attack on Fortress Kurland. You’ll also get something of a feel of the different sides in the style of those missions. When playing as the Germans you’ll often feel surrounded and trying to fight your way through to relief or tenuously holding onto some objective. As the Russian it’s all about gobbling up land as quickly as you can, crushing the German defenses, or rooting out some stubborn opposition before they manage to slip away.
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| Air power is an important asset against any ground forces | Russian heavy tanks roll on towards a German held village |
One of the best parts of the game is the strategic level or campaign mode which becomes available after each completed mission. This gives you the ability to select reinforcements, provides a limited choice over the next mission destination, and most importantly assign sub-commanders to all your units. Over time these sub-commanders will gain experience, allowing the units they command to learn new skills, and hence become more deadly once you’re in the middle of another mission. This feature allows you to specialize in the units you prefer to use, whatever that happens to be. You can also use the strategic view to come back to failed missions with new or different reinforcements, and each victory adds new unit types to the roster. FoTR also includes an online multi-player option, though there are only four maps, and if you don’t want to be crushed in short order you may have to convince your opponent to limit how often they call in reinforcements.
One thing FotR has not brought is any change in graphics. They’re exactly the same as they were in the original game – which is not unusual for expansion packs, but in the 18 months since Blitzkrieg 2 was released they really seem to have aged, perhaps because of the current WWII RTS tour de force Company of Heroes. The explosions just don’t seem to have the same impact they once did, and while the 2D graphics allow a game that starts very quickly and has commendably short mission loading times on a moderately fast system, there just isn’t a lot going for them any more. The one redeeming feature is the fully destructible scenery, but even that looks dated compared to the visual grandeur of other games. The sound effects try, but seem to lack oomph and are occasionally somewhat distorted. The music is suitably martial but often fails to provide any real hype for battles.
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| What’s left of a town after Russian tanks roll through | Infantry can be useful at close quarters, but are very vulnerable in the open – especially against tanks |
While all games have a tendency to look old over time, even those that are nearest and dearest to our hearts, some manage it more gracefully than others. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, for example, while release before Blitzkrieg 2, still has more than enough panache to make a second successful expansion pack. Unfortunately, FotR seems more like one of those games that is struggling to keep up. It still has some nice features, like the campaign mode, but that too is unchanged from the previous game. The missions, as indicated before, are much harder though, and even though this is a stand alone game, anyone new to the Blitzkrieg games really should play through the original game before attempting this new expansion.
All in all, FoTR is a fairly run of the mill expansion pack that offers few new incentives in terms of missions or units, and it’s not something for every WWII RTS gamer to snatch up. That said, FoTR will appeal to those who enjoyed the original Blitzkrieg 2, want a few new challenges and things to overcome, and need to make sure they can still crush those pesky Russkies/Hitlerites one more time before bed.
BLITZKRIEG 2: FALL OF THE REICH VERDICT
All in all, FoTR is a fairly run of the mill expansion pack that offers few new incentives in terms of missions or units, and it’s not something for every WWII RTS gamer to snatch up. That said, FoTR will appeal to those who enjoyed the original Blitzkrieg 2, want a few new challenges and things to overcome, and need to make sure they can still crush those pesky Russkies/Hitlerites one more time before bed.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Fighting your way through to the objective, only to discover that the enemy has even more reinforcements arriving from off-map, then somehow rallying your forces to hold on to win the scenario.
