[h1]Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts[/h1]
[h3]Amazing DLC with very Solid Content[/h3]
[h3]Really worth getting with the full game bundle[/h3]
Opposing Fronts is the first DLC for the game and the one that added the most content out of the two expansions released for the first installment. In many ways, it is an excellent expansion that added great replayability value to the game at the time by introducing new armies, units, and maps.
This expansion introduced the Panzer Elite and the British Commonwealth, two unique factions with their own strengths and weaknesses that added more variety to the game. Although to be honest, the British Commonwealth feels like an underdeveloped faction, with rough game mechanics and an unusually slow gameplay style. Unlike the British, the Panzer Elite became one of the strongest factions in the game, especially in multiplayer thanks to its fast and aggressive playstyle.
The campaigns introduced in this expansion are equally enjoyable and challenging.The difficulty is well balanced during the first missions, where the core mechanics of each faction are introduced. However, the later ones can become extremely difficult, requiring us to destroy seemingly endless waves of armored vehicles and heavy infantry. On the other hand, the level design is varied, with each scenario having unique objectives and different ways to complete them. Both campaigns have a reasonable length, especially considering that they are additional content for the base game.
From a historical perspective, this expansion takes a considerable amount of creative liberties and condenses many ot the events of the operations it portrays, simplifying large and complex battles into smaller playable scenarios. This is understandable to some extent, given that it is an expansion rather than another full game. However, the way these battles are presented feels somewhat linear and provides little sense of how much time passes between events.
[h3]Liberation of Caen[/h3]
As an introductory campaign for the British Commonwealth, it is quite comprehensive, showcasing both the basic and more advanced mechanics of the faction. It also features a good variety of missions, including sabotage operations, seek-and-destroy sections, and defensive scenarios. However, these latter missions suffer from some gameplay balance issues, even on the intermediate difficulties. It is impressive how many enemies these scenarios throw at you while providing such a limited resource income to defend key points on the map. Overall, it is a fairly entertaining campaign, but it has certain issues that prevent it from being fully enjoyable.
[h3]Operation Market Garden[/h3]
Compared to the British campaign, it covers fewer of the Panzer Elite's mechanics and war doctrines, making it less of an introductory campaign and more of a collection of straightforward, combat-focused missions. The main issue with this campaign is that several missions reuse the same scenarios, only under different weather conditions or at night, with objectives focused on defending strategic points. For the previous reason, this campaign can feel somewhat repetitive.
Operation Market Garden is an enjoyable campaign that makes some use of the Panzer Elite's unique mechanics, although it does not explore the faction as thoroughly as it could. Regarding this, the Panzer Elite, in particular, does not represent any specific Wehrmacht division or regiment, but rather combines different German units under a single faction built around a fast and highly mechanized playstyle.
