Explosions stomp up and down the enemy line like giant invisible elephants. Quickly you call in artillery and SPG bombardments and desperately try to withdraw what's left of your recon force. Within seconds this doomed vanguard spots and is spotted by trench-cowering defenders, sandbagged AT guns and waiting armour. Ahead, obscured by grey murk, is your objective - often a village, town, bridge or railway station.

See if you like the sound of it.ДЄfter a short text briefing (sadly, no empathy-enhancing cut-scenes here) you usually find yourself hovering kestrel-like above a road, field, or wood in which sits a gaggle of expectant infantry squads and armour. Here's how a typical FotR scenario plays out.

Whether you'll actually want to return is another matter. Fail a scenario and you can come back to it later with a better choice of reinforcements (each victory adds new unit types to the reserves roster). Missions are all prefabricated but there's limited choice in the sequence order thanks to a simple map-based selection system. The two campaigns we've got here are inspired by the costly last-ditch defence of Kurland (Hitler orders a pointless defence of present-day Latvia) and Operation Bagration (the Soviets smash through Byelorussia into Poland). On reflection perhaps Nival should have held back some of these exotic settings for this add-on. In addition to the rubbled towns and churned fields of Europe, battles raged through sweaty Asian jungles and desiccated African deserts. One of the most appealing aspects of the now-budget-priced parent game was the wide selection of theatres and playable powers it offered. BK2 veterans perusing the feature list will be struck by the chronic lack of ambition, newcomers, the startling lack of variety. Fact.ДЇall of the Reich manages to be about as eye-catching as Stalingrad super-sniper Vasily Zaitsev by foolishly setting both its campaigns on the Eastern front during the final phase of WW2, introducing bugger-all in the way of new unit types, and adding no significant gameplay enhancements. SS troops celebrated Christmas by draping frosty fir trees with entrails. Just because developers occasionally fail in all of these areas, serving-up tired, forgettable mediocrities like this sad standalone expansion pack for Blitzkrieg 2, doesn't mean the theme itself is worn out. Recent titles like Company of Heroes and Faces of War prove this well-stocked sub-genre still has a lot left to give as long as designers find an original angle, evoke the drama, or deliver a sufficiently rich tactical experience. You'll have gathered from the above that I'm one of those charming eccentrics that's still enthusiastic about games featuring shrunken Shermans and titchy Tiger tanks. This has been a public information massacre on behalf of the You-probably wouldn't-bash-a-sci-fi-or-fantasy-RTS-on-the-basis-of-its-subject-matter -so-please-refrain-from-doing-the-same-when-faced-with-a-WW2-RTS Society. Right, now I'd like you all to stand really really still while my assistant here (Hans) removes the tarpaulin from this tripod-mounted Machinengewehr 42, gets comfortable, and commences firing.Д«RRRRRRRP-BRRRRRRRRP BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP. Would every games reviewer that has ever started a review of a WW2 RTS with a sentence along the lines of 'Oh God, not another WW2 RTS!' please go and stand next to that precipice over there.

Blitzkrieg 2 anthology maps