There has been a fall in popularity in Turn Base Strategy (TBS) games over the past few years. The reason for this is the lack of innovation, and the fact that players are flocking to Real Time Strategy games to avoid the doldrums that TBS offer. CDV decided to make a sequel to one of their top TBS games and see if they can breathe life back into this dying genre, and the result of is Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin. Does this game revive this genre? Read on to find out!

Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin is a tactical World War II combat simulation. The time period that is covered is the German Invasion of Russian in 1941 to the capture of Berlin in 1945. This game allows players to lead soldiers of Germany, Russia, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Italy, and Poland into battle. Needless to say there is a lot to do in this game, and a lot of different methods on how they can be accomplished.

Each turn is taken in two phases: the “orders phase” then the “go phase”. In the orders phase players take as much time to play and observe the battlefield and then give orders to all of their units. When they have given all of the orders they hit the “Go” button, when they do this the game goes into real time mode, and players watch as their units go to do all of their orders. It is during this time that players need to be extremely observant to see how the enemy reacts to your decisions so you can prepare to make your next move.

What makes Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin different from other games on the market is the way that you have to play it. To put it simply this game is like chess, players will always have to think three steps ahead of the enemy when they make their first move. When players have made a move, they will have to think of all of the benefits and consequences of that move. If players do not play ahead they will not win any of the missions. This game uses common sense and lots of strategy if players want to be successful.

There are a several ways that each scenario will end. One way is if the player doesn’t beat the enemy within the turn limit. Another way is if a cease-fire is agreed upon. The last way is if someone surrenders due to heavy causalities.

The graphics for Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin are really well done considering all of the things that are in this game. Throughout the course of the game players will see over three hundred different types of vehicles and seven hundred different infantry units. When you consider the sheer amount of things players will see, the game will appear to be even better looking. Also there are time of day, weather, and other changes that make this game seem even more realistic.

The audio for this game is really welldone. One thing that really stands out is that each nationality that users can play as, will shout orders in their native tongue. This really makes the game feel that much more authentic. All of the sound effects that are heard throughout the game are also extremely realistic. What is really interesting about this when playing through the game, all of the weapons and soldiers had their own unique sounds to them.

Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin is rated T for Teen.

The system requirements are:
500 MHz or better Processor
64 MB of RAM
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
4X CD-Rom
DirectX 8.0
Direct X compliant video card with 16 MB of VRAM
Direct X compatible soundcard
28.8 Kbps or better Internet Connection to play online
1.8 GB of Hard Drive Space
Keyboard and Mouse.

Gameplay: 8.6
This game takes a while to get used to, but once players figure out what to do, they will have a blast!

Graphics: 8.4
For the entire scope of the game, the graphics do a real nice job of conveying everything. It isn’t as pretty as a few other recently released RTS games, but it gets the job done with style. I ran this game on a very high resolution and I never received any slow down which makes this game even better!

Sound: 8.5
CDV did a good job here. The only thing that was lacking was the variety of music; everything else is perfect.

Difficulty: Hard
The AI in this Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin can get pretty tough at times, but if players have the patience and skill they will be able to defeat anything that comes their way.

Concept: 8.4
As I have stated before the new civilizations and units really mold well with the rest of the game.

Multiplayer: 8.4
Playing against another human is always more enjoyable than against the computer AI. The game plays like a dream online and you will have a blast playing it!

Overall: 8.5
Combat Mission II: Barbarossa to Berlin is what some might call a real RTS dream with over 125 scenarios to play and over 200 mods on the second CD. Anyone who buys this game will definitely get their moneys worth!