The pedigree of this game is indisputable. Relic Entertainment have produced high-quality games since their breakout hit Homeworld in 1999. Their latest franchise, Company of Heroes, has been extremely well-received by both the media and fans of the genre. It was the first RTS game for a long time to really push the genre forward in gameplay and graphics. The level of interaction with the environment and the squad control was excellent, as was the AI and the visuals. Altogether, it was a polished, refined and well-conceived game brimming with quality.

It seems strange then that their direct follow-up to this groundbreaking game ends up lacking the quality and polish of the original. Opposing Fronts is a standalone expansion pack, meaning you do not need the original game to run it. It features two expansive campaigns and two brand new armies, as well as new units for the original races from the first. The graphics have also received an overhaul, featuring new weather effects, greater detail on the units, and as a wider range of environments and locations to blow up. On the face of it, Opposing Fronts should have been Company of Heroes, only better. It isn’t.

The main failing is the detraction from where the original shone. The simplicity of the units, while having gameplay depth, was what made it accessible. Relic have said themselves the entire reason for setting the game in World War II was because it was a recognizable conflict that would enable people new to the genre to get onboard with.

Everyone knows what a Sherman tank looks like. Everyone knows a Tiger Tank will steamroll basic riflemen, and everyone knows a Howitzer can bombard enemy positions.

The units were familiar to anyone who had seen Saving Private Ryan, and this enabled the game to portray the conflict in brilliant detail and with a fresh look at the RTS genre. There was a gritty realism to the game, tanks were tanks and men were men and the gameplay was built around these simple rules of familiarity.

In Opposing Fronts, relic has introduced two wildly different armies, the British Allied forces of the Commonwealth, and the Panzer Elite armored units of the Axis forces. Both of these armies feature less-familiar units such as the Funkwagen, Bergetiger or Bren Carrier. These are, of course, accurate to real units from history but are definitely of a more exotic flavor. It is here that Opposing Fronts begins to falter.

As well as strange units, the game introduces wildly different gameplay. The British especially have no base to build, but rather requisition in command trucks which form mobile production buildings, driving around the map and securing locations. They also have more than enough abilities to dig into a location and never be routed, from ridiculously strong permanent defenses such as trenches, AT gun emplacements to MG nests and entrenched artillery, as well as abilities from the Royal Canadian Artillery. The British are a turtling race, a gameplay style Relic first went against with Dawn of War and then completely perfected with Company of Heroes. Turtling is not fun for either side: Company of Heroes prevented too much of this with the ability to cut off resources. But the British don’t need a chain of supply, as they can just park their base in the resource sectors and always have the supply.

In contrast, the Panzer Elite are the perfect fast attack army. With a plethora of half track variants, as well as fast tanks and plenty of abilities to secure and deny sectors, they are a good balance to the British. They can booby-trap buildings or strategic points, bombard sectors until the enemy is dead, call in air support to patrol areas, and even use the scorched-earth abilities to deny the opponent and themselves valuable resources.

On the face of it, both new races have new gameplay styles and work well against each other. The problem is that they are so different from Company of Heroes, in both appearance and play style, that you do get a feeling that you are playing a completely different game at times.

Overall, Opposing Fronts is a package of great value. The single player campaign is long and gives both sides of the story this time. But yet again, we are fighting in 1945 France. More variety to the battlefields would have been nice. The new armies are peculiar enough in style and implementation that fans of the series will be pleased with their new toys, but being standalone implies Relic believes they will attract new fans who don’t own the original, and the new armies might put these people off. They are not as accessible as the first game, and have much more complex strategies and tactics.

If you own Company of Heroes, getting Opposing Fronts is a no-brainer. It is an excellent addition to a fantastic series which has blazed a trail through the RTS genre since it launched. But for people new to the series, you are better off buying the original game and proceeding from there. Opposing Fronts is certainly an expansion pack, and should be treated as more content for the fans than an entry point to the series.