Despite not spending any serious time with the original war/strategy classic, Unity of Command II was a game I knew that I had to check out. This is a game that is all about war and making tough decisions as you lead the Allies to victory in World War II! It is the kind of game that is easy to play and hard to master which is always a good thing.
How to Download Unity of Command II
You can download the game from Steam. Click on the Download button below this review.
The Game Review
Unity of Command II has a very impressive campaign called, The War In The West. The campaign runs from 1943 in North Africa and goes all the way to 1945. What is cool is that no two playthroughs are identical as there are branching paths. It’s kind of tells an “alternate” history with its story, but it is very engaging and well done.
Of course, any kind of strategy/war game is going to live or die by the way it plays. I was surprised at how easy the game was to get into and the early Tunisian mission did a wonderful job in teaching me the basics of everything that I needed to know. What is neat about this is that it also has many other elements that you learn by trial and error. This makes it a great example of a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master.
Decisions, Decisions
While I say the game is very easy to get into, you have a ton of decisions to make. Do you push through and deal with the causalities? Do you set up a perimeter and take out the outside forces first? Do you use paratrooper to try and get behind enemy lines? There are so many tactical decisions that you make and each one feels like it matters. One new aspect (from what I understand) is getting intel from stragglers you pick up which is fun.
I once used a tank to bulldoze my way through a blockade and felt like the most badass commander in the world. This was just a short-term fix as I took tons of casualties and had no good way of getting support. I really like the way that the game makes you think about what you do. When you do make a mistake, it is usually quite clear what you did wrong and you can use that as a learning experience for later.
There is a good selection of specialists in the game and using their upgrades as well as each unit having their own HQ certainly keeps you on your toes. Unity of Command II is the kind of game when you explain to someone new to the genre, sounds very overwhelming. While there is a lot of plates to keep spinning here, the game does it very well and you do feel like the challenge is 100 percent fair.
The Graphics in Unity of Command II
As far as the visuals go, I have a feeling these are going to be something you either love or hate. I really cannot think of another war or strategy game that has a visual style similar to this. I actually quite like it, but there are some who say the map is rather hard to read due to the visual style they went for here.
The game has been out for a couple of months as of writing and a few fixes have been made here and there. It is my understanding however, there is more content to come which sounds exciting. This is something I am most certainly looking forward to checking out. It is single-player only, but I am fine with that.
The Verdict
I was very impressed with Unity of Command II and can see my self playing through it multiple times. Not just because of the branching paths, but because I want to have fun changing up my tactics too. I think this is a great strategy game if you are a hardcore veteran of the genre or even if you are new to it.
