Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2014/07/08/game_theory_review_valiant_hearts_and_company_of_heroes_the_western_front_armies/
Battle ready: Valiant Hearts and Company of Heroes: Western Front
War is Fun Hell
Posted in Personal Tech, 8th July 2014 09:02 GMT
Game Theory Later this month we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Europe's plunge into the deadly turmoil of World War I.
War stories
The role of dogs in the Great War was varied – sniffing out explosives and lugging equipment are just two of their tasks that spring to mind – but I can presume they played a much important role of companionship in desperate times.
Indeed, college is almost finished for this academic year and your correspondent will soon be catching the ferry to Normandy to snuggle with four dogs on a sofa in her mum’s French farmhouse – and possibly play and replay a few choice war games.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War is set in the bloodshed that swept across Europe between 1914 and 1918 and tells a century-old story in a creative, innovative and meaningful way. I know Ofsted wouldn’t approve but I would like to plonk every 16-year-old that comes into my classroom in front of this game for a few hours, as it is an astonishingly moving educational tool. It's certainly less traumatic than finding a copy of Krieg dem Krieg (War against War) on the library bookshelf.
The characters of Valiant Hearts – Anna, Karl, Freddie and Emile – have interweaving storylines over the course of the war. While fictional, these tales are obviously inspired by ordinary citizens of Europe and the letters they used to communicate.
Dogged devotion
Caught up in a situation they have no control over, all the game's characters can do is help each other and adapt to the horrors they face. One of the most heart-rending of these moments is when Freddie and Emile join forces to free the yelping war doggie Walt from barbed wire and prevent him from being crushed by an armoured vehicle.
Walt is the centre of the narrative, and a mainline to my heartstrings. Bred for medic duty in the German Army, Walt the dog encounters each of the characters and weaves their stories together with his innocent unprejudiced point of view. In the game, the dog helps the player to complete puzzles by digging holes and pulling switches.
Dead zeppelin
French farmer Emile is conscripted into the French forces at the same time Karl, his son-in-law, is conscripted into the German army, leaving Emile’s daughter, Marie – who is also Karl’s wife – alone in Saint-Mihiel with their newborn baby. The narrated letters sent back from Emile to daughter Marie describe the depth of human struggle and the misery of the trenches.
The sketchy comic 2D woodcut graphics created by the UbiArt engine are used to great effect, not only revealing these dark personal stories but also depicting the corpse-littered battlefields of Ypres and Verdun. The aesthetic cleverly matches animations of the time, with moving maps and stop-motion movements. The game is scored with moving piano arrangements that use familiar melodies combined with atmospheric devices and sound effects.
Driving is a blast
The puzzles of Valiant Hearts are a narrative device to further the plot. An initially simple one has Emile cooking a sausage for baddie Baron Von Dorf, but the puzzles become harder as you ascend in level. More complex tasks include fixing a neighbour's plumbing in order to receive items to bargain with other non-player characters to open doors. The most exhilarating part of the game involves driving at breakneck speeds through streets of Paris, zooming under the Arc de Triomphe to the sound of the can-can to deliver French reinforcements to the front line.
Conflict zones
These puzzles and tasks are never too taxing, though some of the latter ones can be quite clever and complex, such as the dexterity puzzles that involve Anna healing the wounded on the front line – her patient’s improving/failing health is charted on a bandage heart monitor scrolling across the top of the screen.
Bandage ticker monitors health
It’s the ambitious scope of Valiant Hearts that makes it a piece of art. It takes on a variety of genres and does justice to them all at a sensible price. This is possible because of the obvious attention to detail and research of Ubisoft Montpellier. Starting a new area, the player will find the page of a book or discarded telegram that will detail relevant historical facts that add context to the game, as it details the experiences of the civilians, nurses and 65 million men who were mobilised during the First World War.
Indeed, Valiant Hearts: The Great War shows how human and animal spirit can rise above the conflict.
Company of Heroes: The Western Front Armies
It was with heavy heart and a sense of excitement that I downloaded the new Company of Heroes: The Western Front Armies expansion (no I won’t do it the injustice of calling it DLC). I felt let down by Rome – which seemed like a step backwards – and after being drawn back into its close-knit online community, this is my new RTS game of choice.
Although players aren’t immune to coming over all DOTA 2, on the whole, rage quitting is considered bad form and I always prefer a mutual group surrender.
The addition of two very different armies with their own distinct feel and personality, a bucketload of maps and various improvements to performance and presentation gave me a wealth of new options for a considerably small sum.
The Americans are back (as usual, late to the fray) with three new commanders, including my much-loved airborne division. Versatile, flexible and sneaky, they can grab control of a position while you're occupied elsewhere.
The Germans’ Oberkommando West are all about slow, steady building and experience. Defensive points are created by supply trucks refashioned into command posts to secure the map and delay enemy advances.
The Company of Heroes 2: Western Front Armies DLC is a balanced and polished addition to a strategy game that was already near-perfect to start with. While some have complained that the cost is a bit steep for those who've already invested in the game, I have to admit my fingers never even twitched over that PayPal button, and the pricing is even more attractive to those who want to join the battle.
Suddenly, war is, dare I say it, fun again. The trenches are forgotten and I’m escaping the horrors of war by glorying in its goriest battles. Ultimately, what makes war games, the endless TV serials and the books so compelling is the drama. Whether it’s the drama of the tragic miseries of The Great War or the drama of battle – picking an elite army for a RTS multiplayer skirmish – let us never forget our history.
In the immortal words of Baldrick in Black Adder Goes Forth “Boom, boom, boom, boom.” ®