Dear developers,

I gave you a positive rating to support you but please for god sake fix this painful fiddly control system and bring this game to the level it could be. I would love to focus on the strategy part of this game but most of the time I'm buisy with working around controls and bugs.

To name the most important issues:

- fix examining command (inventory does not always open)
- increase the hitbox size of wounded soldiers when medic is selected
- make wounded soldiers or the symbol more visible (or emphasize by pressing V)
- make abondened MGs and Mortars more visible (or emphasize by pressing c)
- Automatically select the crew after unload command
- Introduce a "drive backwards" command for vehicles
- repairing crew should not leave the tank if no repair tools are available. Provide audio feedback.
- provide audio feedback when unit cannot execute a command for some reason
- provide a sight and shooting cone tool for cannons and units
- at least provide stats showing the range of a cannon
- provide an option to configure a seperate hotkey for first person and third person view.
- use right click only to execute commands. left-click for canceling only.
- let infantry face a single direction when right click + drag into cover
- give me a chance to select more than one squad at once
- provide a comfortable way to quickly select single squad member without destroying the squad organiszation (eg. by pressing tab or shift+tab to switch )
- selecting a single squad member icon should not remove him from the squad (use special hotkey instead)
- box-Selecting units should not destroy predefined squads
- use hotkey + box-select to reorganize or create new squads
- fix the pathing system
- give me a chance to hide abondened vehicles/weapons from the mini map
- provide more quality of life eg. show a status symbol when tanks are out of ammo or fuel
- make AI voice warnings less anoying (Like don't warn every 3 seconds that there is an MG somewhere in the fog of war)
- oh yes.. Let me load a save game without showing the campaign video everytime upfront

Simply the most in-depth military simulation RTS ever made. The attention to detail is astounding, the immersion total and the possibilities endless.

Exemple scenario:

Your squad is reduced to 6 men barely holding on to a destroyed church. Your bazooka operator is dead, a panzer IV just showed its nose around the corner to the west and 2 squads of fresh infantry are running in the field to the east. In most games you'd be done, but not In this one.

You can have a medic throw a smoke grenade on the deceased bazooka operator and send an infantryman to pickup the weapon and ammo on the corpse, shoot the panzer then have 3 others rain AT and AP grenades on it while the crew is shocked, while another soldier grabs the MG42 a dead german left and repositions it in a window overlooking the eastern field, allowing him to wipe out most of the enemy infantry. The window gets blown up by a mortar but this bought enough time for your Sherman and extra squad to show up and clear the rest. You place the tank aiming down the street behind a downed truck and scatter your men around the buildings to catch the counter attack.

you'll never get as much dopamine as you will when you hit a BT-5 with a 120MM HE shell.

I bought this game for one reason only and that is to treat it like a FPS. I know that's weird for a RTS/FPS hybrid game, but for myself, I love having boots on the ground and feeling like I'm part of an epic battle. So, I simply choose a map under multiplayer and do local play. The map size has to be 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3 for this to work right. I play with 1 or 2 AI team mates and here's the kicker - I let them do all the heavy lifting against enemy AI while I form up a squad, or jump into a tank and away we go, one big battle. I know for all the strategists out there who love multitasking and looking at things from a bird's-eye view would cringe at me playing this way, but I absolutely enjoy playing like this. It doesn't give me any XP but I'm not interested in getting that since I don't play against humans as I know they would kick my can, and I wouldn't be able to play constantly in first-person. So, for the few people out there like myself, I'd highly recommend the game. There are some sweet mods out there that really make the game look/play great. I got it on sale for $10 so I really wouldn't complain about much.

Препоръчвам за феновете на CoH, смятам че играта има много потенциал и ще се хареса на мнозинството!

Best WW2 RTS in the market at the moment :)

The AI understands how to use artillery.... That was unexpected and it hurts 10/10

So, I don't often review games, but i will for this one
of note, i did receive the game for free and was part of the closed beta testing team, at the time of writing i have 60 hours in the game with another 20, give or take, into the open beta. I will also be discussing this mainly from a MP prespective.

Gates of Hell is a great game, and honestly does everything that i wanted out of a sequel to assualt squad:

-grenade spam is much less prevelant (though its still there, especially in early game with F1 spam to some degree)

-combat ranges are longer, which give you more freedom in unit placement, and gives the game a much more realistic feel than previous titles

-smoke ACTUALLY WORKS

- seriously, smoke is really important, especially when attacking entrenched fortifications, and should be used liberally when attacking in general, and its a change that i absolutely love

- to compensate for larger ranges, maps are much larger than in AS2, giving you adequit space to play with

-larger maps and increased ranges also tend to now lead to flanking being more viable than in previous titles as well, which i also love

- the game looks fantastic as well, which is always appreciated

- capture points that actually represent the area they sit on! they arnt all just stupid circles anymore! this makes contesting points much more interesting, as having enough weight on a point can flip it, even if you dont control the whole area of the point

- MP is now sort of a combination of what used to be combat and assualt zones, where killing units will reduce your enemies score, but the goal is still to capture important zones on the map, which i really appreciate personally.

on the other hand, some cons:

-mid war is a bit too tank heavy for my tastes due to a general lack of good infantry based AT, and can have some balance problems as a result if the game drags long enough

- not a huge fan of unit timers, as generally i think units should just be balanced on their own by their cost and general effectiveness

- as of release, there's only 1 MP game mode, though I'm aware the devs fully intend to add more in the future

speaking briefly to singleplayer, there's also been quite a bit of improvement over AS2, namely no more stupid cookie cutter SP missions where you just take the 3 sets of flags every time, each mission is unique and different, making the SP actually worth playing!

there is also a dynamic campaign, which is cool, though i dont personally have a lot of time in it, so il going to refrain from meaningful comment on it in this review

all in all, very solid game that i think anyone who enjoyed mowas2 should pick up, and i very much am looking foward to what the devs add in the future!

As a strategy gamer in his 30's I've been around the block with these games for a bit. I've seen the rise and fall and rise again of several franchises. My first strategy game experience was C&C Red Alert. Since then I've progressed as has the RTS genre to more indepth strategy games with my favourite series being Total War. The MAIN reason is the replayable nature of this franchise through a combined grand campaign map and tactical battles which connect it all.

I've played COH, MOWA2 and while COH Is very much an arcadey and less immersive WW2 strategy title MOWA2 was amazing when I played it. The only thing that put me off is the lack of Dynamic Campaign, it meant the game wasn't replayble as outside a very linear scripted campaign it is just a Skirmish mode simulator. Purchasing this game last week after realizing it has a Dynamic campaign mode I have to say this is by far the best WW2 strategy game I have ever played. The Battlefield sound effects Mod greatly adds to this as does Valor which adds Western factions which all combined gives me the most immersive WW2 battles I have ever experience. For me the only mode I play is conquest (Dynamic Campaign) and while I feel it is still quite barbones for now it still has given me the replayable strategy game I'm after. The level of detail, physics, graphics and sound effects on top of this are among the best I have experienced. I really hope the DEVS continue working on this game at the very least until there is a sequel which surely must be guaranteed due to this game's success.

If you've played MOWAS in any variety, the first part of this review should be redundant, but for people new to the engine, its important to know the basics of your getting into.

Essentially, the game is simulated on a man-by-man basis, with each individual unit possessing a name, class (kinda), and grid style inventory. Thus, every weapon, ammo type, grenade, helmet, fuel tank, etc is all tracked on a very in-depth individual level. When a unit dies, they leave their weapon and a corpse, which can be looted by any other man for any equipment they might have possesed (one of the unique draws of the game). In actual combat, each man can be moved as an individual, team, or squad depending on the amount of units you are managing. More on this later. You also have the ability to directly control any unit at any point, taking control of their movement and aim to devastating effect. GOH uniquely adds a third person mode, which counts for a million coolness points, but is often not super practical.

Along the same lines, cannons and vehicles also have individual crew members operating them. They are tracked identically to infantry, with inventories and classes and names. This affords a lot of depth that many games can't hope to have. In armored warfare, for example, a lethal penetration may kill half the crew, leaving two men to bail. Those two men could be used to supliment crew on another tank, or (more commonly) for suicidal satchel attacks and the like. Low caliber anti-tank munitions also might JUST kill your crew, allowing the tank to be captured and turned against you. Same goes for cannons, which can be decrewed and recrewed by you or your enemy. This, to me, is the major draw of this style of game, and GOH is the most modern example of it. So how does it hold up?

Pretty damn good, but I'll start by addressing a common hang-up.

My major issue with the MOW games has always been the dissonance between infantry emphasis and the reality of WW2. When it comes down to it, infantry are great at a ton of stuff. They are easy to conceal, hard to hit, and can wield extremely devestating (though often close range) weapons. You also have the afformentioned level of depth on the individual infantry unit, which is commonly lost in the large scale destructive combat of the eastern front. To put it blunty: infantry are meatbags that die to everything, but are overwhelmingly neccesary for everything. MOWAS2 got around this by making infantry frustratingly hard to kill, GOH does not. Infantry die to pretty much everything and one inattentive or stupid advance (or stupid stationary position) can easily see a section go night-night. This can be frustrating for some people, which I understand. Meticuluosly kitting out your Riflemen with captured Panzerfausts and MG34s just to see them wiped out by a single 105mm shell is infuriating, but that's World War II, and that's where this game ironically shines.

The game is called Gates of Hell because randomness rules all things. Sometimes your 88mm shell will bounce harmlessly (several times) off a T-34/85, only to have it annihilate the cannon in a single shot. Your flamethrower might ignite themselves or their allies on accident, or get their tank blown by a stray bullet. You own tanks run over your men, your own artillery might fall short, and your left wondering what you did wrong. Get that out of your head. ♥♥♥♥ happens, people die. Welcome to Hell.

If you don't like the idea that your best effort might fall victim to the maelstorm of modern warfare, then the game just aint gonna be for you. If you want your German über Guns to brew commie tanks all day like in Guderian's book, it ain't gonna be for you. If you want your Russian conscript horde to overrun several dug in autocannons with nothing but the power of the Rodina, uhhhh the game might be for you? Watch your spacing I guess, and don't expect a miracle. Either way, the game thrives on a simple brutal randomness that affects your enemy as much as it affects you. It is frustrating when it goes against you, and brilliantly uplifting when it goes for you, but you can't have your cake and eat it.

If what I just described sounds exactly up your alley, and your willing to put aside a competetive need for victory for a appreciation of the realities of combat, then the game just might be for you. Just get used to the term "unlucky," never overestimate anything, never underestimate anything and go raise some hell. The gates await.