The Italian campaign fares somewhat better, opting for a Band of Brothers-style narrative between each mission that’s engaging, if not entirely original. It’s an odd situation, especially since Relic was the one that set itself the task of telling these stories and then just… didn’t. In a time when censorship in education is once again on the rise, mediums such as this are a valuable resource for telling stories that fall outside the mainstream experience and making them relatable. Northern Africa came up very little unless you were lucky enough to have a professor who specialized in it, and the Jewish experience there received no attention at all. I spent 18 months of graduate school studying World War 2, with some time spent on Jewish studies as well. The relationship between Europe and Africa in the 20th century is fraught with difficulties – but that’s all the more reason to commit to telling these stories. These used important historical context and even real-world footage of the locations in question. The narrative style is noticeably shallow as well, especially compared to Age of Empires 4 and its mini-documentary style introductions to each mission. Short animated sequences between each mission tell the story of Libyan resistance fighters joining with British soldiers and often suffering from their allies’ indiscriminate attacks on German strongholds there, but they treat the subject with barely any depth and little context for what’s going on. The aim is an admirable one, but in a confusing turn of events, CoH 3 then spends very little time and effort telling this story for most of the campaign.

Tell me a storyĬompany of Heroes 3’s traditional campaign unfolds in north Africa, and it starts with a little note saying the goal is telling the stories of how World War 2 affected local populations, mainly the Jewish community in Benghazi. The commitment to shedding light on unheard perspectives from the war was one step too far, however, as Relic barely even scratches the surface. Its dual campaigns feature some of the best maps and intense strategy in the genre, and better still, Relic streamlined the experience so there’s much less frustration than in previous games. Relic Entertainment is back with a new World War II story in Company of Heroes 3, and while “another World War II story” might seem like a cliche at this point, CoH 3 is anything but tired and rote.

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