Unity of Command II is a fresh turn-based strategy game from 2×2 Games, putting the player in the role of an Allied army commander who has to deal with two daunting problems: invading (“liberating”) Europe and the logistics of war. It was recently described as “the perfect gateway” into computer war games. I’m not so sure it is.
Learning the Ropes
I started the game, as I always do, by playing the tutorial. Along with a game manual, it is often the part that many gamers ignore because the game is either simple enough to understand without a tutorial, it has a user interface that makes its mechanics quick to comprehend, or because tutorials are often just horribly useless. Unfortunately, this game falls into the last category.
The tutorial consists of multiple parts that explain different facets of the game, which is nice to see, but none of the parts comprehensively explains their respective facets. What was a little unusual to see was that the tutorial’s tooltips had a manual reference, i.e. read page # for further information. I genuinely like that this referencing exists, but I abhor the fact that it is necessary. After the tutorial, I figured I would try out a normal game. I was told that I need not take any risks since I have plenty of time… so logically, I ran out of time for the scenario. While I had the upper hand in combat, I was confused, befuddled and a little vexed as I was nowhere near the objectives at that point. I decided it was time to look into the manual.
The manual starts with a disclaimer that it is a work in progress, but “it’s finished enough in sections to be useful as is” and that is the fairest assessment I, too, could give it. It summarizes the game mechanics in more detail than I could ever have hoped for and yet keeps it concise. It does not delve into the territory of useless information or uninspired flavour text. It delivers information about the game fact after fact after fact, which means it reads more like a technical report or perhaps a good board game manual than a video game manual
By spending about two hours reading and properly digesting the manual to fully comprehend it, I felt I was more ready for the game than if I had played several scenarios and tried to figure things out on my own. It is rare that computer games get praised for their manuals, but this is definitely one case where it deserves praise. If only it were not so necessary to play the game…
Conferences Without the Politics
The campaign comprises a series of scenarios of several battle maps and conferences between scenarios. During the conference part of the game, you can plan what type of support abilities you wish to have for the next scenarios, spending Prestige that you’ve earned from previous scenarios to unlock temporary benefits. This can be as simple as having an extra aerial strike per turn in a scenario or an extra supply truck to powerful one-time-use abilities that can make a difficult-to-capture chokepoint cakewalk by inflicting major Area-of-Effect damage. Unity of Command II depicts the abilities as playing cards, and you have a hand limit depending on what difficulty you are playing on. You can sell any surplus cards to recoup a little Prestige. Most cards get discarded after use, though some stick around, and you can earn more cards by accomplishing objectives within the scenarios.
Another use of Prestige is upgrading your headquarters. HQs are central bases on the battle map that give combat support to your units by allowing a few special attacks, such as using artillery fire if the unit is lugging around a spare cannon, build pontoon bridges that allow crossing rivers more hastily, restocking your units with extra soldiers called “Steps” and much, much more. Every unit on the battlefield is connected to a single HQ and only that HQ can give it special orders or reinforcements. During conferences, you can upgrade these HQs by spending Prestige to unlock further abilities. Different HQs can unlock different abilities at different levels of upgrade. Combined with each unit being connected to a single HQ, this brings up a little strategic resource management problem. The conferences are a nice little break from warfare and, albeit you could easily overlook them, they offer enough options and pondering to make them worthwhile.
Fighting Your Way Through Europe
The main part of the game takes place on the many battle maps depicting Europe and a part of Africa. The terrain is obviously not to scale, but it gives a fair depiction of the European theatre. Sometimes it feels like it overgeneralizes, but it is clear to see why – large maps drag games to go on and on. The smallish maps work very well, they keep the tempo of the game up with few armies without overly limiting your options.
Your troops, regardless of type, are represented by Steps, a nominal show of resilience. The more your unit has, the more damage it can take and deliver. Steps can be reinforced or killed or sometimes suppressed, meaning they contribute to health but not to damage output. Some Steps can run away as stragglers that can be captured for intel or reach safety to be sent back into the fray. Units can also carry along specialists that boost the unit is certain specific situations. As usual, experienced units are better. While you quickly learn what types of units are better against which opposing units and vice versa, having advantageous terrain or fortunate weather can change the situation. This ensures that each battle has enough variety to keep the game interesting.
Unit reinforcements, including specialists, originate from the aforementioned headquarters, so knowing how far from home you wish your troops to wander and planning when to move an HQ, losing all unused HQ abilities for a turn, has serious tactical consequences. Since each unit has only 2 actions per turn, a combination of moving and fighting (or extended moving), and some abilities not being usable if the units have moved, planning a few turns ahead becomes crucial. In fact, each scenario has a turn limit and the quicker you finish your tasks, the more score and prestige you earn. But the turn limits are also tight. I cannot count how many times I succeeded a mission thanks to a desperate, reckless push on the very last turn.
The pressure is constantly on the player to make the best decisions possible, to keep pushing through enemy lines because any delay can mean having to redo the mission for smaller rewards. In fact, the constant pressure to make the best turns makes it feel like a puzzle game. It does not reward you for being clever, it rewards you for going through the “intended” path to success. The combat is nice, but most of the time you have very few different actions that make sense. And that is a shame, the game could use a little more freedom of choice.
Supply and Demand in War
What sets this game apart from other turn-based tactics games, like Advanced Strategic Command, is the logistics part of the gameplay. To fight, you need to keep your troops supplied. Supplies come over water to harbors or from rail yards via railroads, and you can distribute them on the battle map with the use of supply depots and trucks, of which you have a limited number. If you do not have supply depots close enough to your units, or the depots do not have enough trucks, your units lose efficiency and eventually the capability to fight. Supply trucks can only supply by going through your territory so any units behind enemy lines are in heaps of trouble unless you can re-establish the supply route or they manage to keep themselves supplied by raiding the enemy’s supply depots. Keeping your troops supplied as the front line moves forward is like a little minigame to enjoy, right up until an enemy unit sneaks through and cuts off your entire army.
That the sneaky Axis armies also need to keep their troops supplied creates an interesting opportunity. Defending a location is usually easier than attacking, so the player is at a major disadvantage. A commonly used tactic is to prevent enemy units that you cannot beat by fighting from getting supplied. Without supplies, those units weaken and eventually disband. Surround a powerful unit and in a few turns that unit is as dangerous as a narcoleptic mouse. Block a vital railroad behind enemy lines and their whole front line crumbles. Battles are won with superior tactics, wars are won with superior logistics. It is a fantastic part of the game that rarely gets explored in other war games.
World at War
Currently, there is one campaign in the game, and it works in a semi-iron-man mode. No manual saving, but any failed mission can be replayed for a smaller potential score. Each scenario comprises multiple missions. Between a series of scenarios, you get the conferences where you can plan ahead. The pacing is a superb balance between the action of each battle and the respite of each conference. And the battles are connected not just thematically or geographically, but how successful you are in a scenario can have profound effects on future scenarios.
This works in the form of bonus objectives that sometimes give you extra resources, but more importantly, sometimes change your starting positions in a future scenario. Fail a bonus mission, and the next scenario will be more difficult. The campaign can also branch – the player can spend some earned Prestige to unlock alternative scenarios that are touted as being more intense and difficult. With the usual missions being as difficult as they are already, this is not for the faint-hearted. In summary, the world offers a lot of options, but the campaign itself is very punishing against a lack of success. It makes sense – if you have trouble securing a foothold, you cannot steamroll the enemy. If the player does not wish to play the campaign, he can choose a scenario from a large list for quick entertainment. No random map generation.
Conclusion
Unity of Command II offers the joy of leading competent armies to liberate North Africa, Italy, and the rest of Central Europe from the Axis powers. The tactics and strategy in the game work well and the atmosphere of a long bloody struggle is captured well, too. The logistics dimension of the game is superbly designed and it brings whole new tactics into play.
However, I wish I could enjoy it more, but there is something missing. It feels cold. It lacks that little extra spark that made Fantasy General 2 an addiction, Sid Meier’s Gettysburg a tactical delight, Conquest: Frontier Wars a joy with a little bit of logistics. That little unknowable something that forces a game to stick in your mind for years and years. As it is, it makes me want to go play some Advanced Strategic Command instead. And its complexity most definitely does not make it a perfect introduction to people interested in war games.
TL;DR: Unity of Command II is a well-designed and well-executed turn-based strategy game with supply and logistics as its focus and that focus works wonders for the game. Yet it lacks passion in its endeavor. It’s difficult to get into as a new player, too.
You Might Like This Game If:
- You’re still waiting for more Advanced Strategic Command.
- You go nuts for a bit of logistics management.
- You love the board game Risk.
You Might NOT Like This Game If:
- You look for something beyond decent game mechanics, that “Je ne sais quoi”.
- You dislike war games that are really just turn-based puzzles.
- You’re not very patient or keen on reading a large manual to understand game mechanics.
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Kaur played for over 20 hours on a Dell laptop with an Intel i7-7700HQ, GeForce 1050Ti and 16GB RAM. A copy of was provided for the purpose of this review by the publisher.
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