All in all, a very enjoyable game, with quite sufficient levels of realism and very high amounts of micromanagement and complexity - you control nearly every aspect of your units' behaviour, which opens up a variety of different tactics (more or less realistically simulated at that). However, that very same complexity is sometimes a drawback as you can easily get overwhelmed in battles above a certain size - however, thankfully the units do have a somewhat decent AI and usually can ensure at least their own survival. The UI, however, is not so good - due to the aforementioned micromanagement and the sheer variety of actions that are controlled by the player, it is a bit overloaded and not very handy to use. Good historical accuracy, fresh perspective (for Western gamers) on WWII, giving a local view of the Eastern Front (in contrast to the highly stereotype- and propaganda-laden Relic version in CoH 2), without descending into Soviet apologetics. All in all - very enjoyable for strategy fans, but fairly complex and with a steep learning curve for the casual gamer. Oh, and worth buying alone because of the cover issue fuss and the infantile butthurt evidenced in the reviews below.
