After a few more tense battles I finally reached the town where I'd have my climactic confrontation with the enemy, at least in this mission. It's a classic Company of Heroes scenario where, after clearing the town, you need to lie in wait for a counter attack. There's just enough time to garrison your troops in buildings and set up defences along the road. I kept the main route through the town pretty clear, but off to the side, waiting to strike, was a horde of tanks and anti-tank guns. When the Brits arrived, the party started, shaking the town to its very foundations. The Brits were defeated, but there was hardly a building left standing.

Even though this final battle has a familiar setup, it still feels distinct from the urban brawls in Europe. In Italy, the narrow streets, tall buildings and frequent changes in elevation are a nightmare for vehicles, but make them infantry playgrounds. In North Africa, the streets are wider and there's less elevation—though all the flat roofs do give infantry another place to attack from—so it's much easier to take advantage of a mechanised force.


The North African maps are in part defined by their sparsity. The settlements are less urbanised, and they're surrounded by a lot more empty space, with rolling dunes that'll give you plenty of room to manoeuvre your vehicles and get into massive tank battles. This is why things like tank riding are so handy: troops are so much more vulnerable, with larger distances to travel and a lot less cover. But this isn't to say there's no diversity. There are trench networks, camps, rocky areas that thwart tanks, minefields and set pieces like the aforementioned derailed train.

After chasing off the Brits, I was struck by how different the mission felt compared to the ones I fought in Italy last year, as well as those from the previous games. The campaign structure might evoke classic Company of Heroes, but fighting in North Africa feels like a properly new experience. And it's one you can see for yourself right now. The mission I played is available to everyone who's signed up to the CoH-development programme, which you can do on the community site. For the rest of the campaign, you'll need to wait until Company of Heroes 3 launches on November 17.