Eastern Front is a free mod for Company of Heroes. Following the ethos of mimicking a Relic Entertainment expansion pack, Eastern Front has succeeded in adding two full new factions, the Soviet Red Army and the German Ostheer, packed with unique and exciting units to the existing armies - a feat never before achieved in the Company of Heroes world.
Company of Heroes: The Eastern Front ****: The Sun Rises in the East.
Company of heroes eastern front looks to add the Russian theater of World War II to CoH and it has done this in fine style. Boasting two new factions The Red army and the German Eastern Army, effort has been made to playing both sides a unique experience. The Red Army features new doctrines which allow the player to pulverize their enemy with heavy ordnance, crush them under the treads of armored behemoths or overwhelm the enemy with superior numbers.
Graphically, the units are extremely well made and fit in well with the art made by Relic. Red Army infantry however can sometimes look a little bit lacking when in terms of action animations (such as laying barbed wire) but this hardly detracts from game-play. Other factions have also received new units and clear effort has been made in ensuring that they blend in smoothly with their existing counterparts.
The new maps provided are also extremely well made taking the player from the ruins of Stalingrad to the gates of Berlin. The maps are intuitive and show extreme creativity although the AI sometimes suffer from path-finding issues.
Balance is something that has also been taken into careful consideration to ensure that the sides are not overpowered. The Red Army does sit a little further to the powerful end of the spectrum, but an experienced Reich player will be able to adjust himself accordingly. The AI is also well done, ranging from casual to very challenging but as said before does occasionally suffer hiccoughs with path-finding on some maps.
Overall however, Eastern Front is a very well made mod that reflects a lot of hard work and dedication by it's creators. Much work has been put into ensuing balanced sides and while there is a bit of work to be done, this is by all means one of the best mods that exist for Company of Heroes.