Headquarters: Cold War

I am a fan of previous title HQ WWII. To be honest, this new HQ Cold War is just a "reskin" with new units and feels more like a DLC than a new game, which is fine and I expected that. However, question is whether this is worth the price they ask.. What really bothers me is that this game even uses unit sounds from the previous title. I am pretty sure modern infantry/tank weapons sound much different than their WWII counterparts.. For me this is really a letdown as I was looking forward to enjoying tanks who pack a punch, instead of listening to same old "paper" guns from previous title.. I am refunding and buying this on sale only, as this laziness/asset copy paste is not worth the price if you ask me.

Всем привет. Вот мой небольшой обзор на HQ:CW. Поехали: - В целом игра хорошая, но коротенькая и в пределах ГДР/ФРГ; - каждая компания занимает 7-8 часов в среднем; - кампания за СССР почти не клюквенная; - разнообразные юниты, но в целом из большого списка понадобятся только 4-5 основных, которых повышаешь до совершенных моделей в зависимости от прохождения; - карты проработаны, погодные условия и смена дня-ночи неплохо отображены на картинке (но вот в ночной период, можно было бы сделать отображение или переключаемый режим в виде зелёной подсветки ПНВ, а во время дождя по краям карты отобразить помехи); - интерфейс понятный и удобный; - прокачку юнитов можно было бы сделать более вариативной, хотя вроде как это компенсируется полковыми навыками, но - могли бы давать 3 очка за прохождение миссий; - наградная система в кампании - в целом хорошо, но (ИМХО) в компании за Союз, могли бы заменить орден Б. Хмельницкого на Орден славы третьей и второй степени. Причина? Провокаторы не обольщайтесь - она не связана с нынешними событиями в Мире. А по факту - орденом Б. Хмельницкого награждали в основном военнослужащих, партизан и гражданских участвовавших во время боёв за освобождение Украинской ССР в Великую Отечественную Войну (примечание - период Второй Мировой Войны с 1941 по 1945 (для граждан Европы, С. и Ю. Америки, Африки, Азии, Австралии и Океании)). Были единичные награждения в 1956 г., но это было редчайшее исключение. - системные требования вполне лояльные для нынешнего времени, оптимизация хорошая. Как итог - 4 с плюсом из 5. Возможно разработчики добавят новых миссий в будущих DLC. Благодарю за внимание, всем доброго времени суток, пока-пока. Hi everyone! Here’s my short review of HQ:CW. Let’s go: - Overall, the game is good, but it’s quite short and limited to the territory of the GDR/FRG; - each campaign takes about 7–8 hours on average; - the USSR campaign is not overly stereotypical; - there are diverse units, but in general, out of a large list, you’ll only need 4–5 main ones — you upgrade them to advanced models depending on your progress; - the maps are well‑designed, weather conditions and the day‑night cycle are displayed quite well (though during the night period, it would be good to have an option or a toggle mode with green night‑vision goggles (NVG) overlay; and during rain, some visual interference could be shown at the edges of the map); - the interface is clear and user‑friendly; - unit upgrades could be more varied — although this seems to be somewhat compensated by regimental skills, they could give 3 skill points for completing missions; - the reward system in the campaign is generally good, but (IMHO) in the Soviet campaign, they could replace the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky with the Order of Glory (3rd and 2nd class). Why? Provocateurs, don’t get too excited — it’s not related to current world events. In fact, the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky was mainly awarded to military personnel, partisans and civilians who took part in battles for the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR during the Great Patriotic War (note: the period of World War II from 1941 to 1945 for citizens of Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania). There were isolated awards in 1956, but that was a very rare exception; - system requirements are quite reasonable for today’s standards, and the optimization is good. Bottom line: 4 out of 5 with a plus. Perhaps the developers will add new missions in future DLCs. Thanks for your attention, have a great day, bye‑bye!

HQ: Cold War is a good game. Is it perfect? No, but what is? There are so many options leading to expectations and assumptions in the wargaming community these days that make a fair review process very tricky. If you were expecting a Grigsby, WoT, Panzer General/Corps, UoC, Strategic Command, HoI, etc then no, it's not, its its own franchise with its own style. In some ways it falls between two genre's. Some players (many who enjoy it) describe it as a 'beer and pretzels' war game but even they at times suggest its deeper than that and can be quite tough to win. Combat, in my opinion, is most similar to the likes of XCOM: it's turn based, tactical, often compressed into urban spaces and as is XCOM, ruthless on poor tactics as it uses a lot of ambush and reaction fire. Weapon damage is meticulously modelled and uses munitions types, height, distance, armour facing etc in the calculations. Much of the negative feedback from players is a result of a lot of criticism of the AI. The set-piece AI from scenarios and campaigns is fine. The game AI is built from the ground up on set-piece scenarios and campaigns and so as a result the skirmish and player made battles often have pretty stupid AI that the Devs can't really fix as it would screw up the AI in the set piece scenarios. At the moment another section of negative feedback is bugs, but this seems to plague all games these days (look at Crimson Desert and Dune). This is more to do with player attitudes: zero patience and intolerance to anything that Pi**es them off. In time bugs will be eradicated. The Devs are a small indie company now working under Slitherine (which helps them I think) so beta testing, though extended and detailed, didn't have a lot of player input and so launch day bugs were almost inevitable. The Devs are passionate and detail oriented so it will get sorted. The thing that really gets my goat however is criticism that this is a lazy reskin of HQ: WW2. That's absolute rubbish and another example of people who don't know what they're talking about but insist on having a negative opinion. if you don't know the facts or aren't an expert then stay quiet. Artwork: making the unit models, building the maps and animations is a huge amount of work and its all new for Cold War. The weapons: their various calculations, range damage and impact on all new types of armour and vehicle types is all new. The scenario designs, towns, victory conditions rewards, exp points and level ups are all new. The Commander (HQ) Tactics, experience rewards such as new skills, skill upgrades, new weapons are all new. I could go on. If you like a tactical, intense combat war game with ruthless punishment for poor tactics and a thoughtful, slow paced XCOM style and satisfying victories with unit development and a fun campaign you will enjoy this game a lot.

This is the first negative review I have ever left on a game but it's only because I actually cared about this game. This is a game I really wanted to see succeed. It ticks a lot of checkboxes for me. I love the turn based tactics nature of the game. I think the models are very well rendered. I love the animations and I love that the game actually has depth to it. Unfortunately I couldn't get past the tutorial. The game throws walls and walls of text at you describing how to play the game that after the 20th one (this is not an exaggeration), I was done. The game is simply not intuitive to play at all and it's a real shame because I can see the potential. A well made tutorial gradually introduces mechanics and makes sure that you implement the mechanic instead of just telling you about it. A game I just recently played that does a fantastic job of this is battlestar galactica: scattered hopes (check out the demo!). I truly hope that the devs get to make a more streamlined and intuitive version of this game in the future that I could get into. It truly hurts to have to request a refund.

Braindead AI Terrible implementation of helicopters and AA Framerate issues and chugging. Bizarre armor penetration choices Glitches from previous game still present.

If you enjoyed world war 2, then your in for a treat as plays the same, looks the same and feels the same, just newer and more up to date units, enjoy

Это один в один предыдущая игра серии просто в других скинах, хорошо это или плохо - решайте сами. Так что если понравилась прошлая часть то зайдёт и эта. И да, красные тут плохие по умолчанию, но кого то это в наше время ещё удивляет? По сути тут ровно одна новая механика - вертолёты, но реализована она ОЧЕНЬ странно, по вертолёту который летит на высоте могут стрелять только специальные ПВО юниты, если их вынести то вертолёт становится бессмертным. Т.е. ни автоматы/пулемёты пехоты, ни крупнокалиберные пулемёты лёгкой техники, ничто вообще не может по ним стрелять кроме зениток. Я понимаю понятие игровой условности, но такая реализация выглядит очень глупой и топорной.

Not recommended due to crashes and a general feel that the game was released too early. If these get fixed, and you enjoyed HQ WW2 as I did, it will be a decent game, but in its current state I'd hang on before buying.

Pros: - Always good to have a game set in the 1980s Cold War era. - Fairly easy controls - Gameplay is straight forward - Good unit mix - 7 hours in and I've only run across one issue with lag/stutter and that has been playing at the highest graphic levels. No crashes or bugs yet. - Does make you think about how and where you move your forces, no rushing into blind areas on the map or you'll end up dead fast. - Unit mix seems well balanced. Infantry die fast in the open but are tough to dig out of buildings and can punch way above their weight in urban environments. Cons - Line of Sight seems off for AA units. Way too restricted. - Suffers from the XCOM2 random chance to hit issue. 90% chance to hit and unit will miss attacks twice in a row. - Damage output frustratingly wonky. Multiple times now I've had clear flank or rear shots on enemy armor with my own tank(s) and the first shot will do 1 damage and then the 2nd shot will kill the enemy tank, but that uses up both offensive attacks from a unit that should've killed the target with the first shot. This is on the "Challenging" i.e. Normal, difficulty level. - The Soviet campaign doesn't feel historically accurate. I'm about 1/2 through and have been outnumbered by NATO forces on every mission. I understand the need for challenging gameplay but I've ended up playing both the NATO campaign and the Soviet campaign in the same manner, it doesn't feel like they are truly different armies. Overall, I'd still recommend the game, especially if you are a fan of the late Cold War era. Some of the cons are frustrating but not to the point of ruining the experience. 7.75/10

Great game to practice tactics and different techniques to turn the tide of battle into your favour. It is well priced for a fun experience of the cold war.