Battles fought in the Napoleonic era weren’t all that tactical, to be fair; armies would march to within a few metres of each other, aim and fire. Those left standing then proceeded to rape and pillage anything they can get their hands on and Gin celebrations were to be had, compliments of King George. The original Cossacks proved that things were a little tougher than they seemed and the sequel proves to be harder than trying to unlock your front door after a night at the pub…

Graphically things don’t seem to have changed since the first Cossacks and although the columns of soldiers look nice all lined up in formation there’s not a lot of detail in either them or the environment. Although most of the main units haven’t been changed, three new nations can now be commanded (Spain, Poland and the confederation of the Rhine) and a few lesser-known units and structures are available.

No sooner had I got together two formations of the cheapest (that’s probably why they fleed) infantry then I was greeted by three squads of enemy soldiers and a cavalry unit, which was to be the start of a three-hour slog to complete the first mission. Most of the time was spent trying to hold ground and replenish the lines the fleeing units created. Progress across the huge map was painfully slow but after a while you begin to relish each hedgerow you advance past, each village you retake; the extreme difficulty gives you a huge sense of satisfaction when you finally win!

I never quite got used to the resource management and building malarkey, there’s just too much to keep track of on one screen, so was glad to see that the Battle for Europe mode does away with all the resource management and gets down to the fighting! The interface is a simplified (strange for this game…) version of the Total War conquest map system that most recent RTSs all seem to have included. Your general starts with a few territories and four units of men. As you take more territories from other generals you get more resources (you need loads of coal and food to fight) and your experience lets you recruit more units. Unlike total war you can’t build on the provinces, just increase the garrison protecting it. This is important because you only have one army to attack with.

Attacks on your provinces are calculated automatically based on the strength of the enemy and the size of your garrison. I would liked to have been able to personally command the defence, as if you dig in you could keep a force maybe twice your size at bay, but here you automatically lose. Because you only have one army it has to be big (it gets to about 16 units) and since it’s so expensive to upgrade defences to that size you’re constantly going back and forth to keep the other armies at bay, which gets tough the further you advance.

Also the game appears to be developed by an outfit from Eastern Europe somewhere and it certainly shows in the translation, which has some funny mistakes littered throughout the game and manual! For a very historically accurate game it just doesn’t seem right for the British officers (and the Spanish, and the Prussians…) to be voiced by Americans, also using broken English that doesn’t even match with the subtitles below them!

Cossacks II is back as hard and with as much attention to detail as ever. Anyone who overlooked the original and has been looking for a RTS that isn’t a Warcraft or C&C clone (or another bloody WWII game) then Cossacks is for you. Don’t be put off when you can’t complete the campaign in twenty minutes; the game engine is great and the AI really gives you a run for your money. Those who’ve already got the original should think hard before they buy though, as apart from a few little touches it’s not all that different from the original.