Cossacks hit everyone for six when it was released. Not only did it look as good as anything on the RTS scene, in gameplay terms it was in quite a bit ahead of the competition. Absolutely massive battles, were talking thousands not tens of units, were possible and looked spectacular. Each of the different races included within the game had their own unique units and architecture which when you compare that to a game like Age of Empires which had about 4 different sets which was shared between the races then you can understand the work and attention that went into Cossacks. After the successful release of the first expansion pack, The Art of War it was only a matter of time before we were looking at a second expansion pack and here it is, Cossacks: Back To War.

The version we’ve looked at is only a preview and not the final version so some details may change before the initial release. It’s also worth noting that this is a stand-alone expansion, in other words you don’t need the original Cossacks to be able to play. The specifications for the expansion are as follows:

• A total of 20 different European nations to command
• 100 new single player missions.
• 4 Levels of difficulty.
• 2 new nations: Switzerland and Hungary.
• Unique architecture for each new nation, Switzerland and Hungary, with 20 new buildings.
• 4 new Swiss units.
• 4 new Hungarian units.
• New Automated Championship System (ACS) makes the online competition a top event.
• Special VIZOR enables watching online GAMES live or as a recording New units for Turkey & Algeria: The Bedouin (mounted on camel) Extra: Mod1 with 30 more new units (including coast defence cannon.

For the princely sum of just £19.99 this looks very impressive indeed especially when you consider that no previous version is required. There is also a random map generator this around. The ‘Mod1’ bonus is 30 maps created by fans of the game. If like me you’ve played RTS games for some time you’ll know that some of these fan creations can actually be better than those made by the developers because they have dedicated an enormous amount of time in balancing their single map properly.

Back To War looks to be a solid addition to the Cossacks series. The only problem I can see though is for gamers who don’t own the original. Currently there is a pack available for the same price (£19.99) with which you get the original Cossacks and the first expansion. Bearing in mind Back To War doesn’t have any Campaigns apart from the tutorial and the Campaigns in the original Cossacks were excellent then I would probably go for the double pack over this. If you already own Cossacks though you will be delighted with what’s on offer in Cossacks: Back To War.

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