It's more justifiable when he was a lieutenant (later captain), but when he resigns his commission to become a soldier-journalist, it becomes borderline ridiculous. Accentuate the Negative: A more charitable interpretation of the critics' complaints is that Isakovich's contrived coincidences meant that he somehow managed to witness so many faults within the Soviet system one after another.See the notes for why this defense falls flat for many. Relic meanwhile defended their portrayal of events, stating that many of the campaign's criticized aspects, such as scorched earth note The way this is portrayed in the game, with the player tasked to burn houses with civilians still inside, has no basis in reality, human wave tactics note Drawing more from Enemy at the Gates than the real desperate charges of early 1942, and retreating men being executed note Not even half a percent of Soviet soldiers who served during WW2 ended up intentionally shot by their own side, although this still amounts to around 150,000 individuals., were genuine and documented occurrences. Russian publisher 1C-Softclub stopped distribution of the game after receiving player feedback as well as a petition.
Many players and critics felt that it was based more on Western bias and cliches rather than historical facts making the Soviets out to be an " evil empire", compared to the positive portrayal of the American forces and even Panzer Elite in the first game.