Raven,
don't mess with SH2, it is a old.
as for curves, with GWX and SH3, good luck at avoiding those DDs, you might just try SH4 with the patches on easy, then once you start feeling froggy go to GWX in 1943ish.
just install both 3 and 4 and play around, you will figure out what you like, they are both really fun games, and 4 is getting better b/c of the community's efforts.