Scheiss!
On the surface, Company of Heroes looks exactly like how I always imagined it – Relic’s tech demo for the Dawn of War. Come on, I can be naive, can’t I? At best it’s a mediocre real time strategy game and at worst it’s just another fucking World War II game. I downloaded the game a while back and wasn’t even impressed enough to play past the tutorial – I mean, fuck, it’s just another World War II game!
Turns out I was actually kind of wrong about Company of Heroes. In fact, I was really wrong. Company Of Heroes is the most entertaining real time strategy game I’ve played since Starcraft – it plays completely different and makes for some really epic gameplay. Since the game was on sale last week on Steam, I picked it up and have done a complete 180 on how I felt about it (which is to say how I felt from my impressions of the game from the tutorial levels alone.)
The setting isn’t even of consequence, and in fact, Company of Heroes could be set in any time period and it wouldn’t even matter, the game play is that good. Every unit has a use, even when you end up balls deep in the tech trees towards the end of the maps. Basic Engineers, for example, can still lay mines and build bunkers late in the game or be upgraded with stuff like mine detectors and flamethrowers and still add some sort of utility. Each race faction plays a bit different than the others, much like the Dawn of War games, making for an interesting challenge when learning the new play style. For instance, the British use mobile trucks and “commander” units (ala Dawn of War II) instead of hard bases and can move their base of operations around., the Americans rely on air-dropping different units and weapons, and the Nazzies rely on different methods of producing a ton of soldiers or armor quickly to overrun opponents.
Of note is the game’s computer AI – computer opponents are hard as fuck and present as much challenge, if not more, than a neckbeard. There are some technical issues with the game, but it’s easy to look past – mainly the shit friend matchmaking system, but once you get into the game these things really don’t matter, aside from maybe some technical pathing issues and glitches. At very least, consider grabbing CoH if you’re looking for a solid real time strategy game to play. It’s easily the best RTS I’ve played since Starcraft.
Related posts:
- Dawn Of War II Soundtrack Download Relic has made the soundtrack for Dawn of War II...
- Champions Online beta in August? According to Champions Online Daily News: We’re still two months...
- How in the hell… … am I supposed to find time to play...
- THQ sets a release date for 40k MMO Above is a slide from THQ’s Investor Relations presentation...
- God of War III gets a release date – nine months from now. >:( Good things come to those who wait, though. ...
‘Bout time you manned up and bought it. Glad you enjoy it.
Also, as an additional post to your post. Each unit interacts to their surroundings. This means that when the going gets tough they’ll dart around and based on their veterancy look for better cover and dodge shots and hit the dirt. When idle they’ll also talk about toally random shit which adds some immersion but you can get them to say crazy shit if you pit them against units they can’t do anything about. Example, get some Riflemen and pit them against a tank. As long as they have no upgrades, they’ll question your authority and ask if you’re high hahaha. Allied units around a British bofors will talk about how great it is and how well it’s built. It’s priceless.
Great game, using it for ma Mock Game Analysis for a couple game testing resume I is a sending out.
The Visuals in the game are incredible, but the sound is definitely what seals the deal. Much like L4D sound is far more important than just “Immersion” it also gives crucial audio cursors to help managed the battlefield in large games. Beyond “WERE UNDER ATTACK” “OUR ALLIES ARE UNDER ATTACK” “WERE UNDER ATTACK” “OUR HERO HAS FALLEN, AND IS UNDER ATTACK” “WERE MINING GOLD, UNDER ATTACK” “YOUR MOM IS UNDER ATTACK”.
Even added to that is the static added to units you pan away from. So that Stormtrooper squad you were rushing with ran into a Pershing while you were building some Panzers now screams that they are under attack as if it were from a radio in that unit. SICKKKKKK
The explosions are also well done. Not just your fire/smoke/hole. It’s got the dirt kick up aannnnnnndddd drop. awesome.