bulldog
11-04-2006, 06:17 AM
Well, seeing as the other Company of Heroes thread is only a link to the demo, I thought I'd write a proper review; so here it is.
Company of Heroes is one of the most beautiful RTS's I've ever seen. Believe me, the graphics are *fantastic*. You can zoom in to a soldiers shoulder and watch them have the most unbelievable firefights. Call in some tanks, an artillery strike, and it feels as if you're immersed in a real war. The terrain is very well detailed, there are farmhouses; windmills, small towns, large towns, rivers, bunkers, ditches, trenches, craters etc. etc.
It is a very varied game, the tech trees are detailed and both factions have different models, firepower defence etc. There is also the war doctrine, where you can choose which kind of style you wish to play, for example the Germans may choose Blitzkrieg or Base Defence, while the U.S can choose between Airborne, Armour or Infantry. These doctrines really enhance the gaming experience, for you can meld your doctrine around your tactics and you'll recieve bonuses to compliment them.
You can build a myriad of base defences, including barbed wire, tank blockades, bunkers, MG nests, et cetera, as well as the main base buildings. Though you could put 30 minutes into a big well established base and have it destroyed by a few Panzers, which is pretty annoying, but it's satisfying when you call down a strafing bomber onto them.
It's a very realistic game, the resources are munitions, manpower and fuel, fuel is used for building defences, and also used in tanks. It's in very short supply too - so tanks can't be massed easily. Manpower is obviously used in infantry mainly, and munitions is used in most of these, but mainly in using your special doctrine abilities. These are captured like in Dawn of War, you send your soldiers to take them, then you can build an observation post on top of them, increasing their productivity. Soldiers will run and hide from tanks; when they're being shot at by an MG they'll jump down onto the floor and take cover at the nearest spot. If tanks are attacked in certain places they'll recieve damage to individual parts of their machine, for example if the engine is shot the tank will slow down by about 60%, if the main gun is blown off it can't shoot. Their rear armour is their weak point, and if you're shot there it usually cripples the machine.
The most fun about this game how you can do whatever you want to achieve the objectives. Imagine there's three panzers behind a house, and you have to eliminate them: you could send your infantry in to stickybomb them, sacrificing them but saving your own tanks from damage. Alternatively, you could drive your tanks straight *though* the house and catch the Panzers from the rear, and completely destroy them before they can even turn their barrels to fire at you. The choice is yours.
Now the downsides: this game is Dawn of War with a WW2 scene thrown on top of it. The campaign is more linear and repetitive than Dawn of Wars, all the missions are exactly the same: "Secure the supply line, defend the supply line from a counter-attack, secure another supply line half a mile up the road, defend the supply line half a mile up the road from a counter-attack!" ... I hope you get the scene.
The ad campaign for CoH was a load of bollocks, too. It showed all scenes of pretty shoulder-camera shooting. Well in this game, that's rubbish; if you even lower the camera for five seconds you'll find half your tanks have gone careering off into enemy territory only to be bombed to crap by the masses of artillery cannons they seem to have built with their unlimited resources. That said, the AI are bloody useless too, if their strategic points are being taken over they'll decide to go completely the opposite direction and run over half your barbed wire and sandbag defences on the way.
The promised personalised troops are worthless, apparently they each had 70+ (not quite sure on the number) quotes for each troop; I've only heard five and they really don't make any sense.
There's many more problems with this game, as are there good things, but I really don't rate it: If you haven't bought it already, don't, just by DoW and get the expansions, you'll have a much better time.
Company of Heroes is one of the most beautiful RTS's I've ever seen. Believe me, the graphics are *fantastic*. You can zoom in to a soldiers shoulder and watch them have the most unbelievable firefights. Call in some tanks, an artillery strike, and it feels as if you're immersed in a real war. The terrain is very well detailed, there are farmhouses; windmills, small towns, large towns, rivers, bunkers, ditches, trenches, craters etc. etc.
It is a very varied game, the tech trees are detailed and both factions have different models, firepower defence etc. There is also the war doctrine, where you can choose which kind of style you wish to play, for example the Germans may choose Blitzkrieg or Base Defence, while the U.S can choose between Airborne, Armour or Infantry. These doctrines really enhance the gaming experience, for you can meld your doctrine around your tactics and you'll recieve bonuses to compliment them.
You can build a myriad of base defences, including barbed wire, tank blockades, bunkers, MG nests, et cetera, as well as the main base buildings. Though you could put 30 minutes into a big well established base and have it destroyed by a few Panzers, which is pretty annoying, but it's satisfying when you call down a strafing bomber onto them.
It's a very realistic game, the resources are munitions, manpower and fuel, fuel is used for building defences, and also used in tanks. It's in very short supply too - so tanks can't be massed easily. Manpower is obviously used in infantry mainly, and munitions is used in most of these, but mainly in using your special doctrine abilities. These are captured like in Dawn of War, you send your soldiers to take them, then you can build an observation post on top of them, increasing their productivity. Soldiers will run and hide from tanks; when they're being shot at by an MG they'll jump down onto the floor and take cover at the nearest spot. If tanks are attacked in certain places they'll recieve damage to individual parts of their machine, for example if the engine is shot the tank will slow down by about 60%, if the main gun is blown off it can't shoot. Their rear armour is their weak point, and if you're shot there it usually cripples the machine.
The most fun about this game how you can do whatever you want to achieve the objectives. Imagine there's three panzers behind a house, and you have to eliminate them: you could send your infantry in to stickybomb them, sacrificing them but saving your own tanks from damage. Alternatively, you could drive your tanks straight *though* the house and catch the Panzers from the rear, and completely destroy them before they can even turn their barrels to fire at you. The choice is yours.
Now the downsides: this game is Dawn of War with a WW2 scene thrown on top of it. The campaign is more linear and repetitive than Dawn of Wars, all the missions are exactly the same: "Secure the supply line, defend the supply line from a counter-attack, secure another supply line half a mile up the road, defend the supply line half a mile up the road from a counter-attack!" ... I hope you get the scene.
The ad campaign for CoH was a load of bollocks, too. It showed all scenes of pretty shoulder-camera shooting. Well in this game, that's rubbish; if you even lower the camera for five seconds you'll find half your tanks have gone careering off into enemy territory only to be bombed to crap by the masses of artillery cannons they seem to have built with their unlimited resources. That said, the AI are bloody useless too, if their strategic points are being taken over they'll decide to go completely the opposite direction and run over half your barbed wire and sandbag defences on the way.
The promised personalised troops are worthless, apparently they each had 70+ (not quite sure on the number) quotes for each troop; I've only heard five and they really don't make any sense.
There's many more problems with this game, as are there good things, but I really don't rate it: If you haven't bought it already, don't, just by DoW and get the expansions, you'll have a much better time.