User Reviews (11 - 21 of 119)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

The most engaging RTS I've played in a long time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you haven't bought Company of Heroes yet, you're probably thinking another World War II strategy game is about as fresh and exciting as the next Kelly Clarkson clone on American Idol Season 42.

But in this case believe the hype - this game is easily in the running for best strategy game of the year. The graphics put many first person shooters to shame, the music and voiceacting is top notch, and the gameplay is easy to learn but hard to master. Best of all the emphasis is on outmanuevering and killing the enemy, not harvesting mulberry bushes and wood.

Pros
1. Absolutely beautiful graphics - I dare you to zoom in to ground level and try to tell the difference between COH and Call of Duty. Let me also mention the fully destructable world (tanks can plow through hedgerows, artillery can blow up buildings, etc).

2. A streamlined economy that makes sense. There are only three resources, with manpower being the most abundant, munitions being semi-abundant, and fuel being the precious "gold" source. By capturing strategic points on the board you increase your rates of resources. You can build upgrades that improve your resource rate but there is no need to actually sit and mine resources once you capture a point.

3. Emphasis on tactical decisions, not "ZOMG Zerg rush!" In the thick of battle you have to build obstacles and emplacements with your engineers, ensure your infantry troops are in cover, try to outmanuever enemy tanks for a killing rear blow, and use special abilities like throw grenades or satchel charges. There's no such thing as gathering a million units, right clicking towards the enemy lines and hoping for the best - your massive hordes will get mowed down by just 1 or 2 well-placed bunkers. Resupply of new units is also pretty slow compared to many games - meaning every unit from the lowliest grunt to the big Pershing and Tiger tanks matters.

4. A great deal of historical accuracy without bogging down in "Grognardism." The units all look wonderfully realistic and most major vehicles and weapons from the invasion of Normandy are in the game. You can even add historically accurate upgrades such as bulldozer blades to Shermans for busting through hedgerows, etc. Vehicles that were incredibly rare for the European theater are correspondingly hard to deploy in the game - so there's no worry about being bulldozed by the "L33T" all-Tiger tank company. On the flipside, the game doesn't go into stupid historic detail that would confuse/frustrate many players.

5. The best single player campaign I've played since Warcraft 3. Ok, there is the "Saving Private Ryan" melodrama and the obligatory storming Normandy Beach opening. That being said, the campaign is excellent. The cutscene movies are great and the objectives for each mission are incredibly challenging. In the second mission I had to gather a company of paratroopers that had gotten cut off after the Normandy airdrop, raid a nearby ammo depot for heavy anti-tank guns, then set up an ambush as an armor column of Germans arrived. Fail at any step along the way (don't rescue enough paratroopers, dont capture the guns) and you will have no way of achieving the final objective.

5. Top-notch music, sound, and voice acting. The music is by Jeremy Soule - 'nough said. If you don't know Jeremy's work, let's just say I rank his work in Company of Heroes on par with any big budget Hollywood soundtrack. The sound effects are all well done but what shines are the voice-acting. The chatter is often hilarious with grunts saying "close enough for govt work" or "if I see another f'ing sandbag" when you have them build structures. In a firefight you'll hear them scream obscenities and "eat my pineapple you f'ing Kraut." And yes the F-bomb is frequently uttered - which to me is a refreshing change from the "boy howdy we're pinned down" politically correct voiceovers you find in way too many games these days.

Cons

1. Steep learning curve - even on easy the AI can give new players a run for their money and the hard AI is downright diabolical. This is the first game where I've seen the computer do really sneaky things like set up ambushes or use snipers to pick off lone patrols. Needless to say, PVP is incredibly brutal for noobs (which I fully consider myself).

2. System hog and poor multiplayer connectivity - This game's requirements are among the most demanding of any PC game out there. Even with a pimped-out gaming rig you can expect long load times, although the game itself runs smoothly once you're in a mission. Make sure you have close to the recommended specs (3 Ghz processor, 1 Gig RAM, latest video card or two) before buying.

Also, the multiplayer servers run by Relic are currently lag city. Expect to get dropped from more than one multiplayer match.

3. Adult content - This isn't really a con for me but it could be if you're buying this game for your 12-year-old grandson. The violence is pretty realistic and so's the language. However, COH is a perfectly acceptable title for anyone in their mid-teens and older.

4. It's based closely on the 40K Dawn of War engine. Once again, I liked the 40K series and I've found COH to have made large improvements in most areas (especially graphics). But some people don't like the Dawn of War franchise so here's fair warning that the gameplay is pretty similar.

In conclusion, Company of Heroes is a must-buy for any strategy gamer or even WW-II enthusiasts (I've had several friends who are hardcore shooter fans warm up to COH because it's such an excellent historical title). Considering I burned out on Starcraft, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, and Age of Empires in my early 20s, only a tremendous game like Company of Heroes could get me excited about the RTS genre again.

A Near Perfect Game - Best I've Played in 2-3 Years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First, I'd like to say that I'm not the biggest fan of Real Time Strategy, where you have to move quickly to get everything done. I play a few, but prefer strategy, simulation, and role-playing games. I buy 5-10 games per year, normally highly rated, and play them until I'm bored, I finish them, or I reach too difficult of a stage.

This game, frankly, is the best game I've seen in 2-3 years. Graphics are stunning on my new IBM Thinkpad with a mid-level graphics card. Sound is great, the dialogue is original, and sounds realistic. I can't believe it NEVER gets old, as it always changes (it seems very real to life).

If you never play RTS games, it WILL take you some time to learn this game. But it will reward you with 20 good hours of solid, fun, non-repetitive gameplay.

From the opening scene of landing on the beach of Normandy, through the remaining 15 missions, it's an incredible experience.

I give this 5 stars, without hesitation.

Great Game but Not Groundbreaking

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm glad I read some of the reviews of this game before buying or I would have been pretty disappointed. Don't get me wrong; this is a great game for its genre. The graphics are phenomenal even at the lower settings and the gameplay is intense and challenging (extremely challenging, in fact).

My issue with Company of Heroes is that it is almost a direct rip off of the Dawn of War engine. In fact, this essentially is Dawn of War with WW II skins. If you really liked Dawn of War this is good news. If you were looking for the groundbreaking game hinted at in all the early Company of Heroes hype you may be disappointed.

Having read many of the early gaming magazine and online reviews, there were very few indications that CoH was so closely tied to Dawn of War. I can't say I read enough gaming reviews to give a truly thorough accounting, but I get the sense that there was a bit of deliberate manipulation going on to make this look like something more than it actually is.

Bottom Line: Buy Company of Heroes because its a great twist on DoW and for the great graphics. If you're expecting something new and exciting, keep waiting. Don't sweat the systems requirements if you have at least a 2.0 Mhz chip, 1 gig of RAM, and a 256 graphics card.

Buy the CD-ROM version instead

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Don't get ripped off paying $5 more for this title just because it's on DVD - you can get the CD version for $5 less. Yes, I know, it's nicer to have just the one DVD, but we can't let publishers get away with charging us MORE for buying a product that costs them LESS to make. Why should they charge less for a box with multiple CD's in it than for a box with one disc in it? Simple: because they think we're suckers who will pay more for less (kind of like paying to use ATMs when the banks save billions by not needing human tellers anymore).

Just Say No to publisher ripoffs. Swapping CDs will take you ten extra seconds for the one time you install the game.

Awesome doesn't quite describe it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: September 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've been working the demo, and the demo shows a tremendous game. The game itself all but matches most cinematics in terms of quality (the cinematics are downright stunning!), and the characters have almost no pixelization or triangulation. Visually, it is, by far, the most beautiful game I've ever seen. The game play is very realistic. So far, my only complaint is that starting in skirmish mode, I'm still struggling to find ways to fight tanks early in the battle (the sticky bombs are limited in effectiveness), but I expect that will come in time. This definitely goes on my wish list.

a rock solid game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Packed with great content but be prepared to work for your victories.

This is only my third tour into the world of RTS games and I have to say that I am very impressed with both the game content and the playability of this latest entry. Company of Heroes is a WW-II based real time strategy game set in Western Europe in the Summer of 1944. The game is subdivided into 3 areas of content; single-player campaign, single-player skirmish against the computer, and multi-player. There is also a short tutorial available to teach new players the basics of gameplay.

The GUI is very similar to other recent THQ games, any players familiar with the Dawn of War series will find the user interface intuitive. Most combat units spawn from fixed structures at the price of available resource points. Units may be selected via the mouse from a graphical panel in the corner of the screen or from the use of hotkeys. The mouse can be used to scroll across the map (only about 5% of the map is shown at any one time), rotate views, and zoom in to see the detail but most of the time the action is so hot and heavy that there isn't time to change views and the default view is adequate more than 90% of the time. There is also a tactical map available that displays a top-down view of the entire field of battle and units can be directed from this view but no new units can be selected from here.

Resource points are classified as personnel, ammo, or fuel. Resource points are normally accumulated by holding territory and building improvements. Additional combat units and resource points can be brought onto the field by airborne drops or by capturing key buildings or points. Additional specialized skills and units can also be selected by choosing a specific military doctrine or discipline but selection of a doctrine automatically locks a player into a specific tree of available improvements to the gameplay.

Combat units vary from the engineers and light infantry to heavy tanks and mobile artillery units. Air support is also available in the form of reconnaissance aircraft, fighter/bomber strafing runs, off-map artillery and even V2 rockets for players in Skirmish mode playing Axis. New structural units can also be brought onto the field in the form of new buildings or defensive improvements such as sandbags, barbed wire fences, etc. Two defensive skills that are notably missing are the ability to dig foxholes or trenches.

The single-player campaign is focused on completing missions set in locations of actual battles fought in WW-II. Each mission has different objectives. One shortcoming to the single-player campaign is that the whole campaign is played entirely from the point of view of the Allied forces and the missions are all based on the months immediately following the Allied landing in Normandy. The campaign menu screen was clearly designed with expansion packs in mind so expect to see upcoming releases for future campaings. In addition to completing each mission's primary objectives there is the opportunity to complete secondary objectives for medals and other badges of honor but these medals do not add any extra capabilities to the game.

The skirmish mode allows one to play against the computer either 1:1 or fighting with or against up to 3 additional AI players on a fixed map with the goal of capturing and holding key positions. Each skirmish game can typically take 30-60 minutes depending on the skill level of the player and the AI. Here is where your computer really needs to be up to snuff in terms of video processing power because the 4:4 maps can have up to 50 different units in play and this will really slow down computers that do not have up-to-date video cards, and CPUs.

Multi-player is also supported for Skirmish games and users can create and download custom maps from a number of community supported websites.

Players must adopt a very strong offensive strategy to succeed in most games in Company of Heroes. Players cannot afford to dig in too deeply because there are too many ways the opponent can wipe out defenses very quickly. I learned this the hard way when I tried to sandbag and mine a key set of bridges in Carentan only to see my hard work wiped out in seconds by an off-map artillery barrage. One should also note that the differences between Axis and Allied forces are more than just the colors of their uniforms and the names of the tanks. Each side has unique paths to unique unit improvements so don't expect that being an expert at Allied skirmish will make you equivalently skilled as an Axis commander.

There are a few bugs in this game, mostly related to the start of short movies between missions. I had several instances where missions would not start, pending a software queue to begin a movie. After rebooting, the movie and mission played fine so I do not think this was a limitation of my hardware. One should also download the 1.4 patch immediately after installing the game because there is a bug in the 1.3 patch that allows vehicles to drive right through barbed wire and tank traps as if they weren't there (among other bug fixes and improvements, mostly for multi-player).

One feature heavily touted in this game is the visceral detail during combat. This is especially apparent during explosions. Bodies fly, vehicles and buildings burn, buildings can even be reduced to rubble given enough firepower during attack. Tanks will drive right through most walls so get used to thinking outside of the lines in this game.

There are 4 different difficulty levels available for all missions and one can switch between difficulty levels during the campaing. At higher difficulty levels playing against the computer expect to work very hard for victory. Other experienced RTS gamers have reported that this game requires less micromanagement than many other games of this genre. Fortunately, one can pause games against the AI and still scroll the map. This is a valuable safety net for newbies not quite ready for the true "real time" experience.

Overall, the game content and replay value make this game a great addition especially for players new to RTS.

Absolutely Brilliant

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Relic has done it again. Following up on their spectacular Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War series, the acclaimed RTS developers have delivered what is possibly the greatest micro-RTS ever made. With STUNNING graphics, realistic physics, and sound that makes you feel like you're actually on the front lines, Company of Heroes is a technical wonder.

Above all else, though, this game is FUN. Every minute is packed with excitement and incredibly intense firefights. The two sides are well balanced, unique, and historically accurate. The Command Points system adds another great dimension to gameplay, putting the "S" in RTS.

This was easily the best $50 I've spent since Half Life 2, but don't just take my word for it. Reviews from magazines and websites have all been equally remarkable, with the game receiving some of the highest scores of any RTS ever.

If you enjoy PC gaming at all, and have the rig to play this game, you owe it to yourself to BUY THIS GAME.

Outstandingly Fantastic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: October 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After a solid week of playing through the campaign every day, I've now finally completed CoH. This is one of those all-consumating games which you find yourself thinking about at every moment of the day (the last game to do that for me was Rome: Total War); I was literally having dreams in which I was coordinating pincer movements with my Shermans, moving my infantry forward with .50 cal support and sniper fire, and watching as a brave soul sprinted towards an enemy panzer, threw his sticky bomb and was shot just as the tank's engine was destroyed.

This is truly a fantastic game; every aspect I can think of is polished and beautifully absorbing. It goes without saying that the graphics are great- I love seeing a tank punch through a tall stone wall and seeing it crumble intricately. The ragdoll effects on the infantry are great, and much cooler with the high powered weapons of WW2 then they were in Age of Empires 3.

One of the things which impressed me about the game upon first playing it was the AI; seing an enemy unit or vehicle make a tactical withdrawal when I was beginning to overpower them and move units onto their flank was an awesome sight to behold. The developpers have clearly made a huge effort to eliminate the most annoying afflictions of WW2 games. It's hard to pinpoint it, but with features such as minefields and crashing airplanes, the developpers have managed integrate without ruining or unbalancing the game.

What stands out the most for me about this game, however, is the tactical richness of the gameplay. The squad level use of cover and flanking, as well as abilities like frag grenades or suppressing fire, together with the 'zone' capture system, creates an incredibly interesting RTS game. I've just started playing multiplayer, (which has an excellent auto-match feature, pairing you up with someone of similar experience), and you really find yourself thinking- the base building mechanic is kept very simple, and your success on that front hinges on your tactical abilities (rather then the other way around, as in most RTS games).

There's a lot to say about this game, but fans of any genre will most definitely find something to like here. If you're thinking of buying a new game now (October 2006) there are few better choices- this will remain a classic for many years.

(Final Notes- this is graphically demanding; I can play at high graphics and 1680x1050, but I have a powerful PC (Opteron 165 @ 2.7ghz, x1900xtx, 2gb ram). I have a laptop which I installed it on as well, though, and it's playable- albeit at 1024x768.
Also, it's true what's been said about swearing; if you're trying to shield your children from the full range of colorful english expressions then....... actually, that's pointless. They'll find out those words eventually, the important thing is to teach them not to say them rather then not to know them. This game makes you think, it's challenging and a much better way of spending time then watching TV. )

Well, that's it from me! Now find your credit card and go forth!

Best RTS to date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is fun to play. The graphic is awesome. Artillery strikes are a thing of beauty. I just love watching replay in zoom in mode. It's like watching a movie! The AI is decent at expert level. I wish they released an editor so we can make harder maps and computer opponents.

I have played just about any and every RTS to date and this one is one of the best. I finished the campaign quickly and played the skirmishes 1v1 1v2 and 3v4 (3 humans vs 4 expert computers). I'm now done with it now. It took a while to get good at it but we can beat the computer in skirmishes consistently now either as US or German in victory point or annihilation, 500 or 1000 points. I should go online but i'm not much of a PvP person.

The game ran fine on my 3 computers. Graphics card are 6800LE/6800GS/7900GT. It support widescreen up to 1920x1200. I have only experienced a few rare crash on the 6800LE because of overheating (not the game fault) so ti's pretty much bug free.

If you like RTS. This is the one to get. The campaign is short but if you like to play with your friends over LAN or Inet then you can't go wrong with this game. As a bonus there is no copy protection nor does it require a disk in the drive. So i only needed to buy one copy to play over LAN on my 3 pc with my buddies.

This game is so good that now I am having withdrawal symtom from not playing it :) But without an editor to make new maps and harder computers opponent. There is no point in playing when you can win almost all the time, and playing the same maps over and over again get boring. Hopefully, they will release an editor with the expansion.

Great Real Time Strategy for All Levels of Gamer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Company of Heroes is a squad based World War II real time strategy game. Instead of commanding individual soldiers, you command squads. You don't get life bars for individual soldiers, you worry about the squad health and upgrade them as a squad. If you lose squad members, you send the remaining guys back to the home base to regroup with new guys from your barracks.

You can't find vehicles and jump into them - you have to build a jeep group, for example. On the other hand, if you have a group with a MG42 and they get killed, another squad can come over and pick it up. Some upgrades apply to an entire unit, while others give a specific person a new item to use. The game is nice about this - if your unit is being whittled down, they leave any special guys for last.

As you build up experience with your units, they develop new abilities. There are different kinds of branches available, each with its own new features. You can become able to call in an air strike, for example. Different types of upgrades require different resources. For example, if you want to call in an air strike, you have to use resources to do that.

There are numerous forests, shrubs, rubble, stairs, waterfronts, and much more to use as cover, to bottleneck your enemy with, and to strategize around. It makes for great tactical fun. You can put down defenses too - barbed wire for infantry, mines for tanks, and sandbags for your own protection. The cover AI is rather good.

You can take cover in buildings, and if you zoom in you can actually see them peering out of the windows and using cover naturally in there. You can even blow up buildings and pieces will fall off. Your world is quite destructible!

You take on territories which are marked with colors on your mini-map and with colored lines on your larger map. This helps to make it easy to track your progress. Also, taking more locations increases the total number of units you can support. You capture flags which indicate resource piles - depending on which flag you grab, you can supply upgrades for weapons, armor or so on.

The graphics are great - if you've got a top end computer you can crank up the quality level to some pretty amazing detail. Even slower computers get a lot of detail with flags on the houses, leaves on the trees, and details on uniforms.

You have a soft background music track playing, but it is very low key and does not interfere with gameplay. The various voices of the characters have the country accents that you'd expect and seem relatively good. They all speak English of course :)

Like most games of this ilk you get a campaign mode with preset missions, a skirmish mode where you can practice on various terrains, and then an online mode where you get the real challenge of facing off with other humans.

If you've got a *really* basic PC, you might be annoyed that this game won't run well on it. But really, I find that hard to be a fault. If you make a super, top notch game, it's going to need a lot of horsepower. There are plenty of other more basic games on the market for those systems to play.

Gameplay is realistic but not gamer-destroying - you get a great challenge playing this game but not the instant-death frustration that some other games pose. We really find that both beginners and experienced RTS fans enjoy this one, playing for hours and hours.

Highly recommended!

Rating: 5/5

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions