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Fun, but still an RTS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Company of Heroes is a fun mix of old RTS games with upgraded graphics and a new trick here and there. I don't think it is anything that will set the RTS world on its head nor do I think it brings anything to the table that could be considered revolutionary.

The Campaign mode puts you in command of limited US forces in small variations of real battles in WW2 around the invasion of Normandy. The Campaign mode is strictly United States (the Germans are available in the Skirmish mode but not the Campaign). The Soviets, Italians, Brits, etc. are not represented in this game. In addition to the limited countries you can play (mainly the US) the units available have also been somewhat downplayed. This is not necessarily a bad thing as your resources are limited and you only want to bring to bear what is necessary to win the map. So you won't see Lee's and Stuart's on the battlefield, the only tank available to the US is the Sherman (in a couple variants). Sure, you can spend resources on the M10 Tank Destroyer but given its limited use and the fact that the Sherman in this game can go toe-to-toe with Tigers it isn't necessary. Also, you can spend your command points to unlock the Pershing tank (so it is there if you are willing to get to it).

To help make less feel like more CoH has done two things. First, they've added the ability to specialize your army in one of the three ways (Infantry, Airborne or Armor) that will change the way you fight slightly and may add an additional unit here and there or alter the way an existing unit functions as you unlock new features. For example, if you spend your points specializing in Infantry your units can now lay sandbags, you get access to mean tank-killing Rangers and eventually (if you can save up enough resources) you can send for resupply that delivers to your base a random assortment of units. Airborne, as the name implies, specializes in airborne drops of infantry and AT guns and later heavy weapon supplies like machine guns and motors that can be manned by nearby units. Armor will eventually unlock access to the heavy Pershing tank. And secondly, they've tried to add upgrades to units to help them maintain their effectiveness throughout the game (as stated earlier, your unit cap is fairly low in comparison to traditional RTS games). The Sherman tank can be upgraded with a 50-cal machine gun on top to help its effectiveness against infantry while Riflemen can be upgraded to use Grenades, Sticky-bombs and BAR's. Essential each unit has at least one upgrade available to it. This means you may not have to sacrifice your existing riflemen to make room for a tank when the option to build one becomes available. Both of these items help flesh out the game but they don't entirely get rid of the feeling that for an RTS game you are limited in your choices.

So how do the units you field behave? Well, this is a mixed bag. Sometimes they do things that make you smile at their intelligence (diving for cover, supporting each other, etc.) but for the most part they are as stupid (if not more so) than units from previous RTS games. Tanks and other heavy weapons will still stand on the sidelines while a Riflemen squad gets chewed up rather than move up and engage. When Tanks do engage they not only move up to within range of their weapons (which has been cut significantly in this game to keep them from firing all the way across the maps) but they drive right up against the enemy unit until they are actually running into the enemy tank. What is up with that? If more than one mechanized unit has to move over the same stretch of ground they spend more time banging into each other and moving back and forth than actually covering ground - often the units you were sending them to support will be dead before the mechanized units can organize themselves into a column and drive there. When they do get there you have to manually reorient them so that their weaker rear-armor is facing away from the enemy (something that they are not smart enough to do themselves). You also have to make sure they are positioned so that they have a clear line of fire on the target or they will continue to put round after round into a berm (or some other minor obstruction) indefinitely and never make contact with the enemy unit. When you order a tank to move you should do so in a small series of steps as you carefully work to navigate them one at a time out of your base or they will drive right over the top of your defenses (sandbags, walls, barb wire, etc.) destroying them. Needless to say, path finding in this game is the worst I have seen in an RTS to date with the exception of most of the infantry units which can find their way around but have their own unique quirks which include the inability to jump low walls or swim shallow rivers.

Path-finding and unit variety out of the way, the real selling point for CoH is its awesome graphics and richly detailed environments that can be destroyed. The graphics are superior to any other RTS that I have played and the ability to control the camera, using it to zoom in for an over the shoulder view akin to a FPS if you so choose, is something all RTS games of the future should include. For most of the game you will probably be zoomed all the way out (as I was) and even wishing that you could zoom out further to make keeping an eye on all the action at once a little easier.

The environment is richly detailed with lots of terrain types and plenty of things to blow up or hide behind. Buildings can be leveled and holes can be blown into the earth. The ground will become black and scarred the longer you fight over it until it is just a mess of blackened holes with no trees, fences or buildings left standing.

The last item I bring up may or may not be an issue for you depending on the level of realism you like bundled with your RTS. Personally, I like a lot, and so in that area CoH really falls short. While the units look like they are supposed to they don't behave that way nor are they really balanced against their real-life counterparts. For example, an AT gun can absorb several hits from the main gun on the tanks, as can armored cars which take several hits to bring down. The Sherman can go toe-to-toe with the Tiger tank and all vehicles have a very severe limit on their weapon ranges. In addition there is some luck mechanic working in the background because you can take two identical enemy units and take down one without issue and the second just seems to be absorbing all damage you are sending its way. When your units get hurt bad enough just hit the retreat button and they will flee at warp speed back to your headquarters (they get an armor boost to match that speed boost) where they can be pumped back up to full strength. It is especially annoying fighting a unit only to get it worn down at last, then it retreats and later you have to fight it again when its back to full strength.

Anyway, CoH is a game with its fair share of flaws and it brings very little innovative advancements to the table. Under the polished finish it is the same old RTS game at work. But it is flashy and in the end it is still fun.

EDIT: I should have pointed out that the profanity is over the top at times, even for a war game. The units don't need to swear every time you give them an order. Anyway, the swearing isn't a big issue for me, but no way to turn it off (that I saw) makes the game unsuitable to be played with the volume up in mixed company.

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you like RTS or strategy games period give this one a try. First i'd just like to say the graphics are fantastic, although the cinema scenes leave something to be desired, but the in game graphics are great. Likewise the sound is also fantastic. But what realy makes this game addictive is the strategic portion.

Your troops can take cover behind many many structures, cars, sand bags, hedges, trees, craters, your own tanks, and you can fortify buildings. Many of these structures can be destroyed one way or another. Bazookas destroy cars, tanks can demolish sand bags, with enough fire power buildings can crumble, with your troops inside. You can tell your troops where to take cover or if you just tell them to attack an enemy unit they'll do the best they can to find cover. You can lay land mines, barbed wire, build sandbag walls, set tank traps; unfortountly there's no trench digging although some missions have trenches which you can take advantage of.

The 'city building' phase of the game isn't very time consuming. There's only a handful of buildings to build and there isn't a major tech tree to climb like there is in other games. Compared to games like Battle for Middle Earth, Warcraft3, and Starcraft i spend much less time looking at my base and much more time managing units on the front lines.

In a sense you can customize your infantry a bit, you'll often times find weapons on the battle field like mini machine guns, and bazookas. With a click one of your infantry units will pick up the weapon and begin using it. You'll also come across a varity of more stationary weapons like a mortar cannon, which will allow you to change 3 rifle men into a mortar team. While you can move these units it takes time for them to pack up their equipment and set it back up on the move.

Flanking is a very effective strategy since it will often negate infantrys cover or expose less armored areas of tanks.

I'm about 4 missions into the campaing and love the game. If i could change one thing it would be to be able to remap the keys. Currently the pause command is giving with the pause/break key, i'd much rather have it be on the left hand side of the keyboard.

btw, runs great on my PC, AMD Athlon 4000+, 1gig memory, Geforce 7800 256

WARNING: Windows XP Only

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: September 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Please note that Company of Heroes does NOT support Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95/98/NT/2000

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It is a great game with the best graphics I have seen on a PC game. The only problem is the steep system requirements. I have a AMD Athlon XP 2600+, 1.5gb ram, 256mb evga gforce FX5500. The game runs but very slow. Luckly I have a laptop that runs it fine.

Brilliant

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A wonderfully made game. Truly a testament ot he peeps at Relic. I love it through and through. The level of detail and realism in the game is unsurpassed, the graphics, effects and voice acting are second to none. It is by far the finest RTS I have played in years.

Best Strategy Game To Date

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I do not write many reviews, but I am writing this one to try to introduce more people to this fantastic game - and get more people addicted as I am!

Unlike Rome: Total War, unlike Supreme Commander, you are not lassoing a bunch of icons and throwing them at your opponent like a drunk throwing bread crumbs to a flock of ducks. No, in COH your units matter. You may have as few as a half-dozen on the board at one time, and keeping them alive, using them to support each other, using fire and maneuver and cover are all vitally important, as is the occasional retreat if things are not going well.

The game offers unlimited replayablitly with online as each game is different based on what your opponent does, and how you react. As well as what side (German or Allies) you chose to play. As well as what map you are playing on. And you must choose one of 3 `doctrines' as you play, each one of which influences the specialty of your Army.

Infantry Doctrine enables you to gain faster defensive builds, as well as 105mm artillery.

Armor Doctrine enables more powerful tanks.

Airborne allows you to drop infantry from the sky on the German defenders - and each of these really gives you six distinct abilities per Doctrine.

The German likewise has 3 doctrines, but I've not had much experience playing the Germans so I cannot tell you what the German Doctrines do; They are however Terror, Blitzkrieg and...another that I cannot recall.

If you build a rifleman squad (six men) you can upgrade them with grenades, Browning Automatic Rifles, and `sticky bombs', makeshift anti-armor grenades...and this is just one example; other units are customizable as well. This game offers unbelievable variability and replayablity and is the best online strategy game by far I've ever played - I'd have to go back to Warcraft when it first came out to find a game as fun, replayable, addictive and genre-defining.

Buy it and you will not be disappointed. Look for RafterManFMJ online, and keep those snipers supported!

I Was Wrong -- This Is A 5 STAR GAME

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had a knee jerk reaction to this game that was negative when I bought it because at first I thought that under the Skirmish - Annihilate mode it was too hard to beat even on the easy setting -- I was wrong -- after playing a bit more, trying new strategies, and using pause and the map at the lower left, I realize how great this game is. It's totally fun and challenging, and that's what RTS games are supposed to be all about. I love this game. My only small complaint is that I wish the guide was a bit more fleshed out. Great Game!!!

The best World War II game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Company of Heroes is not just a lot of fun, there are tons of mods and maps available to make it more re-playable, and to extend the 'life' of the game and keep it feeling new. One of the best RTS I have ever played

An interesting, intense (and somewhat frustrating) RTS war game.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: August 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The action begins on D-day (June 6, 1944) and then progresses onward as the allies gradually recapture the German occupied territory in Normandy, France. The game has some historical accuracy; with regards to the events occurring around the Normandy invasion and its immediate aftermath.

As with most games there were good and not so good features...let me explain

The Pros:

1.)The game was fun to play; the battles certainly are gut wrenching and tend to sweep you up emotionally into them.

2.)Good maps, with clear cut instructions as to what needs to be done to complete a mission.

3.)Easy to program your units to build troops, vehicles and armored units etc.

4.)Many advanced abilities are available to choose from, by spending your Experience Points, (earned in battles) for upgrades.

5.)Easy, anytime game saves.

6.)Interesting cut movie scenes before and after each mission.

The Cons:

1.)During the chaos of battle, I found it very difficult to accurately control some units; either getting them to go where I wanted them to go AND/OR do what I wanted them to do. Because there were often multiple units (represented by icons) close together it was sometimes hard to accurately click on the appropriate icon with the CORRECT mouse button. Probably the worst example of this was to try to get a manned artillery cannon pointed the right way and then get them to fire on a specific target. (while all hell was breaking loose and you needed that cannon in a hurry).

2.)A limited total number of units (units encompass personnel + buildings + vehicles) at any one time, in any given mission. I seemed to be forever at my unit limits with no way of producing a set of tanks to help my buildings or troops that were being ravaged by German Panther and Tiger tanks. (In other words. I had to let many troops die in order to free up 'space' to make some heavy armor units).

3.)However, the most frustrating thing to me was the spontaneous regeneration of German armor or troops in an area you just spent a half hour clearing. (and of course you won these battles by the skin of your teeth with barely any troops or armor left).

4.)The tutorial, while it gives the bare basics of game play; has very little in-depth instruction.

5.)The computer AI running the enemy could do anything, anywhere and all at once; where as you, the gamer, can only act in one place, on one unit at a time. Hardly seems fair.

6.)Picking an upgrade (by spending your hard earned Exp. Points) seemed a trial and error affair; what worked well in one mission, may be of limited use or even useless in another (often, with the end result being restarting level to try to find something more useful).

A decent RTS war game, that had great potential, but, I felt, just fell short. I found myself continually frustrated by my inadequate, one click of the mouse button at a time response, compared to the all encompassing AI that ran the enemy. 3 ½ Stars.

R. Nicholson

P.S. As an alternative RTS World War II game, I would suggest "War Front". Although not as historically accurate as CoH, (it also had some 'what if' scenarios thrown in as well), but it at least had a set-up that allowed the 'gamer' more control over the production and deployment of his troops, buildings and armor.

One of the best RTS titles to come along in years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Company of Heroes not only delivers fun and addictive game play, the realism and feel of the game hits this one over the wall. So many WWII games have been released in recent years. Next to Battlefield 1942, Company of Heroes is the best of them.

- Authentic WWII weapons, story, and look.
- Completely destructible environments.
- A compelling soundtrack that you WANT to listen to.
- Wonderful voice acting.
- Balanced unit types and tactical strategy.
- A single player story that never lets you down.
- Easy to use, and easy to install.
- The graphics are outstanding.

Although, every game has a few cons......

- AI can be questionable at times, nothing is more frustrating watching your Sherman shoot your troops in the back. The enemy AI is great, when you turn the difficulty up.
- A few minor bugs, the game shutdown on me twice, but only before or after a mission.
- I get this annoying color streak on the top of my screen sometimes. It goes away and comes back, and sometimes blinks. =/ I think its my graphics card though.

Overall, Company of Heroes is a game experience the should not be missed. If you have a capable PC, this is a must have game.

9.5/10 would be my rating. An almost perfect game with minor flaws. PLay it!

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