Company of Heroes Screens...

Magnum50 · 08-23-2006, 11:29 AM

I've never been a big fan of RTS games... sure I've bought and played my share... Generals, Rise of Nations, Lord of the Rings etc ect... but I've never finished a SP campaign from any of those games, and usually just played MP with friends...

Now MP, I suck... I have never won and always get spanked hard, before I even got a small army together my opponents usually had 3 more bases, 3/4th of the map conquered, and knocking on my door... I was always stuck in defense mode...

Well I've been hearing alot about the upcoming RTS "Company of Heroes" in a few different forums, mostly positive things... so I picked up this months PC Gamer yesterday and what do you know, the SP beta/Demo to Company of Heroes is there feature file, and there magazine has it reviewed with a 90 something score... there comment, "Not only is CoH the best WW2 RTS in history, it's the best RTS period", so I had to try it.

Now there's two big reasons why I'm not much of an RTS fan, and Company of Heroes is no exception to that rule...

1.) Building and resource gathering, I hate that crap, but in CoH's defense it is nice implemented, and kinda realistic, basically your setting up forward bases, protecting them, and deploying new units out of them to the front line... theres three resources, and you get those by capture resource points... it's not overly done as most RTS's are, so i could live with it I guess.

2.) Range of Fire, I hate to see enemy tanks virtually 10 feet from each other duking it out... I prefer proper range and proper ballistics and round penitrations... but what CoH has is pretty cool, sure you still have those close battles, but you can control which direction you face, and the implementing of flanking maneuvers is nicely done... if you don't flank a Tiger tank, with your Sherman you just may not win that battle, you got to hit them where they hurt, you can order one tank to fire and suppress (kinda), while you take another and maneuver for the flank... works well, but not perfect.

3)speed... I said three, but here's one more IMO... speed... the winner of these games is usually the one that can multi task and think faster on what to build next, and the one who can click and move around the map faster... I can't do either... so I evidently SUCK, lol...

But all that aside, (and why the hell did I even post all that talking?), CoH is fun and has alot of nice tactical elements. It has the best damn in game tutorial I've ever played, (really basic and slow for me, at first... but then moves up quickly.)

Your units get ranked, you get Commander points, and then can research/acquire new stuff like Artillery, Heavy Tanks, certain tactical bonuses... and the best thing I noticed, which is a problem with alot of other RTS's... if the enemy is spotted by your troops they run/dive for cover and engae... alot of micromanaging not required, which is nice for me. lol

any way, this has gotten alot longer then I planned... I'm debating about doing a preview of CoH and the JTF demo for Sim HQ real quick within the next few days... depending on my schedule. till then here's just a few screens...

They move to cover on there own, or you can order it:

I used artillery to cut off there assault, (I used it just a second too soon BTW):

Thats' my machine gun nest (defense of the resource) there to the left, I was in the middle of having my troops build a sandbag wall when this attack started:

You can zoom in with the mouse wheel, also hold down the Alt key to rotate around/up/down... great for screenshots:

OK, here is a series of screens... I've already cleared out the defensive forces around this enemy base, now using my Sherman and Alligator (bulldozer equipped because we had to clear a tank trap first) to take down this enemy HQ... the Flame thrower is sweet... and sends anyone inside buildings out side for the slaughter:

Victory!

That was just a few screens from the excellent tutorials, will play the game more and see if worthy of more screens, or a preview... but I'm still undecided... If I did buy it, it would be to play through the SP once then that's it... so...will see...

Lt.Snow · 08-23-2006, 03:41 PM

I might have to try this out. FileFront - The Most Gaming Files on the Web
I will give a little review after an hour or so of play.

EDIT: Thanks for posting these pictures Magnum.

Steeler · 08-23-2006, 04:27 PM

That looks incredible.

**gunjunkie** · 08-23-2006, 05:53 PM

I played the closed beta of this. I agree with PCGs assessment of this game.

It's the best RTS I've played, and I am quite a fan of them. There are a lot of little details that make this the case. The unit AI is great, you troops don't just stand there and take fire, they actively seek cover and generall react to enemy movement in a realistic way. The destructable envionment makes the battles dynamic in a way I've never seen before, allowing a lot of use of terrain, and the destruction thereof. One of my best memories from the beta is raining arty down on an entrenched position and rushing a couple of squads of troops and an MG team in to take cover in the shell holes to counter their re-enforcements. Good stuff.

MP is a lot of fun too. The resources build slowly and this game will not be the "rushtastic" experience most other MP RTS is. I found in my playtime, that there are definite phases to the battle. At first its scouting and skirmishing. Both sides will be reasonably closely matched at this time and the next set of tech upgrades seem to come just as the lines are being established. I'm a reasonable competent RTS player and I found that I never really felt like either player was outclassed in the games I played, even against guys ranked much higher and lower than me.

Its also nice to see a WWII RTS done properly for once. Overall a really fun game.

millipede777 · 08-23-2006, 07:44 PM

I played through the demo yesterday. It's great. I do have a tough time trying to direct lots of units at once, but that might have been because they were all trying to save themselves from the panzers roaming the streets. I love how the tanks actually feel dangerous and not just like a really big strong infantry unit like they do in some games. I don't care how many rifle rounds I put into a tank's armour, it is not gonna kill the tank. In CoH you actually have to have some sort of heavy weapon to take them down. It just feels so much more natural. This game is going on the "Must Get This" list right next to Quake Wars and Supreme Commander.

aculle01 · 08-24-2006, 10:50 AM

I, originally, wasnt going to really give this game much of a look but this most encouraged me to scrounge around and find the demo on the internet. Found it. Downloaded it. Played it. Loved it. One of three demos that have actually made me really excited to play the full thing (BF2 and Shogun: Total War are the other two). If you like Dawn of War and you like WW2 games then this is the game for you. I was speechless last night when I finished the 2 demo missions. If not for the mortar teams I forgot I had after falling back I would've been overrun before help arrived, my palms were actually sweating, and you have to play the game on Easy. I had pledged to limit my buying to Armed Assault and Guitar Hero II but CoH has just foiled that plan and I am anxiously waiting for September 16th.