Mikey's Review

I had never heard of this game before stumbling across it on some website so I wasn't at all prepared for the sheer quality and awe-inspiring graphics and playability of this game...

We all have a favourite RTS and mine most def was C&C Generals and Zero Hour, very good games, especially in multiplayer, I LOVE GLA!

Now I have to warn you, I am not the most fanatical RTS single player type person, I must say I get bored rather easily, that said though, I managed to get through most of this game, mainly thanks to an engaging storyline (though used in most WW2 games) and wonderful gameplay.

Graphics

Lets just talk about the graphics... My laptop isn't bad at all (Core Duo 2ghz with 2gig ram and x1600 ATI graphics) and it played it pretty reasonably. What impressed me most is what I got from the game, most games which require hefty systems do not, in all fairness, live up to expectations, you would think for all the chugging your computer does that you would get something that would make you gasp...

Company of Heroes definitely makes you gasp! You can zoom in until the soldiers etc are full screen and you can see masses of detail, this doesnt go away really when you zoom out and it just gives you a really nice feeling of completeness, like somehow, you are really there!

The effects in the game are mind blowing, I especially like the explosions and gun fire, nice little touches like in tank battles, the tanks shells can sometimes ricochet off the enemy tank's armour with a lovely ping and you can actually *see* the shell bounce off. Other things just add to this such as vehicles going out of control just as they are about to die, it's strangely funny watching your half-track full of men get so damaged it just drives into a wall and disappears into a cloud of smoke and fire, excellent!

Gameplay

Cover and engage...

This is one of the best RTS battle systems I have seen, the only thing that holds it back a touch is the stupid AI sometimes, mostly to do with waypointing, how do I get to the target I have just been told to destroy. The choices the AI makes sometimes is just mind-bogglingly daft.

But anyway... Yes, a lovely battle system, of course CoH has the normal RTS style of commands, right click to attack or move, same keyboard shortcuts etc. The thing I liked about this game was the cover. When you go to move a unit (or group thereof) little indicators come up stating how good the cover is where you are sending them, from good to very bad (out in the open obviously). This brings a new arsenal to your tactics, you can easily win a firefight if you are fighting similar units with less cover, its SO simple but brilliant and I can't think of another RTS that does it this well.

The systems in place pretty much force you in to a World War 2 type of attacking, it's very good, all out attacks will generally get you wasted whereas more sneaky and planned attacks will have a greater chance of succeeding. Bring out a couple of basic infantry units, maybe a MG or mortar to suppress the enemy and send a small squad around the back, they wont know what hit them!

The single player missions are good and follow the usual war stories, I have to say that I usually just use these missions to give me ideas for multiplayer strategy, sorry!

Multiplayer

Right, I have just played this game on a LAN, as that is pretty much what we do with games like this, we love to comp stomp and usually the set up is 3 on 3 with the computer being set to the most difficult or the one below that... Not in CoH, the computer can be one wily little bugger! I would start on easy and progress up from that if its *too* easy, you wont be disappointed. It's a good way to learn the maps anyway.

We really enjoy this game on the LAN though Knifehs poor laptop does lag when there is a lot going on, the 'generals' type points you can get throughout the game (when you kill stuff basically) is a nice touch, you can go talk generals, paratroopers, infantry, defence etc. All have their strengths and weaknesses and its pretty much fun to play each one. My personal fave is the paratrooping one, there is no better strategy than to pinpoint the enemy base with a recon plane, paradrop a squad in with a AT gun, drop a few MG and mortar supplies and pick them up, reinforce, pick up, reinforce.... It takes about 5 mins but you can easily build up a base levelling force that they will be too surprised to stop...

Conclusion

I love this game, has a few AI niggles but looks gorgeous, plays well and fits the niche of WW2 RTS very very well. You will not be disappointed with this game, even now and to be honest, it's bloody cheap! So go buy it!

Knifeh's Review

Got introduced to this game through Mikey in the last part of last year and to be honest I didn't think it would be any good at first. I mean how many WWII games are out there? You've got Medal of Honor, Battlefield 1942, Wolfenstien, Commandos, Deadly Dozen...and the list goes on and on, the genre of game has been flogged to death, frozen and kept in stasis for a few year, warmed back up and flogged again.

However, I have to say I'm wrong, and boy am I wrong!

Company of Heroes is a instant hit in all aspects, and covers all basics to be an instant hit. The graphics are truly amazing on both the bird eye view plane right up to the close up shots of the soldiers individual faces. The level of detail of detail is spectacular if your gaming rig can handle it.

Gameplay is brilliant on both single and multiplayer campaigns, particularly the single player, where the story is so immersive you find you just have to play the next level all the time until you realise you have to be in work in 3 hours and you hadn't noticed the it was half three in the morning...(voice of experience....twice..)

The only down point I have on this game is the lack of intelligence of your vehicles, which are determined to constantly either try and drive through or over impassable terrain or constantly go into battles with there weakest points pointed directly at the enemy heavy tanks turret *sigh*

All in all, this game is a must buy for the PC and it done something I though would never happen after the saturation of the war game market. Make me wait for the sequel.