Continuing Relic’s Standard of Quality RTS Games
Fresh off the heels of milking yet another Dawn of War expansion, Relic tries its hand in the crowded world of WWII RTS, and strikes gold.
Company of Heroes follows the exploits of Able Company through the invasion of Normandy and the liberation of France. The story is told through both in-game cut scenes that translate flawlessly into game play, and painted stills (much like World in Conflict). While it’s true to the source the story lacks a lot emotional heft and the few ‘main’ characters are shallow and undeveloped. But in the end it’s the gameplay that matters.
And the gameplay is where CoH excels. While you’re still ordering units around and mowing down anything in your way, it’s the small refinements that make it one of the best RTS’s in recent years. First and foremost is the resource management. Instead of the traditional economy based systems found in games like Warcraft 3, CoH instead chooses to brutally beat it before throwing it out the nearest window for its slow and tired ways. No more spending the first 5 minutes of a game building up an economy, resources are collected by capturing and holding strategic points littered around the map. This focuses the game on front line combat as players will battle it out for strategic points to increase their flow of resources.
it’s the small refinements that make it one of the best RTS’s in recent years
Also aiding this is the fully destructible environments. Not is the destruction visually impressive; as buildings and walls collapse realistically sending chunks of dust and rock flying through the air; they can drastically affect the overall strategy of the game. An MG nest defending a choke point? No problem, use satchel charges to bust through a nearby fence and flank ’em. This keeps game play moving and helps prevent against the uber-cheapness that is camping at the strategic points.
These changes make for an exceptional online mode, as there are so many strategies that players can use that no game is the same. Your opponent is defending a control point with an MG holed up in a nearby building? No problem, send in a sniper to pick them off one by one. Or maybe build some mortars and flatten the building. All are valid, but what if your enemy has a tank? You get where I’m going here. The only problem with the online mode is tanks. Only a few units outside of other tanks can effectively counter them, so generally the player who builds the first tank wins, though this is pretty minor as skilled players can find a way to win even without armour.
I also found the presentation to be phenomenal. As long as you have a good enough video card, you’ll really be able to appreciate the amount of detail in the environments. Much of this comes from the fully destructible environments. Houses catch fire and collapse, artillery shells will leave craters in the ground that infantry can use for cover. By the end of a mission it really seems like a war has raged there, collapsed phone lines, burning husks of vehicles and piles of rubble really add together for a stunning presentation.
Much like the graphics, audio quality is also top notch. Soldiers scream as artillery shells rain around them, you really get that “Holy crap an artillery shell just exploded in my living room feeling!” Even the audio is not without special touches. Like whispering orders at night time, or the sound of planes as you call in a bombing raid, the soldiers even talk amongst themselves at times. I still found the gunshots to be underwhelming and when the soldiers talked amongst themselves they all had the same voices, but hey, you can’t have everything right?
The only complaints I have (you can see how desperately I searched for them) is that there are only 2 factions in the game, the Axis and the Allies (basically the Germans and the American). But this is handled well as though they are fundamentally similar, they play so much differently that it makes up for it, though it’s hard not to wish for more. My other complaint is that online you can only do Axis vs. Allies. While historically accurate, it would be cool to see to Axis players face off against each other. You can’t have everything (except if you’re Bill Gates).
Great multiplayer, a solid single player campaign and an innovative design makes Company of Heroes one of the best RTS games in years, if not one of the best EVER. Do yourself a favour, run down to your nearest video game retailer and pick yourself up a copy immediately.
The Bad: Weak story; only two factions; only Axis vs. Allies in multiplayer & skirmish
