The Company of Heroes offers fresh new gaming experience for the hardcore strategy players out there. Well, you don't need to be hardcore, of course.
Although COH has a unique way of handling squads and resources, the real winner for this game is the firepower, tactics and maneuvers you can pull to win the game.
Enough introducing, let's start the gameplay.
GAMEPLAY.
COH sets off in one of the most bloodiest battle during D-Day, the assault towards the Omaha Beach. The game scene does look similar to Saving Private Ryan here, people dying, blood flowing, infantries rushing to the shingles...ok you get the idea. Once you set foot on the bloody red angry beach, you will notice the power of MG-42 ripping through your squads like butter.
The real gameplay starts after you figure out how to make your way towards the shingles by using tank traps as cover, diversion, and skill.
RUN! RUN! RUN!
Macro in this game is very important, instead of ordering a single infantry unit, you were given a squad. Sending your squad to the enemy's lair without cover provided, will eventually get your squad wiped off by the Nazis. The squads' life depended on the cover that each terrain provides.
The cover's effectiveness were determined by a "shield" symbol next to it when you had your cursor pointed towards the spot.
There are three types of "shield" symbol for your squad to take cover from enemy's fire.
The green shield had the most effective cover for your squad over enemy's fire. If two opposing squads appears to be having a shootout, the one with the better cover will most likely win. May the one with the best covers win. *note that green covers were mostly concrete walls, stones, and other hard object you can imagine.*
Tank Traps provide cover as good as sandbags.
While yellow shield had moderate effectiveness, squads that are taking fire with this cover will be overrun. Then, being wiped out pretty quickly if you did not pay any noticed. But, it is still better than having zero cover. So, a tree or maybe a stone will still be good if you want to survive.
I don't think I need to elaborate on the red shield. Red shield appears if your squad were not on cover and left totally exposed AND were in the enemy's firing range. If an MG-42 hits you and there were no covers provided, the squad will be pinned, forcing them to the ground crawling like bugs that were waiting to be crushed.
Other than the unique Macro-ing, the game's way of gathering resources were rather impressive indeed, offering a new gaming experience for the players. In order to beat this game you must expand your territories to acquire resources.
Maps were divided into territories, each territory had a specific types of resources. The game runs on 3 kind of resources, Manpower, Ammo, and Fuel that add it's amount every minute if you manage to capture it with your squad infantry. So, infantry plays a big role in the game.
Each unit has their special types of abilities. Ammo were consumed and will received a cool down after used. Abilities were activated to turn the tides around, an ambushed tank could popped-out smokes to make incoming fire tends to miss more, infantries would never be pinned down and many more.
Ammunition points also allows you to send in support off the map. Bombing run, strafing run, paratroopers, crate supplies, and even recon plane.
Fuel were used when you wanted to upgrade your arms, buildings, abilities and so on.
Sherman Tank comin' thru! outta of the way,
Company of Heroes is a hard game indeed, amateurs will have a hard time learning all f the functions and features in the game.
Later in the game, for every action you make aside from moving units. Will let you gained a fair amount of Exp point. After you've have chose your path, an airborne for example. The exp points will be used to upgrade skills to be used as a off map support. Each path contains different skills be sure to try them out.
You have to know that Relic starts creating the Essence Engine from nothing. So, it is one of the first RTS engine that gives facial animations, dynamic lighting, shadows and shader effects.
Resulting an extremely good graphic for the game, smokes, exploded tanks, debris, fire well very nicely done in the game. Fires a recoiless rifle to the wall will knocked a hole and fell to the ground or watch the enemy's guts and limbs fly when you hurl a pineapple towards them.
The graphics makes the game seems real. It will always leave you in jaw dropping mode.
Audios were nearly perfect for the game. Acknowledgement of each units were pretty cool in this game. If your infantries or tanks are badly damaged they will response on a panic state. Or if you were infiltrating the enemy's base at night, the infantry will whisper and hushed too.
Not to mention the buzzing-rattling sounds of machine gun's fire, explosions from the artillery bombardment will lead to a sound of a deaf tone. Simply marvelous.
Conclusion.
A very technical game that involves alot of macroing. Flanks and weak spots of tanks and vehicles were heavily emphasize on this game making one of the best RTS WWII themed-game ever.
What more can I say? Good graphics, good audio, astonishing gameplay, challenging tactics and maneuvers surely wins the game a total respect of 9/10.
Game yourself out!
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