I have yet to get into the campaign, but I have been doing a lot of skirmishes and some online.
It's been a real eye-opener for me, as I have been playing RTS games (especially the Command and Conquer series) since I was like 6, so they're basically what I grew up on as far as video games go.
Company of Heroes is much different from most RTS games I've played though, in just about every way. They do a great job of making you actually think about your units and what you're doing, rather than the usual "Make a big horde of stuff and throw it to it's death until you win" RTS strategy. While the variety of units seems to be slightly less than most games, the amount of balance the units have is almost amazing. Another difference is the virtual lack of base building. You have some basic base structures to build, but not the huge tech trees required of most games. The way the units themselves act is also a wonder to behold in my opinion. It's amazing to me when you'll see units diving for cover from mortars, or taking tactically sound (most of the time) cover.
If you've ever played an RTS the odds are high you've either loathed or loved the resource gathering most games of the genre require, with the tedious harvesting of various resources. Company of Heroes changes all that by having you earn resources based on the territory you control. (You gain control of an area by having your troops capture it) You must also keep clear supply lines though, because if your territories aren't connected to your main base they will not bring in any revenue.
The graphics and physics are amazing, so the amount of destruction you can unleash on the environment is pretty crazy for an RTS. Unfortunately my current graphics card is mediocre at best, I plan on picking up a good one soon though, and the rest of my computer is in pretty good shape.
So, in closing, if I had to rate Company of Heroes on a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it's an 8. My only dislikes are that the game only has two factions, the Americans and the Germans - the expansion does add the British though - and that I'm still trying to find a difficulty level when playing the AI that isn't too hard or too easy, as I've either been just annihilating the enemy or getting annihilated.
What are your opinions on Company of Heroes or RTS's in general? What do you like or dislike about the genre? Do you feel the attempts to move RTS over to console are a good move?
Thanks guys, I'll talk to you later!
Thanks,
Evan
