PC News and Game Reviews

Its been a while since I’ve installed and got immersed in a game….mostly because of the horrible crap floating around at the moment. Its testimony to the good work done by Relic that I still regularly play Dawn of War over much newer titles in the RTS genre.

Company of Hero’s will be very very familiar to players of DOW. The interface is very similar and the game controls will be quite similar to a seasoned Dawn of War player. Power and Requisition have been replaced by 3 resources in Company of Heroes. They are Manpower, Munitions and Fuel. To capture these resources and produce a supply you must capture “control points” which are identical in every way to DOW’s control points. You can even build an Observation post, obviously very similar to building a listening post, on a control point in DOW.

The game however never feels like a game that has just had space marine models swapped out for axis and allies. I found with COH that the idea of the unit and its abilities is paramount to success. In DOW you build and re-enforce a squad with special weapons. In Company of Heroes you do the same….however you are able to pick up captured enemy weapons during a mission, which I believe is an excellent touch. You can storm an enemy MG post and then turn his own machine guns against his troops! Small artillery pieces can be captured and moved and deployed anywhere you wish.

I found huge variance in the fact that my men seemed to interact with the environment much more than Dawn of War. Although Dawn of War deals with cover, in COH cover becomes obsessive as your troops will not last long when exposed to suppressing fire. Troops can become pinned down, leaving retreat as the only option. Once a retreat is ordered you troops run for their lives and re-group later. This again is similar to morale breaking in DOW, however it is implemented in a better way I believe.

As this is a first impression……I have only encountered a few vehicles. The axis have a full range of light, medium and heavy tanks….but alas I have not come across or commanded any allied tanks yet. In the training you control a Sherman tank. This training level introduces you to the concepts of armour (ie weak at the back…strong at the front). It also gives you a first taste of vehicular combat and vehicle damage…another completely new concept to Company of Heroes. If your tank takes damage in a certain area it can become immobilized. If you are lucky enough to have Field Engineers you can quickly repair any damage.

On the downside so far I must note the horrific similarities between Saving Private Ryan. I really don’t know why they did not just use the voice overs from the movie in the opening scene of COH. Another point to note is the fact that it was only American troops that fought the D-Day landings The opening mission is deliberately stupefied for the American Audience, to the point of Good vs Evil, America Vs Germany. This is understandable given the biggest market for the game (Don’t worry “the rest of the world”, I am well aware of your contribution to the war…lets not forget 20 million dead Russians……who won the allies the war again????).

So to sum up a first impressions review…..good game. A bit cinematic for an RTS but it works I think….as it did in DOW.