In the series of tests that are hard on my side, Company of Heroes 3 is totally part of it. After a preview at Gamescom where the devs had a hard time making me understand the game without a tutorial. I’m not going to lie, I was starting off on the wrong foot. And yet, I love watching gameplay of Company of Heroes 1 and 2. So now it’s my turn to get into the adventure with a title that is capable of overshadowing Total War?
Back in the Second World War.
Relic Entertainment had with Company of Heroes 2 succeeded its title while remaining approximate on the whole historical side. A message that the studio has understood and corrected in this opus. The change of environment is also a breath of fresh air for the saga, no more snow. We go to Africa and Italy between 40 and 45. What is also good is that we will often change between the English, the Italians or the Germans. And of course the vehicles and the armament that go with it.
The fact that the scenery is filled with sand is a bit of a problem with the snow, because you just replace the white of the snow with the golden of the sand, and even if the title is beautiful. It is hard not to imagine a reskin. It is especially on the campaign that the title will be pretty like a brand new plane.
The title is above all an RTS, and so we know that it won’t be the prettiest, especially when we see all that it displays on the screen. And unfortunately or fortunately, the gameplay has remained unchanged despite the years with some small changes and additions. But beware, the additions in question manage to renew the whole thing and take the player backwards thinking he is on totally conquered ground.
On the one hand, we find the fighting part which remains the same as always. Rhythmic, dynamic and gripping battles where you will have to know your units to avoid leaving with a suicide battalion. Especially since knowing the terrain will also be very important. And this is where an addition will come to save players including myself. Every mistake is expensive especially in a game where everything is in real time. The tactical pause. This addition allows you to pause a battle and analyze the situation to regain the advantage or get out of a situation.
The fact that you can pause during the beginning or in the middle of a battle to reorganize your battalions or give them orders is a significant plus. The fact that you can give orders unit by unit while paused is a tactical plus that saved me at all times. It’s your turn to multi-task your troops and not have to focus on one at the expense of another.
Let’s continue with the battles and talk about the buildings. You could occupy a building at any time to have a protection and a vision on the battle. Except that in the past, buildings were real bastions. Now, a tank can blow it up and your troop with it. But you can also take advantage of dead spots in the enemy’s vision to flush them out directly in the building. A great addition.
Strategic plans.
One of the biggest concerns of the title is the AI of our units. The path they take when asked is too often random to the point where you sometimes find a troop going past the enemies instead of behind cover. That’s why you’ll have to be very careful about how you send your troops from point A to point B.
The other negative point will be the loading times that we found sometimes very long on Full SSD laptop and a little less long on our big PC. As if the optimization of resources was at fault. This can easily be corrected by various optimizations. But for that, the studio would have to review how the title of use of these resources. And I have to say right away, it is not won.
The most positive point we noted is the campaign that in addition to helping new players, you will have to complete objectives each turn to defeat the enemy. It’s up to you whether you want to play all the battles or let the game solve them automatically.
Various other small flaws are still present in the control of various units. But this should be corrected as updates are released. So we hope that for example the vehicles outside the land will be quickly corrected.
Finally, the title also offers multiplayer, but we did not take the time to explore this option which allows matches going to 4VS4 which should be epic and exciting. All in all, Company of Heroes 3 remains a nice entry point for those who want to get started. We would have liked to have a more beautiful title, but we will be satisfied with what it offers. A complete title that will please all fans of the saga. On that note, I’m going back to the war.
