PC: Company of Heroes [Multiplayer]

I'd like to start this review off by first stating that there are 2 general aspects to a real time strategy game. The first, and most important being the actual gameplay and the second is the online multiplayer interface. While this has great prowess in the gameplay category, it falls short in the latter.

For me, RTS's are all about the multiplayer, so this review will not cover the singleplayer campaign in anyway. Relic Entertainment [Creators of the Warhammer 40k RTS's] knows what they are doing in terms of gameplay. They have expanded Dawn of War's resource system and brought it into Company of Heroes in a way that makes great sense and adds alot of intensity to the game. In most RTS games the player must collect items so that they may build up an army. Most of the famous RTS games that did this in the past include Warcraft, Starcraft, the entire Command and Conquer series, etc. Relic strays from this and has changed it into a capture system. There are multiple "points" around each map that you must capture. Once captured, that point starts to bring in resources. In Company of Heroes, there are 3 resources [Fuel, Manpower and Ammunition]. The real benefit of this resource system is that you have to constantly be on the offensive to try and gain points but also allocate forces to help defend points you have already captured. You will lose every time if you try to just fortify your base and wait for the enemy to come to you. It becomes a chess match of map control because they have also added the feature that your captured points must be connected to keep the supply chain moving, this was a brilliant move which adds even more strategy.

One downfall is that there are only 2 factions to choose from, Axis and Allies. Axis are the Germans and Allies are the United States. They mirror each other pretty closely [Both have snipers, mg crews, infantry, etc] so the variety somewhat limited. They managed to differentiate them by adding "doctrines" that each side can choose from. Doctrines allow you to focus your efforts into one main area of your forces. There are 3 to choose from on each side and examples include Infantry, Terror and Armor. Infantry will allow your infantry to produce faster and also build defenses out in the field. Armor will reduce tank production times and allow repairs on the fly amongst other things. You gain experience by killing enemy forces, capturing buildings, etc. and this experience allows you to upgrade the choices within that doctrine. On the battlefield, the AI is brilliant. Troops are created in groups and will move from cover to cover by themselves. Cover in this game is a very big part of the strategy and a squad in the open will get obliterated by one that is guarded by cover. The same goes for vehicles, tanks will get ripped up if they are hit in the rear as opposed to taking shots from straight on. This creates a more realistic feel and really immerses the player. All environmental items [buildings, trees, barrels] are fully destructible. Even better is that a fallen church tower can act as a great cover spot after it hits the ground. This means that no two battles are ever the same.

The biggest downfall of the game is the online multiplayer interface. It is very hard to connect to games and multiple different error messages are always popping up. You can browse lobbies but the filters are very weak so you have to sort through alot of full games and password protected games. If you try to play a ranked game it's even worse. The whole player matching system is seriously flawed and works less than half of the time.

Still, even with the seriously flawed online lobby I find myself going back to this game religiously because the gameplay is just too good. The competition is great and battles are very intense, if you own a PC and are a fan of ww2 or of the RTS genre, this game is a must have. It really stands out in the crowd of RTS games coming out this year as the one to have.

Final Score: 9 out of 10