Overview: A real-time strategy game set in World War II.
PSA: On Steam, there are two versions of Company of Heroes: "Company of Heroes" and "Company of Heroes (New Steam Version)." As far as I know, the latter was introduced because the online servers for the former were no longer in service. In addition, old threads mentioned that the original might be better for the single-player campaign, because of bugs in the New Steam Version, but it's possible those bugs no longer exist.
20170816:
I was taking a break from work and tried playing this game. Upon loading it up, I was surprised to learn that it was a real-time strategy game (as opposed to a first-person shooter).
In any case, I was sleepy, and only managed to play the first three tutorials over the time span of forty-two minutes before I decided to take a nap: "Basic Training," "Infantry Combat Training," and "Base Operations Training."
After I woke up, I completed the fourth tutorial, "Armor Training", in ten minutes and proceeded to play the campaign, "Invasion of Normandy," which starts at Omaha Beach. The game often felt slow, but I slowly became more engaged. This was likely due to the game's learning curve.
Setup: I opened the game and manually changed the resolution to 1920x1080. Then I exited the game and let Geforce Experience check the various graphic settings. While the game didn't have a built-in full-screen mode option, I was able to manually put it into full-screen by clicking on the maximize button at the top-right (of the game window).* Normal difficulty.
*I later reminded myself that pressing alt+enter (on a Windows computer) will also switch between windowed and full-screen.
Steam Game Time: 2.8 hours (total game time)
20170816: (part 2)
I was curious about the mouse scroll setting and so I played a little bit more. I moved the mouse panning speed up just half a tick and it improved my mouse scrolling experience.
I played until I completed the mission, "Carentan."
Steam Game Time: 1.4 hours (session game time)
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Smooth transition between gameplay and cinematics
+ Graphics may be old but do not feel outdated
+ Good story (although the game uses events in World War II, it crafts its own dialogue and imagery)
Neutral:
~ It's a real-time strategy and while I probably would have enjoyed playing this sort of game when I was in high-school, I don't have the patience for it anymore.
Cons:
- I disliked the panning speed. [There is a setting to increase the mouse scroll speed, but it's an all or nothing. That is, once the mouse reaches the thin scrolling edge, the mouse scroll speed takes effect. I'd prefer a wider scroll edge with a slower scroll along the inner border and a faster scroll along the outer border (and interpolated speeds in between). Alternatively, the panning can slowly accelerate up to full.]
Summary:
I enjoyed playing the campaign mode of Company of Heroes. For the most part, it's actually a casual experience and I was able to beat the first three missions on normal difficulty by taking my time and slowly chipping away at the enemy.
But while I built some affinity for the game after three hours of playing, I also know that I have a low chance of returning to the game in the future. Actually, considering I have a low chance of returning to games I absolutely enjoy and love, it's more realistic to say I have a zero chance of returning to Company of Heroes (or any of it's expansions and/or sequels).
Overall, if you enjoy RTS games and/or games with a war setting, then Company of Heroes would be an excellent choice.
Company of Heroes (PC) (2006)
Relevant Links:
Company of Heroes (Wikipedia.org)
Company of Heroes (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Company of Heroes (Steam Store Page)
Company of Heroes (PC) (IGN.com)
PSA: On Steam, there are two versions of Company of Heroes: "Company of Heroes" and "Company of Heroes (New Steam Version)." As far as I know, the latter was introduced because the online servers for the former were no longer in service. In addition, old threads mentioned that the original might be better for the single-player campaign, because of bugs in the New Steam Version, but it's possible those bugs no longer exist.
 |
| Approaching Omaha Beach |
20170816:
I was taking a break from work and tried playing this game. Upon loading it up, I was surprised to learn that it was a real-time strategy game (as opposed to a first-person shooter).
In any case, I was sleepy, and only managed to play the first three tutorials over the time span of forty-two minutes before I decided to take a nap: "Basic Training," "Infantry Combat Training," and "Base Operations Training."
After I woke up, I completed the fourth tutorial, "Armor Training", in ten minutes and proceeded to play the campaign, "Invasion of Normandy," which starts at Omaha Beach. The game often felt slow, but I slowly became more engaged. This was likely due to the game's learning curve.
 |
| Apparently putting a camouflaged sniper into the building will trigger aggro... |
Setup: I opened the game and manually changed the resolution to 1920x1080. Then I exited the game and let Geforce Experience check the various graphic settings. While the game didn't have a built-in full-screen mode option, I was able to manually put it into full-screen by clicking on the maximize button at the top-right (of the game window).* Normal difficulty.
*I later reminded myself that pressing alt+enter (on a Windows computer) will also switch between windowed and full-screen.
Steam Game Time: 2.8 hours (total game time)
20170816: (part 2)
I was curious about the mouse scroll setting and so I played a little bit more. I moved the mouse panning speed up just half a tick and it improved my mouse scrolling experience.
I played until I completed the mission, "Carentan."
Steam Game Time: 1.4 hours (session game time)
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Smooth transition between gameplay and cinematics
+ Graphics may be old but do not feel outdated
+ Good story (although the game uses events in World War II, it crafts its own dialogue and imagery)
Neutral:
~ It's a real-time strategy and while I probably would have enjoyed playing this sort of game when I was in high-school, I don't have the patience for it anymore.
Cons:
- I disliked the panning speed. [There is a setting to increase the mouse scroll speed, but it's an all or nothing. That is, once the mouse reaches the thin scrolling edge, the mouse scroll speed takes effect. I'd prefer a wider scroll edge with a slower scroll along the inner border and a faster scroll along the outer border (and interpolated speeds in between). Alternatively, the panning can slowly accelerate up to full.]
Summary:
I enjoyed playing the campaign mode of Company of Heroes. For the most part, it's actually a casual experience and I was able to beat the first three missions on normal difficulty by taking my time and slowly chipping away at the enemy.
 |
| The end of a large battle. Convoy successfully destroyed. |
But while I built some affinity for the game after three hours of playing, I also know that I have a low chance of returning to the game in the future. Actually, considering I have a low chance of returning to games I absolutely enjoy and love, it's more realistic to say I have a zero chance of returning to Company of Heroes (or any of it's expansions and/or sequels).
Overall, if you enjoy RTS games and/or games with a war setting, then Company of Heroes would be an excellent choice.
Company of Heroes (PC) (2006)
Relevant Links:
Company of Heroes (Wikipedia.org)
Company of Heroes (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Company of Heroes (Steam Store Page)
Company of Heroes (PC) (IGN.com)
 |
| An allied soldier fires at retreating Germans. His commanding officer yells, "Cease fire! Lewis! I said cease fire goddammit!" |
Date/Time
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
@
18:45
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