Comments on: RPS Advent Game-o-Calendar: December 3rd

By: Rock, Paper, Shotgun: Celebrating The Birth Of Father Christmas » Blog Archive » The Complete RPS Advent 2007

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:01:59 +0000

[...] December: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2nd December: Sumotori Dreams 3rd December: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts 4th December: Penumbra Overture 5th December: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars 6th December: [...]

By: Rock, Paper, Shotgun: PC Gaming’s Ivoriest Tower » Blog Archive » RPS Advent Game-o-Calendar: December 5th

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:06:52 +0000

[...] on then! I’ll show you! I AM THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!” I’d argue that, between Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander and Medieval II: Total War (and to a lesser extent Dawn of War), real-time [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:28:58 +0000

I only played the demo of DoW before CoH came out, but obviously CoH came with a free copy of vanilla DoW in the UK, so I’ve had plenty of chance to play it. Thing is, I just didn’t.

When you play CoH first, DoW feels… unfinished. The largest difference is how bland and featureless the levels feel. One thing that I never see touched upon enough in CoH/OF reviews is that just about everything in the world imparts varying degrees of cover – that actually change as things get blown apart – there’s something entirely amazing about a lone sniper huddling behind a piano only to see it broken apart by explosives, forcing a hasty retreat to a bush, box or broken-down banger. If a first person shooter had CoH’s physics engine, battles would be TERRIFYING. DoW by comparison has the occasional hole to jump into, or ridge to leap over. CoH’s maps feel like places, DoW’s feel like RTS battlegrounds.

Then there’s also the supply chain system of CoH, which creates fragile charges for huge fuel supplies, tugs-of-war over important defensive positions and occasional sneaky rushes deep behind enemy lines in an effort to isolate units and starve your opponent of supplies. By comparison, DoW just feels like sporadic battles over various inexplicably important locations, with no real sense of battle lines or fronts. The same feeling is reinforced by, heh, the reinforcement system of both games. In DoW, your units mystically teleport in from god knows where. By contrast, CoH makes you fight for reinforcement opportunities. The easiest way to do it is from your HQ, but that requires taking your men well out of the fight and possibly forfeiting a position. Instead, you have halftracks, lightly armoured vehicles that you find yourself hiding behind trees, zipping from front to front as the situation requires, and crying over when some bastard kraut rends it asunder with a lucky shot from a panzerschreck.

I’m rambling, but I don’t think it’s fair to say CoH is just a graphical/physical improvement over DoW. Plus, don’t forget there are some people who actually don’t like Warhammer! I’m not sure if there is anyone who’ll admit to liking World War II though, so maybe it’s a moot point.

oh also those Gold Editions aren’t great if you paid £55 for the games only to see them at £17 :( and bloody Titan Quest!

By: SwiftRanger

SwiftRanger — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:08:35 +0000

Never really understood what people saw in CoH in comparison to DoW except for prettier graphics, physics, more micro and a remarkably worse setting.

That being said though, having lots of character and really making every single unit as important as it can be is of course only one way to approach an RTS. Having real total control with all the tools (and weapons) imaginable is more my thing, playing “god of war” is just a bit more fun than playing “colonel/drill sergeant of war” for me so I picked up Forged Alliance instead of Opposing Fronts.

And idd Steve, those THQ gold packs are very good deals. I am already wondering how they are gonna call the new DoW collection pack once Soul Storm is coming out. :)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:35:29 +0000

I must have some kind of mental block where I can’t enjoy an RTS title that does not involve elves or aliens. If someone could suggest one that has both elves AND aliens, I would be immensely grateful.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War! Eldar! Elves…in…SPAAACE!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:11:12 +0000

Yeah, you’re really best off getting the Gold Edition. THQ seem to be doing it with all their expansioned games recently – SupCom, TQ, CoH – and they tend to be either the same price as the expansion individually, or cheaper, in the case of Opposing Fronts.

Amazon’s Gold Edition (CoH and OF) is actually £2 cheaper than OF by itself. Or vanilla CoH.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:44:41 +0000

Oh, also: gliders are the best thing ever.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:43:31 +0000

Well, personally I feel that Opposing Fronts isn’t that much more game-y than the original. The British and Panzer Elite are no longer standard armies in the way the Americans and Wehrmacht of the original were, but that’s mainly because they lack standard weapon team squads like MGs, mortars, and AT guns (although in the case of the British, all these can be mounted on emplacements, and the Panzer Elite get them in halftracks/other vehicles). They’re still like the original sides in that they focus on combined arms in a realistic way, it’s just that they’re less jack-of-all-trades than the Americans and Wehrmacht. The Panzer Elite have very little access to defences, for instance. The British are, really, more standard, and can be played pretty similarly to the original sides despite the possibility that exists for strong defensive positions and so on and so forth.

They complement the original two sides very well.

By: Turin Turambar

Turin Turambar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:42:57 +0000

CoH is still the best. Single player is better, and the multiplayer factions are better balanced and they are more fun to play with, british and PE are to specialized for my taste.

Still, Relic is working hard in future balance patches for CoH OF, and both games are compatible in the multiplayer arena, so if you buy CoH and you love it, you can add CoH OF later to your collection to try the new sides. Or you can find some cheap pack with CoH + CoH OF for a good price and buy it.

By: Nallen

Nallen — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:31:54 +0000

So if Opposing Fronts is getting away from some of what made CoH great, which is the best version? Or is it still the best version and I didn’t really pay much attention? :)

I might dig out my DoW/CoH double pack again :)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:21:31 +0000

CoH definitely isn’t Close Combat. In any way.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:21:00 +0000

Masked Dave: We assume that all lines are unserious.