Do you like to be bad?
The release of Company of Heroes 3 is fast approaching (well, in theory — we’ve got nothing but a 2022 release date), and with it came the opportunity to go hands-on with the latest in the popular RTS franchise.
Actually, and in the same way its release date is just a theory, so too is that notion of “real-time strategy”; that suits this noob just fine. Allow me to explain.
Though the biggest selling point of this stint of hands-on time was the opportunity to play as the Afrika Korps in North Africa during World War 2, I was more interested in the idea of Company of Heroes 3‘s Full Tactical Pause. Enabled by hitting the space bar, it effectively pauses the game — thereby removing the sense of “real-time” — and lets you plan out a number of moves. Hitting the space bar a second time will unpause the game and allow you to watch your actions play out. I’m not ashamed to admit I used the feature quite a bit — and that’s because there’s a lot to take in and work through, especially as a newcomer to the long-running franchise.
That out of the way, CoH 3‘s North African Operation is a single-player, narrative-driven experience that developer Relic Entertainment says has been crafted to cater to those looking for a classic Company of Heroes focused and linear experience. This portion of the campaign is set in early 1942 and will incorporate several real-world World War II battles including Ajdabiya, Tobruk, Gazala and the first battle of El Alamein.
Players will fill the shoes of the bad guys — the German Afrika Korps (or Deutsches Afrikakorps, or DAK) — throughout. The North African Operation starts off with Mission Alpha, an engagement set within January 1942’s Operation Theseus in Libya. There, the DAK intended to trap allied forces between the towns of Saunna, Ajdabiya and Msus.
New features to Company of Heroes 3 include the ability to repair vehicles using frontline infantry, though there are specific resources — those being engineers and a recovery vehicle — that have that as their primary focus. You’ll also be able to tow large pieces of weaponry with vehicles, something that came into play quite often during my preview experience. While I’m sure there are many other players out there that will be able to fly through the mission with finesse, I simply gathered all the troops and tanks I had and threw them at a single objective. It was a bit messy in the end, but it worked.
As I slogged through the windswept desert of Libya taking it to the Brits, I was shelling enemy troops positioned on top of buildings — or just shooting at the building themselves to topple them — and taking control of all-too important outposts. While troops can be healed back at HQ (or simply sacrificed to make way for newly-spawned battalions), outposts also act as a source of healing. I eventually took up advanced tactics like repositioning my tanks to be front-facing to opponents — they have more shielding that way — all the while trying to line up rear- or side-facing hits on opponents.
Eventually, I stopped throwing units at whatever baddies I could see and started using the tools at my disposal: my towed gun had an overwatch, essentially, and organising a proper line of sight against advancing forces made all the difference.
I later even clued into the fact that line of sight isn’t always needed; tanks can be ordered to blind fire into the fog of war, and you also have the ability to spawn air attacks to blanket wherever you deem necessary. I mucked that latter bit up more often than not and hit my own troops more than enemy ones, but hey — what doesn’t totally kill you makes you stronger, eh?
I’m not a huge fan of war-based RTS titles (or really, RTS in general), but I can see how this will appeal to fans of the franchise, fans of the genre and even those war buffs who can either take the time to understand what all of CoH 3′s systems do or find enjoyment of my tactic of just building throwing resources at a single thing. At any rate, you can check out some gameplay highlights from my hands-on time below.
Company of Heroes 3 is planned for a Windows PC via Steam release in 2022.
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Company of Heroes 323 February 2023PC |
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