Cheap Company of Heroes (Software) (Windows XP) Price

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Customer Reviews of Company of Heroes

Great WWII themed RTS
I'm a casual gamer, currently playing World of Warcraft and the occasional Half Life 2 game (Garry's Mod). For a long time I've been looking for a RTS (real time strategy) game that has a nice World War II theme. After playing a few RTS games like Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun (science fiction themed), Empire Earth (historic themed) and most recently Age of Empires (historic/military themed) I grew tired of the science fiction and wanted something closer to recent history. While I enjoy these RTS games I was really looking for a RTS game that focused on the World War II theme, much like the Metal of Honor and Call of Duty are for the FPS (first person shooter). After reading a few reviews of Company of Heroes that highly recommended the title I found it for sale and started playing. <
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>From the beginning of the game play I noticed a few things different from other RTS games. First is the idea of squads instead of individual people. Instead of selecting a group of soldiers by dragging a box around them, you just select one person of the squad and this will select the entire squad. I really liked this feature since I tend to loose track of a single soldier in a large game map. The downside to this is if you need to "lure" the opposing force with one solider, you'll have to sacrifice the entire squad. Hopefully you won't need to loose any squad; there is a nice "retreat" button to allow the squad to make a run for home base ASAP. The squads also can be assigned to use cover in the game map. Hiding behind a brick wall will give better cover than hiding behind a stack of hay. <
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>Another change is the method to gain resources, instead of having your group mine or gather supplies; they just need to capture a supply point. There are three different types of resources, fuel, munitions and manpower. Each is important to capture depending upon what you want to build. As before you can build up your base with engineers who will build other important buildings, also they can build mines and other defensive traps. Each rifleman squad can also build mines and sandbags but you are limited to your resources. <
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>Once you are ready for the level you are introduced to a nice intro to the current conflict, a little back story to the soldiers and a map briefing. The game feels has a very polished feel and almost gives a movie like quality to the game. Some of my favorite details are the soldiers swearing once command them to do something while they are under fire. Also the soldiers will take the use of the cover around them once under fire. In some other RTS games I played, the soldiers will stand around until told to do something, here the soldiers are a bit smarter and will return fire if needed. <
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>Another favorite of this game is the gaming map and buildings. As with modern games, the buildings, land and other objects can be damaged with great physical effects. In one level you are required to stop an Axis transport from coming through on a road. As the more trucks you blow up, the Axis transport will start to get backed up with the debris on the ground. You can also use a tank to bust through a wall to flush out any people on the other side. All of the gaming explosions are done great, from a grenade to an artillery strike. <
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>As with any game there are some problems, even if they are minor. I personally feel that the tanks are somewhat unbalanced. It might take 4~5 shots of a anti-tank gun before you take one down. Again, it's something minor but worth mentioning. Also there are some other squads that seem very powerful, like the sniper. Another slight let down is the limited skirmish mode, with such a rich game map I was expecting a level editor and custom starting points but you are limited to only selecting from pre-made maps. I would have liked the option to watch a computer vs. computer battle but even this option is not allowed. Not a big problem but it's something that I've seen in other RTS games that would have been a nice addition. <
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>Overall I feel that this is an excellent RTS World War II themed game. If you have a little bit of RTS gaming experience or would like to try a change from MMORPG's or FPS games, this is a refreshing choice. While it's not a historical correct game it's still a lot of fun and should offer some great battles on your pc.

Mature rating means what it says.
I am also a 43 year old gamer, I figure those of us at this age grew up on good old fashioned war movies and wargaming with dice and model tanks. This game fits the bill for us perfectly EXCEPT the designers forgot most of us have kids we would like to share the experience with. <
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>The SWEARING TOTALLY RUINS what could have been a great father and son experience. I am relegated to playing in the 11pm to 3am window due to the lack of ability to turn it off. <
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>While some may say it's realistic it adds nothing to the game experience. If realism were the key foundation of this game certain other gameplay elements would need to be changed. eg. Some missions award you bonuses for rapid completion, even if it means you need to resort to human wave tactics and take unacceptable human losses. Another "unrealism" includes the "pecking" effect anti-armour weapons have. Most German anti-tank weaponry was very capable with the 88mm and high velocity 75mm rounds quite capable of decapitatiing an M4 Sherman with one hit. If the tankers were lucky enough to survive a disabling hit they would jump ship before the next round came crashing through their inadequate armour. I mention this only to show that the so called "realism" of swearing is not consistent with other gameplay elements. <
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>Other games do offer on/off "blood" toggling and the oversight is a stick in the eye to an otherwise enjoyable and EDUCATIONAL game. Yes this wargame is educational. It can teach your kids that getting to a major objective in life is dependent on reaching minor objectives, that there is more than one way to reach your goals, and that artillery is your friend ;-) <
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>Sadly the swearing will hurt Company of Heroes sales. I know some people I will not be buying it for this Christmas solely on this point. Unfortunate really as the game is entertaining and fun. i love the game, only wish I could play it with the kids.