Company of Heroes Online

[Scott Tortorice]

What do you guys think of this?




Mixing a classic RTS with multiplayer components (such as an online store) could make for interesting results.

* Free-to-Play - The frenetic action of the award-winning real-time strategy franchise, in a unique free-to-play experience.
* Command - Build your army and wipe your opponent off of the map with brutal, military precision in up to 8-player online matches.
* Specialize - Choose from six different divisions each with its own combat style and unique Commander Abilities.
* Customize - Enter each battle with your own unique set of Hero units, Army Items, and devastating Commander Abilities.
* Progress - Unlock new upgrades and abilities with every victory, or conveniently purchase items to even the odds.

Website

[grumpywargamer]

I liked the original game, and this might be the closest I have ever come to giving a damn about an MMO type game.

As always, it depends on how well they execute the fun factor.

WWII Online was entirely bereft of fun factor for instance.

[jayedub7423]

I don't know much about the F2P version, but it does have me interested.

[Scott Tortorice]

I never played the original, but I just downloaded the demo. I am enjoying the game, but it is also making me sad. As others have said, CoH is what DoW II should have been. It retains the base-building excellence of DoW I, while incorporating a few new ideas and better graphics. Why couldn't relic just give us CoH in space?!?

[Scott Tortorice]

Looks like this might have failed:

Company Of Heroes Online Closing?

“After an exciting period of operating and testing, we will be closing Open Beta on March 31, 2011 to evaluate the next steps for the Company of Heroes series.”

Rossignol thinks this suggests that CoHO was a failure and is being shutdown for good. Could be, but I find that statement too vague for a real conclusion.

Personally, though, it wouldn't surprise me. It was fun to play CoH for free (I still found it inferior to Men of War), but the online portion seemed tacked on to me and more than a little confusing.

[jwb3]

"...evaluate the next steps for the series" doesn't exactly suggest that the beta was a screaming success.

I have paid next to no attention to CoH Online, but I could never quite figure out how it was supposed to be a good "MMO" experience -- that is, what being an MMO was supposed to add to the game.

What I do know is that I'm basically looking forward to the next game in the CoH series... whatever it is... assuming it's not just a rehashed CoH I. And assuming it doesn't involve a monthly fee.


John

[airBiscuit]

They just need to make more expansions. The game is excellent and having more maps, units, and single player campaigns would be superb.

[Scott Tortorice]

It's official:

Company of Heroes Online closing down

A Relic developer posting on the Gamereplays forums confirmed that the end of the beta means the end of the Company of Heroes Online idea for Relic. The developer says “CoHO is closing. Shutting down. This isn’t some kind of weird trick or marketing ploy where in three months we announce that it’s back. This isn’t New Coke,” adding “We are not working on DoW:O.”

Good news for those who played in the beta:

Those participating in the beta will also receive a code that will let them buy Company of Heroes Gold edition for just $4.99. Relic have said that the original Company of Heroes will receive a balancing patch soon, which will apply a lot of fixes and balance changes made in Company of Heroes Online to Company of Heroes and its expansions, Opposing Front and Tales of Valour.

Still, I'd rather play Men of War: Assault Squad. It's a better game.

[jwb3]

Better game why?

Okay, I freely admit to being too lazy to search Gamesquad to see what you may have already said about it...


John

[Scott Tortorice]

I just like it better. CoH always felt like cartoon warfare. MoW feels much more realistically tactical, I suppose largely because you don't order blobs of squads around (albeit, you can if you want to), but carefully position individual men behind bits of cover. The battles are far more intense too, even against the AI, because just about everything on the map can be destroyed in one fashion or another. MoW: Assault Squad is sort of like the RTS version of Bad Company 2.

If you have Steam, you can join the open beta to see what I mean. Also, there is a ton of stuff in this thread.