[E3 2012] Company Of Heroes II

Psykoboy2 · 06-11-2012, 02:54 PM

Like some or most of you, I have a ton of Steam games I’ve bought during sales over the summer and winter as well as the midweek and weekends (plus the damn dailies have been eating into my wallet now as well). This leaves me with a gigantic library of games I’ve owned but never played, much less installed. Company Of Heroes and its expansions are among those titles.

I had to tell this to the folks who were showing me Company Of Heroes II, when they asked me if I’d played the first game. I’m glad they asked, honestly, because they may have gone over some aspect that was well known in the series that I’d have been completely ignorant on. Even still, I’ll give you the run down on what I was able to see with CoH II.

Click to enlarge

For starters, you’re getting a brand new engine – the Essence 3 engine. This brings a higher fidelity and detail to the game. Snow now has depth and isn’t just a texture anymore. This plays a factor since sticking to the roads allows faster movement at the expense of being easily seen and shot while off the roads will cause you to move much slower but at least you’ll be harder to detect and shoot as well. New flame effects have also been added as shown in the demo of the Rzher Meatgrinder campaign when the flamethrower unit decided to light up an enemy cabin. This cabin would stay on fire eventually burning to the ground and taking any enemies inside with it.

Click to enlarge

As sequels go with a new engine and graphical upgrades along with TONS of feedback from the previous game and stats beyond stats of how it was played, you’ll also see an improvement in the AI. It has been completely overhauled based on everything they’ve seen and heard from the first Company Of Heroes. Cover vaulting is also a new addition for the game. Apparently this was not in the first and you had to move your unit around cover in order to keep pushing forward. Well, not anymore. Plus, vehicle abandoning is now in the game. Kill the enemies in a vehicle or somehow drive them to flee it, then the vehicle is free to take or use as cover…or even bait if need be. With these additions comes a new way to view the battlefield. They’re calling it “True Sight”. It’s actually visible as you play. The battlefield is only viewable with what your troops see. While that can be a large radius of gameplay, they aren’t able to see behind trees, or other large objects, meaning enemies could be waiting for you even though everything else looks clear. What can’t be seen is given a bit of a shadow effect, just to let you know that you actually don’t know what’s in that area.

Click to enlarge

I’ve got no experience with the first game in the series, but I can tell you this game looked beautiful to me and fans of the series don’t seem to have anything to worry about when Company Of Heroes II releases for the PC (as well as Steam) in early 2013.

iHap · 06-11-2012, 03:29 PM

Company of Heroes is by far one of the best RTT games I have ever played. I have hundreds of hours and MANY fond memories in CoH1, so this CoH2 release has got me excited and giddy!

Ghostbear · 06-11-2012, 05:07 PM

Those are some sexy screen shots and I appreciate the write up. looking forward to the game.

Libuke · 06-11-2012, 06:42 PM

Nice screens.

Sounds like some neat new additions but nothing major changed. Not a bad thing mind you, the first was a pretty well made game.

MagGnome · 06-11-2012, 07:27 PM

Company of Heroes is one of my favorite RTS games. It's simply fantastic, and I had a lot of fun playing it with Voodoo and some other COGers.

bryan · 06-11-2012, 09:47 PM

I'm dling the first and the xpack off Steam now. Can't wait to play them!

Great write up and looking forward to it. I'm really hoping after this they'll revisit the Homeworld franchise.

muddi900 · 06-12-2012, 01:27 AM

Pfft. Another World War II game...

flinxz · 06-12-2012, 03:42 AM

I started playing RTS games with Dune II and I still try to play most of the games in the genre. Company of Heroes is my favorite RTS of all time and after 6 years I still play it frequently with friends.

I have yet to read anything (posted above and other places) that has me worried for CoH 2. The more accurate fog of war sounds like fun as does the cover jumping system. So far the game looks like a good mix of original flavor and what games should be capable of in 2013.

06-11-2012, 02:54 PM	#1
Psykoboy2 Enigma Of The Mystical Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,481 Blog Entries: 1	[E3 2012] Company Of Heroes II Like some or most of you, I have a ton of Steam games I’ve bought during sales over the summer and winter as well as the midweek and weekends (plus the damn dailies have been eating into my wallet now as well). This leaves me with a gigantic library of games I’ve owned but never played, much less installed. Company Of Heroes and its expansions are among those titles. I had to tell this to the folks who were showing me Company Of Heroes II, when they asked me if I’d played the first game. I’m glad they asked, honestly, because they may have gone over some aspect that was well known in the series that I’d have been completely ignorant on. Even still, I’ll give you the run down on what I was able to see with CoH II. Click to enlarge For starters, you’re getting a brand new engine – the Essence 3 engine. This brings a higher fidelity and detail to the game. Snow now has depth and isn’t just a texture anymore. This plays a factor since sticking to the roads allows faster movement at the expense of being easily seen and shot while off the roads will cause you to move much slower but at least you’ll be harder to detect and shoot as well. New flame effects have also been added as shown in the demo of the Rzher Meatgrinder campaign when the flamethrower unit decided to light up an enemy cabin. This cabin would stay on fire eventually burning to the ground and taking any enemies inside with it. Click to enlarge As sequels go with a new engine and graphical upgrades along with TONS of feedback from the previous game and stats beyond stats of how it was played, you’ll also see an improvement in the AI. It has been completely overhauled based on everything they’ve seen and heard from the first Company Of Heroes. Cover vaulting is also a new addition for the game. Apparently this was not in the first and you had to move your unit around cover in order to keep pushing forward. Well, not anymore. Plus, vehicle abandoning is now in the game. Kill the enemies in a vehicle or somehow drive them to flee it, then the vehicle is free to take or use as cover…or even bait if need be. With these additions comes a new way to view the battlefield. They’re calling it “True Sight”. It’s actually visible as you play. The battlefield is only viewable with what your troops see. While that can be a large radius of gameplay, they aren’t able to see behind trees, or other large objects, meaning enemies could be waiting for you even though everything else looks clear. What can’t be seen is given a bit of a shadow effect, just to let you know that you actually don’t know what’s in that area. Click to enlarge I’ve got no experience with the first game in the series, but I can tell you this game looked beautiful to me and fans of the series don’t seem to have anything to worry about when Company Of Heroes II releases for the PC (as well as Steam) in early 2013.

06-11-2012, 06:42 PM	#4
Libuke Elephant Bug Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,704	Nice screens. Sounds like some neat new additions but nothing major changed. Not a bad thing mind you, the first was a pretty well made game. __________________ Do you want a second opinion?...You are also Ugly!

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06-11-2012, 09:47 PM	#6
bryan Colonist Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,488	I'm dling the first and the xpack off Steam now. Can't wait to play them! Great write up and looking forward to it. I'm really hoping after this they'll revisit the Homeworld franchise.

06-12-2012, 03:42 AM	#8
flinxz Colonist Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Corvallis, OR Posts: 52	I started playing RTS games with Dune II and I still try to play most of the games in the genre. Company of Heroes is my favorite RTS of all time and after 6 years I still play it frequently with friends. I have yet to read anything (posted above and other places) that has me worried for CoH 2. The more accurate fog of war sounds like fun as does the cover jumping system. So far the game looks like a good mix of original flavor and what games should be capable of in 2013.