Tales of Valor is extremely fun, addicting, and different. ****Review Updated***** to include Assault!
(Note about my credentials: I'm a grad student out of the Academy of Art University in Film Production, double majoring in Screenwriting and Cinematography. I have a BA is communications, and a minor in biblical studies. I'm currently adapting two books for feature films, and writing a few original pieces.)
I've read the other reviews posted, and I think the problems people are having is a problem expectations. If you're expecting one style of game with Tales of Valor, and your expectations aren't met, then of course you'll be frustrated, as that is the definition of frustration: set goals which remain unachieved. That being said, if you go into ToV with an open mind, then I think that you'll see that Relic has created a game, so original, to not only the series of COH, but to the genre of real-time strategy. Furthermore, having been a fan of COH since the beginning, and having logged more hours and cried more tears of frustration with COH's extremely competitive ranked multiplayer, a change is all but welcome. Sure, extra factions would have been cool (e.g. Russians, Italians), and while those expected add-ons would have been well-received, I think Relic saw potential in a new style of playing COH, which is different, simple, just as fun, and requires less quick skill than a full RTS, such as opposing fronts, but for me, when logging into COH, I can now feel out which mood I'm in, then determine which COH mode I want to play. Ok, enough ranting, I'll explain why the modes are so fun.
Yes, the single player is short. HOWEVER, a big however there, personally, I didn't play the singleplayer missions in either COH vanilla or Opposing Fronts. I tried, but it became really boring to me. That's just me though. But, I did play ToV's SP, and I was blown away. I played through all of them. The story telling is top notch, and the animation (more like paintings) are beautiful to behold. The voice acting is also triple A. I was impressed. So impressed actually, that I played through all 3 and 1/2 hours of SP (on Normal), and I plan to go back through and play them on the harder difficulties. Personally, for me, a good 3 1/2 hours of great gameplay is worth 15 bucks (half the price of the game, half the content of the game) (like purchasing a DVD). And that's what's great about ToV's SP. You can consume the stories like little novellas. Bravo Relic!
So, along with a beautiful Singleplayer campaign. You have three brand new MP modes. Panzerkrieg, Assault, and Operation Stonewall. Operation Stonewall is a coop mode, comp stomp, like Gears of War 2's survival mode. Very fun, but the hardest difficult is a bit easy, and once you beat it, you probably won't go back. Unless of course someone mods an extra difficulty level, or new maps and scenarios are released by Relic, which would be sweet! So, there's plenty of quick modding potential here, which will go many, many miles of replayability.
I've spent most of my time so far playing Panzerkrieg (PK henceforth). My friend and I played for 3 hours last night, and I played for three hours before that. If you're not familiar with an old mod for Warcraft 3 called Dota, then google it. Dota isn't for everyone. And for those who didn't like Dota, I think ToV is still worth checking out. PK is fun, addicting, and already very popular in basic matches. I haven't played ranked yet. Basically, you're one tank, and you're fighting with two other guys who have tanks, against three other guys who have tanks. If you kill a tank, you level up, if you die, the guy who kills you levels up, and you get a respawn penalty of 15 seconds. Each point you capture on the map gives you special abilities, each team fights for every inch. Each tank has special abilities, and special upgrades once your tank levels up.
So far, I LOVE THIS MODE. No joke, this mode alone, is going to be worth the price of admission, IMO. Again, it's fun, it's addicting, it's different, and Relic has made a more casual COH player like me VERY, VERY HAPPY. I'm glad that I can play a portion of COH that doesn't require me to be a ultra fast RTS player, but for those who are those types of players (e.g. ultra fast RTS players from Starcraft) naturally, you will be disappointed. But, really, I think Relic just wanted to make something new, that was also really fun to them, and something they wanted to play. Maybe the guys at Relic felt the same way as me.
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Regarding Assualt Mode, it's similar to Panzerkrieg, but instead of tanks, you choose an infantry hero. Heroes range from heavy mg, snipers, commandos, to medics, and many more. You can play 4v4, and the map is filled with Ai soldiers battling it out on the front lines. If you can imagine a football shaped map, where heavily defended bunkers taper off to each side of the "football" and the battle line is exactly in the middle. The first team to get to and destroy the main base, at the very tip of the "football" wins. It can take awhile.
Assault is quite fascinating. Your player levels up, and you become stronger and stronger, but when you die, you can choose a different unit as the situation calls for. I wish that they included an upgrade system like they did in PK. Unfortunately you can't upgrade your units with special abilities, but it does give you option to upgrade offense, defense, or grenade power. This is OK, but I would have liked to see special powers, and I think I would have like it better if you were locked in to your units, instead of the ability to change when you die. It's a very different mode. I've had a lot of fun playing it so far, but the meat is in PK. Assualt is a fun mini-game of sorts, but who knows, as more people play it, the competition might get fierce! So far, there's only one map, like all the new modes, but this might be for the best, as it allows the player base to master them, before Relic releases some new ones.
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I also haven't played COH Classic with the new units (this update is next)******. I've heard mixed things about them from players. But, one thing that's VERY cool about the new units, or more, the implementation of the new units, is that you can swap out which of the new units you want with the old units, customizing your army a little. So, if you don't like some of the new units, you don't have to play with them. If you like only a few, then play with a few. So, you could play against someone who's playing entirely with new units, while you only have a few, or none. This idea is interesting. It could well be implemented in other ways. I LOVE the idea of cusomizing your deck of cards (so to speak). I think Relic should explore this further, especially in COH2. The company commander (you) should be able to customize his war machine. A note to Relic: In COH2 Please add the ability to customize the way your army looks! gear, colors, etc...
In Conclusion, if you're strapped for cash in this economically down world we live in, you have to decide how important COH is to you. If you play almost daily like me, then 30 dollars are pennies in the bucket. If you don't play COH a lot, your choice will be harder. For new people joining the series: I think this is the most easily joinable version out of all three versions of the game. You get all four factions, all new modes, it's a steal for 30 dollars. As of right now, I'm trying to get even more of my friends to play Panzerkrieg with me. On a final note, ToV is a welcome change that is worth the 30 dollar price tag, if not to spice up your COH game for another 1 to 2 years, before COH2 comes out. I say BUY IT!