Relic has made the best WW2 RTS game to date, and there are few strategy games in general that can compete with this!
Company of Heroes is breathtaking in its sheer beauty. The game is the best looking strategy game to date. The huge attention to detail is very impressive, and the destructible environments are awesome. Everything can be blown to peaces and this makes the action a lot more exciting. I mean, you can see every soldier blink! That's incredible!
Relic has also worked a lot with the sounds. The music is good, but ends up being mostly the same as other WW2 games. The sound effects on the other hand are quite extraordinary. Your soldiers cry out for help, and if they're far away you'll hear them on the radio, which is awesome! Hearing the tank cannon blow of someones roof is very satisfying. So don't be shy, just pump up the volume.
CoH plays out as most other strategy games. The game has many likenesses with Dawn of War. You have to capture strategic points to earn resources, and there are also three different strategic points: ammo, fuel and requisition. This works just as well as it does in Dawn of War, and it feels much more right for a strategy war game. They don't chop wood or collect money in the war, they capture ground, and defend positions. This works perfectly, it keeps you on your toes and it forces you to push forward. You can also call for back up with a simular system as in C&C Generals and Battle for Middle Earth. The game features a fantastic campaign with 15 intense and varied missions. They are all a lot of fun and not anything like playing skirmish. The objectives you get are realistic and very exciting. The story is told through videos between the missions, which uses the great in-game graphics. The game also features videos where a story teller is giving facts of what really happened during the war. This is awesome, and you actually learn a couple of things while playing through the game. Company of Heroes is a fantastic strategy game, and I recommend it to every fan of the strategy game genre or world war 2 games. +
Insane graphics accompanied by some breathtaking sound effects. The music is also good and creates a great mood together with the many campaign videos. Capturing strategic points works great. -
Only two different factions. Few skirmish maps (likely to be released many more).