If you have a short attention span with computer games, you'll probably perfer WiC. I say this not because its a bad game or a bad purchase, but because it takes only about 3 weeks for you to realize that the game is missing a lot of depth, especially in terms of competitive multiplayer. I don't regret playing it, but I'm already back to playing CoH.
I've found that it boils down to a simple question. Do you REALLY like RTS games? If so, then you'll love CoH because it takes basic ideas and streamlines them (namely base building and resource gathering), and then brings in great new features like a fully interactive battlefield.
WiC is great for people who like the idea of RTS game but hate managing a base and micromanaging combat at the same time (or simply want a break from it). AND THIS IS FINE - this is where the game finds a great coss section of fans. It does a fairly good job of keeping you in the heat of combat, although I find that there's always more fighting being done in CoH than in WiC. WiC gives you a fair few number of units and you tend to keep them together, but you will still run in to situations where you lose units and are waiting around for credits to renew. In CoH you have more units, controlling multiple battlefield objectives and assaulting enemy positions all at once. This is one reason I never really got the argument for WiC being more fast paced - I personally found just as much, if not more downtime during the course of a match.
SC is a game of truely epic proportions but I find the visuals lacking, and the overall sense of immersion fairly nonexistant. To me, SC feels like you're playing with a bunch of little toys with little regard to battle or "objectives." The SP campaing in SC got tedious about half way through, and although I can't speak for the expansion directly ... the fact that I didn't bother picking it up at all (compared with waiting by the phone to hear the "CoH expansion is in stock" call) should say enough.
People can say whatever they will but at the end of the day, I find what makes a game really great is something you can't exactly put in to words. Its just a feel ... an overall blend of graphics and effects, gameplay and tactics, immersion and feel, singleplayer campaign and multiplayer community and diversity and even interface ... and when I sit down and feel like playing an RTS game, there is for me only one option.
(Literally ... all other RTS games have been erased from my HD last time I cleaned up my system)
Log in to comment