Company of Heroes 3 is All About Details. These Features Impressed Me the Most

If someone expects Company of Heroes 3 to be revolutionary – not only for this IP, but also for the genre in general – might be severely disappointed. The latest game from Relic Entertainment relies on tried solutions, enriching them with new options. The developers promise no war romanticization – we are supposed to get as real and visceral a story and as true representation of this conflict, here set in North Africa, demands it. Will it succeed? From what I've seen, it appears that it will, but we still have to wait with any decisive conclusions. For now, we are sure there will be playable Afrika Korps, dynamic battles and atmospheric desert maps.

Welcome to Africa

After the European theatre, it's time for new environments – in the third part of Company of Heroes, we will end up on the North African front, which, according to the developers, has had a low representation in WW2 games.

The developers intend to recreate the iconic battles of Adjabiya, Tobruk, Gazala and El Alamein. And all this set in an immersive story campaign, consulted with specialists in the history of the period. We will meet real-life figures on our way, including German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. As in previous parts of Company of Heroes, we get four diverse armies here as well.

1. The American army – consists of units from late 1942 and early 1943. It opts for an aggressive tactics, but its flexibility is supposed to allow us to adapt to the conditions.
2. The British Army – the least complex one, with emphasis on defensive style. Recommended for new players just getting acquainted with the series.
3. Wehrmacht – troops from the middle period of the war. Its diversity is expected to enable selection of units suitable for any style of play. In defense, it favors high firepower.
4. Deutsches Afrikakorps – highly mechanized army that relies on offensive combat. It combines aggressive tactics with great mobility.

Of course, in addition to new armies (and the old ones in new edition), we will get some completely fresh mechanics. They will add variety to the gameplay and open up new strategic possibilities for players, thus allowing more flexibility on the battlefield.

The battlefield of the Company of Brothers

Let's move on to the gameplay proper. The alpha version provided access to one of the game's missions. As the commander of an Afrika Korps unit, we had to support a small detachment of Italian soldiers, then encircle a defended town, capture it and destroy the oncoming convoy.

The task was not difficult, especially because the AI seems rather weak, although this will likely be improved. I also didn't quite like the interface. This is probably the only element where we can ineed talk about a small revolution. The preview of selected units and their portraits have been moved to the right side of the screen, and their former spot is now occupied by icons for quick selection of the units you own. Personally, I preferred the previous solution, and I hope we will end up with an option to switch between the two styles.

There were also problems of mingling models, especially noticeable in case of vehicles. It also seemed problematic for units to find proper paths. Troops would go in circles sometimes, but it was most painful when it came to handling an artillery cannon, for example. By some miracle, three soldiers were on the spot, but two got lost somewhere at another end of the map, and until they arrived, it was impossible to fire the cannon. I hope that appropriate corrections will be made here as well, because it could be immensly annoying. These bugs, however, weren't as irksome as to harm the overall fun.

Afrika Korps is a predominantly mechanized army, so there was an opportunity to play with the new mechanics used in the game: transporting infantry aboard tanks and recovering machines. The former was often seen on archival footage from the conflict – now, we can move our soldiers in this manner. This is additionally useful, as tanks can now drive over trenches, which adds to their mobility.

What's new in Company of Heroes 3

The recovery of machines also seems interesting – we have a special vehicle and if we have the right number of units, the aforementioned truck will simply drive up to the selected tank and after a while, it will be operational again. This means that a destroyed machine is not an irreparable loss.

Afrika Korps also adds, among other things, a mobile first-aid station. We can always keep this vehicle behind our units and, when necessary, send infantry to it to replenish HP losses (just like in real life). If, on the other hand, we do not have it, it will be possible to order a retreat. We then lose control of the troops temporarily, and they go to the nearest point where fresh forces can be supplied.

And, of course, you can now transport artillery – just attach it to a truck. This is how we can transport a huge cannon wherever we want. This creates new opportunities both in defense and offense. As I said before, there's more flexibility in operations and maneuvers. In addition, new features include the placement of infantry on the roofs of buildings, or side armors of vehicles, which has individual properties, so flanking vehicles will have a different effect than in the days of yore.

Despite the bugs, which are to be expected in an alpha version, Company of Heroes 3 appears to be a complete product. The new army, the Afrika Korps, is fun, and the desert terrains provide a kind of fresh variety. I find the developers' approach of focusing on evolution and developing what is already there, rather than introducing drastic changes, to be valid. It looks like we will get a worthy successor to the venerable series of second-war strategies!