Company of Heroes is one of the all-time great strategy game series. Relic Entertainment has proved time and time again that they can deliver incredible RTS games and change up their formula in significant ways with excellent results. The change from Dawn of War to Dawn of War II was massive but created an excellent game that stands alongside but is separate from the original. Company of Heroes 2 saw some tweaks to the formula, but nothing earth-shaking, and it was marred by a lack of content and poor balancing at launch. Even then, it ended up a beloved RTS up there with Relic’s greats, and years of post-launch support have made it an essential game. Company of Heroes 3 is the biggest game the series has ever produced at launch, with four factions and two campaigns, but size doesn’t mean everything, and the overall package stumbles often.

The Good

Company of Heroes 3 is a refinement of the already near-perfect design of CoH and CoH2. The moment-to-moment gameplay and micromanagement are as satisfying as ever, and the new additions, such as breaching buildings, riding on tanks, and height-based gameplay, are all welcome. Company of Heroes is still one of the best playing strategy games, and CoH3 is no different. Factions are fun and varied, the maps are detailed, and the destruction is impressive. Overall, the gameplay package when you have boots on the ground is the exact Company of Heroes you know and love, for better or worse.

The Bad

Company of Heroes hits its stride during skirmishes, but the campaigns are where it stumbles. The classic linear campaign focused on the Afrika Corps is marred by poor production quality and bad AI, which carries over to the new Italian campaign too. There are numerous bugs, and the UI looks incredibly basic, sometimes even feeling unfinished. Overall, the worst crime the game commits is its lack of innovative ideas. Company of Heroes 3 is so similar to previous entries that it can be hard to tell the two apart at a glance, and the failed total-war-style Italian campaign makes it all feel more like a massive, missed opportunity.

What Surprised Me

Company of Heroes’ Italian campaign is a huge disappointment. The map feels incredibly static, and many of the essential elements feel too underdeveloped.  Moving across the map and taking every town is easy, and the AI rarely fights back. In the actual skirmishes, the AI is laughably bad on almost any difficulty. If a mission tasked me with taking the control points surrounding an enemy base, I could do so with my basic starting infantry. The enemy faction rarely ventured out to challenge me or take resources themselves, and many fights end before you can even get armor onto the field. The campaign has none of the replayability, dynamics, or procedural storytelling of something like Total War, and it feels like a pale shadow by comparison.

What Was Predictable

Company of Heroes is still incredibly fun. Relic nailed the mechanics in 2006 with the original game, and Company of Heroes 3 is no different. While it is not a reinvention, it is a solid refinement, and the moment-to-moment gameplay is unbeatable. Multiplayer skirmishes will keep players glued for years to come, and Relic will no doubt add more maps, more factions, and more updates.

Bottom Line

Company of Heroes 3 is a fantastic strategy game regarding the basics. Playing with friends and mining the mechanics will be where most will spend their time, but it is a huge disappointment to see the campaigns fall so flat. The Italian campaign was the place where I expected huge innovations from Relic, but it feels like a paper tiger.

Visuals: 7

Company of Heroes plays it incredibly safe. While the new destruction is more detailed, the level of detail and general aesthetic feel borderline unchanged from the original. The main benefit is that the game runs well, and playing it on mid-range PCs should not be an issue. Overall it still can impress, and the level of detail is still unchallenged among its peers. Watching tanks blast through cities, buildings crumble, and artillery rain down is still as epic and satisfying as ever. Sound: ACompany of Heroes 3 takes a step to be more realistic with its sound. Guns crackle and pop instead of booming like their Hollywood counterparts, and you can hear every part of a tank as it revs its engine. The focus on realistic sound design can feel less punchy, but it pays dividends, especially for those looking for something more grounded.

Playability: 9

Company of Heroes 3 is easy to learn and hard to master; controlling units is intuitive, and outside of some technical issues and pathfinding problems, the game is snappy and satisfying. Controlling many squads and managing them works well, and the game generally makes sure things are never so chaotic that you lose control.  

Story: 2.5

Company of Heroes 3 doesn’t do much with its sparse storytelling outside the usual WW2 cliches. Angry commanders yell, sad letters are sent home, and there is some lip service paid to the Jewish Berbers in Africa, but it does more damage than good by having you play as the Afrika Corps in-between. It feels wrong to play as a Nazi faction and then show the people directly affected by their horrible actions, and the whiplash is intense.

Replay Value: 9

Company of Heroes 3 will be in the real-time strategy rotation for another decade easily, and the skirmishes will provide multiplayer fun for hundreds of hours. The campaigns are another story, but with some smart updates, Relic can turn the Italian campaign into something special and deserving of the series’ legacy.

Overall Grade: 7.5