Company of Heroes 2: Closed Beta Starts April 2nd for Pre-Orders

[Greybriar]

It's always scary for me when the rights to a game I want to play has been purchased by another company. I hope the next rendition of Company of Heroes is as good as THQ's original.

Eh, it's still being developed by Relic so I'm not worried in the least.

I am guessing a majority of the game was already completed before the transition since they were s far along.

Powerhouse was a game by Impressions that was released after Impressions was bought out by Sierra Entertainment. It was released too early, unfinished and full of bugs. I've been leery ever since.

[undercovergeek]

Watching the developers diary, I am disappointed. First off, I really liked the original CoH alot- at first. Battles between infantry forces were fun, if somewhat unrealistic. As I played more and tanks and other units were being introduced, I found the unrealism sky rocket.

this bit

loved COH, but for its infantry battles, i could suspend belief and play it as the game it was but as soon as tanks became involved i lost all interest. A Tiger and a Sherman stood 10 feet apart blasting away at each other doesnt do it for me, i jumped on the first infantry only mod i could find. And as a big ass part of the Eastern Front is the thanks, and as a big ass part of the game is shooting only what you can see on screen (no long range, off screen shots) i see only more of the blasting each other at point blank range happening

From the recent gameplay vids ive seen, to me, and ill admit it may be just me, its COH with snow

pass

[sandman2575]

It also looks like they went crazy overboard with the weather too. The harsh Russian winter caused attrition on a longer time scale than mere firefights or 10 minute battles. It looked like troops had to find a heat source during the battle. That is stupid silly, they are on planet Earth, not the harsh cold of Skyrim with a hardcore mod.

The new "cold tech" thing raises a red flag (no pun intended) for me as well.  I agree that the idea that soldiers have to find shelter and warmth within minutes or die is fairly silly.  Russia is cold, but it's not Hoth. 

Still, it's hard to judge from the videos just how much cold will be a factor.  It sounds like in blizzard conditions it is a factor, but otherwise I'm not sure it will dictate gameplay too severely?  All speculation on my part of course.

That said, if 'cold tech' winds up being a sore spot for players, I have absolutely no doubt that it will quickly be modded, either nerfed or removed entirely.  I suppose it could be hardcoded and un-moddable, but I'm going to give the dev's the benefit of the doubt and guess that it is moddable.  It would be dumb to introduce a mechanic that's sure to be controversial that simply can't be altered by the gaming community.  The chorus of "game breaking!" would be overwhelming.  I don't think Relic is unaware of that.

Anyway, I remain very optimistic.  I can't argue with those who say CoH is unrealistic.  It is.  But if I want more groggy ww2 rts I'll go play Achtung Panzer or Combat Mission.  CoH is Hollywood WW2.  But it isn't dumbed down per se.  It's like the difference between "Saving Private Ryan" and "Patton" (the latter being one of my favorite war movies of all time, so not to knock it).  "SPR" introduced a fidelity to historical detail that was unprecedented in WW2 movies.  In "Patton" you have M60's standing in for panzers. Talk about having to suspend your disbelief.  But CoH follows "SPR's" lead in paying attention to the details, while still presenting a version of combat that is flashy and not terribly realistic.  It's still incredibly gripping to watch though, imo. 

[Grim.Reaper]

Well, at this point I am all in thanks to Sandman!  So I have to keep the faith this will be good.  I guess I'll know in 24 hours or so after trying the beta....although if the download is huge, might not be until Wednesday because of my slow connection.

[sandman2575]

man, i'm not going to be able to show my face around here anymore if this game bombs...

...seriously though, it's gonna rock

[Grim.Reaper]

man, i'm not going to be able to show my face around here anymore if this game bombs...

...seriously though, it's gonna rock

At least you will have to June until the game officially comes out since you can claim any current issues are just beta issues:)

[DeathTouchWilly]

I'm pretty excited as well. Frankly I haven't been following the game that closely but it would be a tall order to screw up a game as good as CoH. Thanks for the heads up about the beta... I'll have to check it out.

[Grim.Reaper]

Although I know this is a closed beta, kind of strange how this can be enforced when released to such a large audience.  Over at their forums, seems like a lot of threats for removing people from the beta and possible legal actions if the game is discussed anywhere outside of their official beta forums, which don't appear to be open yet.  Good luck to them in trying to contain all the people, can't see it happening.  To the best of my knowledge, I did not sign any kind of NDA with them, so somehow must be implied by simply making the pre-order and downloading the beta.

Strange...

[Grim.Reaper]

From what I have now read, seems like you agree to the beta NDA when you first start the game...mine is still downloading so that is why I didn't see it.  I still wonder how they think they'll control all the talk across all web forums....but oh well, it is what it is.....guess I can't publically scold the Sandman about my purchase since it would give away if I thought the game was good or not:)

[DeathTouchWilly]

Non-disclosure is a silly policy for a wide-run closed beta. If you want to keep a lid on things don't publicize the way you did and you better sure as hell vet your testers first. Isn't a part of the point of a beta to have fans spread the word for you? Coming from PR it's every marketer's wet dream to have your customers do all your work for you...

[Grim.Reaper]

Unless the feedback is less than positive ...

[Grim.Reaper]

Just curious, has anybody been actively playing this throughout the beta?  Liking it?  I had it and tried it several times.....as I feared, struggling to get into it.  Actually thinking of returning it while still in pre order status.  Just so fast and hectic for me.  Paying $60 and having it be shelf-ware is not ideal to me.

[Gusington]

I pre-ordered it but have not tried the beta. You should have used Green Man Gaming and you would have got it for 45.00!

[Grim.Reaper]

I pre-ordered it but have not tried the beta. You should have used Green Man Gaming and you would have got it for 45.00!

Not sure it would have been even worth $45 to me based on what I have seen so far:(

[Gusington]

What?? Oh dear. Please elaborate!