Company of Heroes Online
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Relic's cancelled WWII RTS game, redesigned as a free-to-play online game. Its cancellation was confirmed in a THQ investor's call in February 2011.
Free-To-Play Company of Heroes Unveiled
The most drastic departure from the retail Company of Heroes is that now, when a match is over, your upgrades are coming with you. Company of Heroes Online will let you choose a commander path that will allow your army to specialize in various roles on the battlefield. There will be six of these different paths available, each with a unique set of units, upgrades, and commander abilities. As you play online, you'll earn "improvement points" that can be spent on a wide selection of upgrades that can improve a unit's statistics, provide them with new abilities, and unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment.
As you might have guessed, that persistent leveling system will be supplemented with a paid unlock system. While Relic hasn't revealed all of the specifics of the transaction system, the company says that you'll be able to purchase various infantry, vehicles, unit bonuses, and commander powers. The most substantial of the proposed paid unlocks are hero units. Just like in Warcraft III, these powered up soldiers are tougher and faster than the other troops in your army, and come into battle with an additional set of unique combat abilities.
Now before you start shouting at your computer screen, "But wait a minute! You have to pay to have access powerful hero units? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! The only way I'll be able to stay competitive is to buy these unlocks! What is the point of playing that game for free? I'm going to toss my Company of Heroes disc out the window! And the Dawn of War/Homeworld discs are next!", don't worry. All of the paid upgrades can still be earned just by leveling and ranking up in the game. You're only allowed a finite number of paid unlocks in a multiplayer match, so players who fork out the cash aren't necessarily able to take every upgrade and lay low-level opponents to waste. Finally, Relic says that the game's matchmaking system will help to keep players away from games against players who have an unlock advantage.
So, you'll still get those upgrades and hero units. You'll just get them... later. Or you could get them now! And it would make your battles so much easier. And you got the game for free, right? An unlock is only a few dollars. It's so cheap! You're still getting so much value from the game! You need to stay competitive, right? Go ahead... buy a hero. You're worth it.
And that, folks, is how free-to-play games happen.
Here's the debut trailer that accompanied the announcement:
And some screenshots of the game in action:
What do you guys think? Company of Heroes Online sounds like it's borrowing the most interesting aspects of Command & Conquer 4 (its persistent online army). The game looks very similar to the 2006 release, but the changes to the multiplayer structure seem more substantial than what you might find in a re-release. The unlock system sounds like a good way to make multiplayer matches more meaningful as well. And it's free, and comes with the entire Company of Heroes single player campaign. That's pretty good too.
The most drastic departure from the retail Company of Heroes is that now, when a match is over, your upgrades are coming with you. Company of Heroes Online will let you choose a commander path that will allow your army to specialize in various roles on the battlefield. There will be six of these different paths available, each with a unique set of units, upgrades, and commander abilities. As you play online, you'll earn "improvement points" that can be spent on a wide selection of upgrades that can improve a unit's statistics, provide them with new abilities, and unlock more powerful soldiers and equipment.
As you might have guessed, that persistent leveling system will be supplemented with a paid unlock system. While Relic hasn't revealed all of the specifics of the transaction system, the company says that you'll be able to purchase various infantry, vehicles, unit bonuses, and commander powers. The most substantial of the proposed paid unlocks are hero units. Just like in Warcraft III, these powered up soldiers are tougher and faster than the other troops in your army, and come into battle with an additional set of unique combat abilities.
Now before you start shouting at your computer screen, "But wait a minute! You have to pay to have access powerful hero units? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! The only way I'll be able to stay competitive is to buy these unlocks! What is the point of playing that game for free? I'm going to toss my Company of Heroes disc out the window! And the Dawn of War/Homeworld discs are next!", don't worry. All of the paid upgrades can still be earned just by leveling and ranking up in the game. You're only allowed a finite number of paid unlocks in a multiplayer match, so players who fork out the cash aren't necessarily able to take every upgrade and lay low-level opponents to waste. Finally, Relic says that the game's matchmaking system will help to keep players away from games against players who have an unlock advantage.
So, you'll still get those upgrades and hero units. You'll just get them... later. Or you could get them now! And it would make your battles so much easier. And you got the game for free, right? An unlock is only a few dollars. It's so cheap! You're still getting so much value from the game! You need to stay competitive, right? Go ahead... buy a hero. You're worth it.
And that, folks, is how free-to-play games happen.
Here's the debut trailer that accompanied the announcement:
And some screenshots of the game in action:
What do you guys think? Company of Heroes Online sounds like it's borrowing the most interesting aspects of Command & Conquer 4 (its persistent online army). The game looks very similar to the 2006 release, but the changes to the multiplayer structure seem more substantial than what you might find in a re-release. The unlock system sounds like a good way to make multiplayer matches more meaningful as well. And it's free, and comes with the entire Company of Heroes single player campaign. That's pretty good too.
I like the business model.
If the game is good, I'll play it enough so that I'll get the bonuses by playing the game.
The free to play model has been popular with a lot of devs lately. It's not surprising that Company of Heroes would get the F2P treatment. Who here doesn't like this? I don't think this is bad at all.
I approve of free-to-play-but-with-microtransactions (that aren't 100% required to be competitive). Never played this before, will be sure to check it out :O)
If you have to compare it to anything, it would be Dawn of War 2 because of the commander unit, army items (loot), and so forth. Basically, it sounds like they are taking everything that is awesome about Dawn of War 2 and insert them into Company of Heroes, which is awesome!
Also, CAN'T WAIT!
You can see some footage of the game being played here:
http://v.game.sohu.com/v/1/10721/60/NjAwNjMx
And if you use chrome, then you'll be able to translate the language on COH:O Korean home page and even download the open beta full game LOL
http://coho.sdo.com/homepage/index.html
Have fun :)
For the most part, the game is identical to the original COH, it's just that you can bring in special stuff... I'm not sure it's enough to bring me back in...
LOL the guys over at MMORPG would be all up in arms over a F2P game like this. Some of those guys just can't stand the idea of microtransactions.
For me, I'm not a RTS player, let alone a competative one so this is a pass. Good show though I hope Relic makes some money off of them and comes back to the only RTS I want from them (Even though I do like Dawn of War II), Homeworld. :)
" Awesome stuff. At the time, Company of Heroes was one of the best RTS games I've ever played, though I don't know how well it holds up now. Nonetheless, you can't argue with free. "I agree and this is great news, so I'm happy about it. :)
wait why did i buy the coh games again
the important part is free now
and...
@Vod_Crack said:
" This RTS single-handedly makes all other RTS games look terrible in comparison. "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
he hasnt played starcraft
How's the single player campaign? Awesome, I presume? If I went after this, it'd be strictly for that. Not big into getting my ass handed to me in a game where I know I'm terrible.
@MattBodega said:
So is this accurate? Or shoddy reporting?"And it's free, and comes with the entire Company of Heroes single player campaign. That's pretty good too. "
The game is reported as including the full original campaign yes. And yes it is awesome but kinda drags on in a couple missions near the end." How's the single player campaign? Awesome, I presume? If I went after this, it'd be strictly for that. Not big into getting my ass handed to me in a game where I know I'm terrible. "
holy crap. awesome. also, i should prolly finish CoH and all the expansions. I know what I'm doing tomorrow
" wait why did i buy the coh games againI have, it's just an opinion.
the important part is free now
and...
@Vod_Crack said:" This RTS single-handedly makes all other RTS games look terrible in comparison. "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ he hasnt played starcraft "
" @kishan6 said:I'll second that opinion. Starcraft was good for its time, but recent RTS games like CoH have since advanced the genre and improved upon it." wait why did i buy the coh games againI have, it's just an opinion. "
the important part is free now
and...
@Vod_Crack said:" This RTS single-handedly makes all other RTS games look terrible in comparison. "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ he hasnt played starcraft "
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