izigame.me

It is I once more Relic, after the disaster that was DOW III which greatly disappointed me we now arrive once more into the trenches in the latest installment of Company of Heroes.
First thing to note, I must give my details. 3.7k hours in coh2 and ranked 48 in the world in teams of 4. Played since the near release of coh2 and dabbled in coh1. Hence I am more aware of mechanics and balance of the game.
To quell the hesitation this is far from a bad game, but nor is it a perfect game. But compared to Relics last title this is far better as you can feel the passion and care they put into the game. So for a TLDR I recommend this game.
Now onto a more detailed review starting with positives:
The new mechanics for coh3 is simply much better than its incarnation will the much appreciated side armor being introduced it now rewards players for flanking enemy tanks and no longer forced to drive head first just to go behind rear armor just to penetrate armor of enemy tanks. Along with some quality of life changes like auto vaulting and the breech(Although not quite usable depending on the skill of the enemy is nonetheless handy for specific situations like flushing out MG's in houses and outright killing the whole gun.) Among no longer losing whole squads due to unlucky 'RNG' when hit by a single mortar hit.
As for game play it is your simple fare, with 4 factions to start off with all mechanics for each faction are decently balanced well with no overpowering factions skewed on one side or the other(but there are notable 'unbalanced' options that exist on both allies and axis. But otherwise does not quite detract in the experiance. And some older tatcics that was annoying to face are now much more tame in this one allowing less stressful game play when fighting 'cheese' type of players(Looking at you mg34 coh2 suppressing just as soon as it shoots)
As for graphics, I have no gripes with it. Sure it may look a bit more colorful than 2 but it does fit the Mediterranean feel, the battle scarring on vehicles are really nice and animations are solid enough on most units.
However we get to the negatives:
Balance on certain battle groups, units and the like. Now Relic has a rather interesting history with balance. Some notable unbalanced things that you can see in this game are notably DAK with the capacity to drop a 11 minute tiger for 800 manpower, planes from both British and Whermacht that can utterly kill full health tanks near instantly, AA so powerful on both sides that can virtually render planes dead in nanoseconds before they can drop air dropped units in your own base, battlegroup choices that are outright better than other choices in the same line, and some questionable skill choices for American units(SF commandos with a small close ranged 'snipe' ability to kill a single model instantly vs a time demo charge that can blow up bunkers and other hardy structures that are far more valuable) and the black Prince being a one time call in while Tigers can be replaced willy nilly when they die.
Some quality of life changes that need to be implemented as well, unique colors should not give your allies a 'red' type of color which really screws with many people as 'red' colors dictate 'enemy' players. The friend/social system still acting off even after the beta test not being able to invite players despite them being friended and online by everyone in the lobby.
Minor gripes
Some minor bugs are still a bit annoying, units getting stuck in terrain, units taking too long to follow a retreat command, certain abilities not informing you of drawbacks(Or being outright bugged Special operations battleground with the infantry buff preventing retreat on all infantry effected by it.) And audio bugs.
Final Conclusion:
Despite the negatives, Company of Heroes 3 is not a step back but instead a good step forward. However Relic does have a good bit of work ahead to polish the game in the coming months to rectify from glaring issues and top up some balance. But compared to their last title this has great potential to become a great RTS like Relic is known for.
At the moment there are a lot of negative reviews, some mainly griping on super minor issues and others with valid concerns like myself. However I believe the positives outweigh the negatives so if your on the fence reading the reviews you should honestly give the game a shot and give it a go. Give the game your own shot and let your experience determine if you should stick with the game or pass.
And a personal note for relic, remember to keep team games in mind for balance as well. But all in all well done Relic for not crushing my hopes a second time.