This well-made WWII strategy game won the war for my approval - Company of Heroes 3 Quick Review

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it if you like real-time strategy games at all. Company of Heroes 3 is a well-designed and polished real-time strategy title that offers an enjoyable experience and a deeper look into the battles of Italy and North Africa during World War II.

TIME PLAYED

I played Company of Heroes 3 for four hours. The tutorial had me hooked for thirty minutes, while the prologue took me an hour to beat, with subsequent missions lasting anywhere between twenty minutes to an hour. In total, I made it through about seven missions.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Combat. The real-time strategy gameplay of Company of Heroes 3 kept me on my feet and thinking. Each mission is difficult, but not impossible. With a variety of troop types, like engineers and riflemen, and a bunch of skills to upgrade and bring to battle, combat felt challenging and exciting.

• History. Even though Company of Heroes 3 isn’t completely accurate when it comes to the battles that happened in Italy during World War II, I still learned a lot of cool stuff about it that has pushed my interest in history further. I personally liked seeing and learning about all the guns and vehicle models.

• Conquering the battlefield. Who doesn’t like winning? I know I do, and conquering areas across Italy in Company of Heroes 3 felt fulfilling and invigorating, especially when combat required a lot of patience and strategy. There’s nothing like the feeling of saving a town of innocent people after relentlessly fighting off an army for an hour.

• Visuals. Company of Heroes 3 looks spectacular. The interface is well-made and polished, and color-coded troops and buildings are easy to see, even among the cluttered debris and destruction of war.

WHAT SUCKS

• Moving an army. I found it frustrating when I moved troops around the battlefield, because they always spread out too far from each other. For example, sometimes I’d pull a group behind cover, but there’d always be one or two units sticking out and (inevitably) dying to a barrage of bullets. I wish there was a feature where I could control the formation of my forces to make them move closer together, especially in the middle of a battle, so that they could survive.

• Some learning curve. Although Company of Heroes 3 did its best to teach me the ropes, it didn’t completely cover every detail I needed. I had to learn more about resources and how to gain them, as well as figuring out the importance of certain skills against different enemies. I would have appreciated more documentation to dig into when I struggled.

💬 Are you going to advance and play Company of Heroes 3, or will you take your retreat and skip it? Let us know down below!