Customer Reviews

Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

First of all, there are a lot to like about the CoH series. The graphics, the physics and the unit strategy elements of the CoH series of games are by far among the best in the RTS games I have played, and I have played RTS games for almost 20 years starting from a very young age. This series of games present campaigns in managable segments and load them with tons of strategic elements to make them fun and refreshing. The opposing fronts game adds two more armies: Britsh 3rd Army and the German Panther Elite to which you can command (in addition to the original CoH's US Army's 101 air born able company and the German troops).
My interest in the WWII history made this game even more fascinating to me personally as I can engage my computer units in some historically signifcant WWII campaigns. The game does a good job of including bits of actual WWII history to further engage the players. The representation of the units and equipment is also quite authentic, true to the real life. However, this can be somewhat problematic as the Panther Elite troops tend to be very strong (true to real life). In a small skirmish setting, this in-balance leads to some game play problems, as in a multiplayer game, a player commanding Panther Elite units can quite easily over power other players due to the high fire power and the great mobility of the Panther Elite units.
Panther Elite units are heavily armored, fast moving, and the basic grenadier units are good in both fighting and vehicle repair. The Panther Elite also has the best troop carriers, best armor protection and incredible mobility and mobile fire support to provide fast recharge to mobile units. This make the Panther Elite a force that is very difficult to defend against in games against actual human players. The problem with balance is not significant in playing against the computer in campaigns as the balance is well tuned in those missions. But in playing against human opponents on an even play field, a player playing Panther Elite has significant advantage in the game play.
With British units, the mode of play is more concentrated in defense and longe range barrage, as the British tanks are slow, the engineering units are also slow and expensive. The British troops need more leadership guidance, and has relatively weak weaponry in comparison to the German and even the Americans. The artillery units of British is where the action is for this faction, so I guess depends on your prefence in gameplay, the British could be fun. But for me, I prefer a quick and efficient run of armored units, so Panther Elite units are far more entertaining, much to my dismay (as my historitical learning, and dispise of Nazis always tugs at me whenever I play the Panther Elite and lay waste to allied units).
The intallation process was a huge pain however, which is why the game gets 4 instead of 5 stars, the intall from the Opposing Fronts game DVD reverted my patched intallation of CoH to an earlier version, so upon login I had to download patches AGAIN!! What's so insane is that the patches are not cumulative. In order to get to version 2.2 let's say, one has to download and install version 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5... INDIVIDUALLY!! This is the most insane patching scheme I have ever seen. Every other game can handle patching any previous version to the latest patch with just one install, but not CoH series, this just drives you nuts. It tooks over 3 hours overall to install CoH: OF then having to download and install all the patches.
Stability is overall great on my system, with a Dual core proecssor with a Nvidia 8800GT video card on 2 GB of RAM. I did not experience crashing problem many others experienced, but I also didn't get the game until patch 2.2 is released which seemed to fixed a great deal of issues.
Overall, this game is lots of fun to play and a big pain to install and patch. But if you can stand the wait (give you self 3 hours on a fast internet connection) it takes to install, you will be rewarded with an execellent RTS experience as long as you have the right hardware to handle the game (fast video card and lots of RAM for all the eye candy). Make sure to patch the game to the latest version.

I have never seen a more buggy game. Patch after patch after patch. On # 4 now and it won't launch. Finally had it working after extensive emails to customer suupport then, today, it decided it needed another 112MB patch. After downloading it, it supposedly patched but on relaunch still wants the patch. ARRRGGHHH! Who is writing this crappy code and who is checking it? I just want to come home from work and play a little game...instead its sheer frustration.
I understand their desire for copyright protection, but their requirements for you to jump through so many hoops is ridiculous. THQ you should be ashamed....

Innovation, like intelligence, cannot be bought; or forced; or spread on a slice of bread. It is a fleeing ability that needs time and space to grow and bear fruit. Nowadays, there are no such conditions in the gaming industry. Hence, games like CoH: OPPOSING FRONTS. The cookie-cutter at work.

Whether one likes or not strategic-points RTS games (what are now called "WarGames") is a matter of preference (I do not, they reduce the immersion factor, as they remind me too much that I am playing a computer game). This is not the main problem with CoH:OF. After all, the original CoH was also a strategic-points game and it was a GREAT game!

RELIC, a company with a long RTS history, attempted to improve on the original. Running a game-mill produced mixed results.

PROS:
- Improved graphics and sounds
- Enemy AI. They will come after your dug-in troops from every possible angle.
- Did I mention the graphics? Yes, they have improved...

CONS:
- Slower gameplay (from unit production to movement - it can really get on your nerves when under pressure)
- Smaller maps (although strategically more diverse)
- Single Player practically...abandoned to fare for itself. Not very thought out and pretty predictable.
- Your own units AI: they will keep getting mowed down if caught exposed when moving - although there will be tons of buildings around. Nearby units do not come helping: if an enemy unit is outside its own detection range, they will not lift a finger. Now, I do realize this is the part the...player is supposed to fill; however, friendly units assisting in enemy detection would be much more realistic (even for a WWII game). Either C&C-TIBERIUM WARS spoiled us too much or RELIC relies too heavily on the pause-to-issue-orders game style.

Overall: if you liked the original CoH, I am sure you will like this one too. If new to the genre, start with the original CoH though.

I see a lot of review saying how terrible it is to patch the game, but I bought it a year or so after its release and have had no problems. I would recommend buying it on steam, because it patches automatically with relatively little fuss (though I still had to nudge it a few times).

That aside, I think the two new factions you can play as adds a great new dimension to the gameplay. The british are fun as they are extremely mobile: you can move all your headquarter operations right to the gates of your enemy if you so desire. They are much more specialized, in that you can focus much more heavily on tanks or artillery tactics, with some of the best capabilities in the game for either of those.

The panzer elite are a little harder to get used to, but also a great payoff once you do. They are great at anti-tank maneuvering especially, and their hetzer tanks are probably the toughest units in the game to kill.

There are many more sublte alterations to the gameplay for each faction that makes it new and exciting to play all over again. All in all, a solid expansion offering more units and factions that offer vastly different gameplay opportunities to an already wonderful game.

I was addicted to this game for quite awhile. I stink, but I was still addicted. It is a fun strategy-type game, putting you in an semi-omniscient god mode. It is a worthy successor to the original, as the new units are fun to use.

The big problem for me is that I have networked my and my wife's computers at home through a router. This game's multiplayer mode will simply not work online if you are trying to connect to it through a router. And this little tidbit of info is nowhere to be found. I finally did connect to someone in multiplayer mode who knew about this and was kind enough to inform me.

I have no idea why this is so, but more to the point, there is no reason why this should be so. This is supposedly a known problem with the game, and it seems like they could issue a patch to fix this. But there hasn't been one.

Obviously, this is fixable by disconnecting the computer from the router and connecting directly to the internet without it. But that's annoying, and then I'll forget to reconnect the router and get hell for it from my wife who hasn't a clue except that she knows that she can't get online.

Otherwise, enjoy.

One of the shortcomings of COH is that you have no choice really as to what faction you play with in multiplayer or skirmish modes. You are either the Germans or the USA. That is the number one value of this add on to get 2 more choices to play with the Brits and the Panzer Elite. I didn't expect much more than that and you don't get much more than that.

The game is based on reality, it is history so they can't just make things up as they go along. Tech improvements and upgrades are historically based. There is no navy and really no air force so this is a ground based strategy game. As a vet of RTS games going back to 1997 i can say that COH provides the best strategy and team work and there are no all everything defensive structures or offensive units. No super weapons either.

This game is an interesting change for fans of Command and conquer, Age of empires or other top RTS games. Opposing fronts just ads to the game experience.

The upgrade patches are a pain and OF will make you do that all over again. Still it is worth it. For variety and fun there are many interesting mods that add new elements to the game while still allowing you to play the original.

There are very very few people who have given this game any time at all who can honestly say they don't like it. A homerun all the way so why not expand it with opposing fronts?

Expanding the list of playable countries by including the English/Commonwealth troops and the new Panzer Elite builds off of the awesome foundation of the first COH and makes a great game even better! The campaigns are fun and live up to the precedent the original set in terms of immersion and honoring the soldiers who took part in it's presentation.

I'm not often a big fan of strategy and RTS games because of the learning curve. I don't generally want to spend hours just learning how to play a game.

This game has a interesting, but generally simple tech trees. The game play is straight forward, and its easy to control units and move around the maps.

Once I got over the tutorial, I found the single player skirmishes to be loads of fun. In fact more fun then the campaign so far. The choice of different tech trees and the different units available to the Axis and Commonwealth gave the skirmish maps a lot of repeat playability.

Although the skirmish maps are supposed to be short games, you can stretch them out by not wiping out the AI, and allowing the AI launch counter attacks. A lot of fun can be head building up defensive lines, and watch the AI forces trying to get past your AT guns or mine fields.

The environment is very destructible. Destroyed vehicles remain on the map, and can be used as cover. Demolition and arty units can be used to reduce structures to rubble.

When I played CoH original, I said great, when I played this, I am saying greater. Hopefully in Tales of Valor, I can say "Greatest".

There are many negative reviews doing round. I am happy that I actually went on my instinct against all the reviews and bought this wonderful game.
Yes, there were a lot of patches to install, so installation was not fun. One of the patch was almost 800mb in size. But finally, after installling 4 patches, it was all set. Beware! Online connection is a must for installing this, which the game makers do not mention anywhere. Also many reviews say that it uninstalls the original CoH. Well, in that case, I suggest, just to do an "Add Product" after installing this.

So finally, whats in the game. Well, much more than an usual expansion pack has to offer. Being able to play as the Germans, Brits or Americans is amazing. If you have the original COH key, then there are as many as 40 missions to play.
The Ai is pretty good, and you can choose the weather condition in skirmish. No need to say anything about meticulous graphics, you might even see a sodliers arm ripped apart as a canon ball hits him. The visaul effects are too good! If its raining and you zoom in to max, you can actually see the splashes of water from the rain drops. Keep this up THQ!

I must say, a must for all lovers of this genre(RTS), and for lovers of other genres, willing to look somewhere else, or try something different, try it with The BEST RTS game in market.

COH was and is a great game. COH Opposing Fronts is not only unstable it will uninstall and prevent you from enjoying the COH experience you already had. I have uninstalled COH:OF and spent a lot of time reinstalling my original COH with patches just to get back to where I started from...

Very frustrating. Just skip this game and stick with the original COH.