Whereas previous games presented you with a traditional set of real-time strategy battles one after another, the first and largest of Company Of Heroes 3's single player operations does things a little bit differently, giving you free rein to tromp through the whole of Italy's southern calf with its large, open-ended Total War-style campaign map. Or at least that's true of its many, many real-time mission maps. Let up the pressure even for a moment and your supply points will be wrestled back from under your nose, resulting in the same tense and thrilling scraps that Company Of Heroes made its name on.

It remains brilliantly well-paced, and its backbone of building up your forces, positioning them into clever spots of cover, capturing territory and countering enemy advances with its wide array of upgradeable units is as strong as ever. While it may not dwell much on the lingering horrors of war, this is a real-time strategy game that thrives on building and maintaining the confident forward march of its respective victors. That's not to say Company Of Heroes 3 is a one-sided power fantasy, of course. I think we could all do with a bit of that in this day and age, even if the battles before you end up feeling like nothing more than the digital equivalent of plonking down a big box of toy soldiers on your living room floor and going daka-daka-daka as they all fall over. But while your main objective is always one of domination, gradually turning the map from red to blue on both a micro and macro scale, this is ultimately a game about searing comebacks - of beating back seemingly impossible aggressors, and finding hope where previously there was only despair. It's a feeling that might seem out of place given the current climate, especially now, just days away from the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. With two campaigns spanning each side of the sunny Mediterranean, this is arguably Relic's breeziest and most colourful theatre of war yet, evoking the same kind of swagger and gung ho optimism as a Hollywood action flick. Its enormous Italian operation could have more tension in the way you conquer the map, but its RTS battles remain as compelling as ever, and the sheer breadth and variety on offer here will please new and veteran players alike.Īfter the mud and forests of Normandy, and the grim, snowy climes of the Eastern Front, Company Of Heroes 3 feels like World War II on its summer holiday. After ten years away, Company Of Heroes 3 returns with two stonkingly good single-player campaigns and a bevy of multiplayer options.

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