Recent reviews by Crazy Half

I came into Company of Heroes 3 with the sort of optimism only a long‑term fan can muster. The first game came pre‑installed on my childhood gaming PC and I played it until the poor thing wheezed. The second never quite hit the same highs, but I still held out hope. Unfortunately, this instalment feels like it has wandered even further from what made the series special.

I tried a bit of everything. A few hours in the campaign, a handful of skirmishes, and then I realised I had already seen most of what the game had to offer. The campaign plays like a mobile imitation of a Total War map, only without the depth or the charm. It mostly exists to funnel you into skirmishes that become repetitive with surprising speed. The pacing is odd too. The game manages to be too fast when you want time to think and too slow when you want something to happen.

To its credit, it runs well and the art style never bothered me. My first couple of skirmishes even felt like classic Company of Heroes. Then the shallowness set in. After a few matches, it becomes clear that you are essentially playing rock paper scissors with an AI that has a suspiciously generous supply line. Increase the difficulty and the enemy seems to receive an economic stimulus package that would make a central bank blush. No amount of strategy can keep up with units that respawn faster than you can destroy them.

The microtransactions are another low point. You have to spend a small fortune on expansions just to get anything meaningful out of the Allied forces. It is hard to feel excited about multiplayer when you know you need to pay twenty quid just to stand a chance against the inevitable wave of Axis players. The music is also surprisingly forgettable, especially compared to the first two games.

For a title released in February 2023, the bugs are baffling. Units claim to be retreating while standing perfectly still, inputs sometimes vanish into the ether, and vehicle pathfinding still behaves like it is navigating a hedge maze.

In short, it is extremely underwhelming for anyone who loved Company of Heroes 1 and 2. I wanted to like it. I really did. But after just five hours, I felt like I had already reached the bottom of the well.