Reviews for THQ Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

The standard for the modern RTS has been set

Strengths: + incredible graphics, even on lower-end machines + incredible integration of strategy and action + Deep game mechanics will keep you coming back for more and more

Weakness: - Thus far the online component suffers from less-than-perfect service - While this is technically a "standalone" expansion pack, it really is lacking without the original game - Balancing problems.

What can I say about Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, other than that this is simply an amazing game, which has set the standard for modern Real Time Strategy games, and you should buy it now. Did I say it was amazing?

Everything about this game is "next-gen" -- from its graphics to its innovations in squad control and RTS mechanics; this game is a modern marvel among videogames.

It features FPS graphics on a scale that FPSs aren't made to play at -- the "god" view where everything in a level can be seen at any given time. Needless to say, if you had this kind of view in most FPSs, the game would stutter to a slideshow, yet CoH:OF manages to pull it off, even on lower-end machines.

The point of the preceding paragraph was this: the graphics in CoH:OF are amazing. True, to get all the visual fidelity you will need a fairly high-end machine. But remarkably, even on lower end machines, the game still looks incredible. It's just that on the lower-end machines, when you zoom in to extremely up-close angles (not suitable for commanding an army anyway), things will not look particularly great. In fact, if you really have a low-end machine, such views will make your soldiers look like they're wearing gray mud on their uniforms. But as I said such views are unplayable anyway and only given as an option so you can really get a good "look" at the action.

But what's a pretty game without gameplay to back it up? Well, don't worry, CoH:OF is now the de facto standard for comparing RTS:OF gameplay. If you haven't played an RTS before, CoH might not be for you. It requires a lot more thinking than the average videogame. One good way to tell if you are "up" to the challenge is to think of yourself as a manager at your company. If you can't even think about being a manager (or if you think you'd be a crappy manager), then RTS games just not might be the thing for you. On the other hand, if you've been winning Manager of the Year awards, can organize your thoughts distincly, and love videogames, and you have NOT played any RTSs yet, then all I can say to you is "what have you been waiting for?" These games are right up your alley (assuming you don't mind huge explosions and gunfire battles which make the skirmishes in Halo seem weak).

CoH might at first appear to be a somewhat complex game, but after a little acclimation it all becomes very simple. You build soldiers and tanks. You tell them to capture territory. You tell them to blow up the enemy. Pretty simple. That's all there is to it. Of course, with any great game, there lie a great depth of subtleties, and COH:OF is no different.

One of the great features of CoH over more traditional RTSs is it's distribution of resources over a map. In traditional RTSs, resources would be accumulated in a few spots of the map. This meant your army would have to flock to these spots and play defense the whole time. In CoH, the method of resource gathering is quite distinct: Instead of a few concentrated areas of resources, resources are spread across every single sector of the map. How you gain resources is simple: just capture the territory, and they start coming in. The map will be divided into several little sectors, and your armies will have to capture them by sending infantry to raise a flag in each territory. Once that happens, more army-producing power comes on in. What this results in is a game that is much more focused on offense and the need to be continually pushing to capture more territory, as opposed to the defensive nature of securing one or two territories of traditional RTSs.

What is the consequence of this distinct capture-all-the-territiory mechanic? Games are highly offensive, extremely action-packed, and rarely take over 45 minutes, which is a huge drag for most RTSs. It makes CoH:OF to be a very friendly quick-pickup game, as it doesn't take all day Saturday to derive some satisfaction from.

Beyond the overall game mechanics, CoH:OF does some amazing things with actual squad control. Instead of selecting individual soldiers, squads of soldiers are selected, and act as an aggregate whole. The squads in turn act very intelligently in most situations and will automatically seek cover.

Realistically, I could go on all day about how amazing CoH:OF is, but in the end, all you need to know is that this game is buy-worthy. I have been referring to Company of Heroes only by the expansion pack, "Opposing Fronts," but in reality, the original game and Opposing Fronts are the two sides of the same coin. On one side of the coin, you get the American and Wermacht armies, and on the other side of the coin, you get the British and Panzer Elite armies. You can't really have the full experience without both, but both are essentially the same game. So, if I were you, try and get both games if you can (you should easily be able to find bargains on both these titles that would put your total under $50). Enough talk. Go buy. Now.

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One of the best RTS around

Strengths: Exciting, fast, challenging

Weakness: Haven't found a way to slow the game speed down

I love this game. The pace promises action very quickly into the game, and almost never a dull moment.

I do have a problem tracking different squads over the map, and sometimes when I'm concentrating on one fire fight in one section, my troops get wiped out in another section.

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Opposing Fronts

Strengths: Great gameplay. Fun singleplayer and multiplayer. Good graphics.

Weakness: Can take a while to settle into. Beginning missions can be overwhelming for newcomers.

The standalone expansion pack Opposing Fronts centers around two new factions - the British army and the German Panzer elite. The gameplay remains the same from the original, with the environment fully destructable, from the buildings to the vehicles. The online multiplayer works well with little to no lag on a stable connection, however the online community is lacking at the moment. The game also moves pretty fast, so that players new to the series can get overwhelmed in the initial stages of the campaigns.

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Excellent Game!

Strengths: Very good campaign, more of the original gameplay. No cd check protection.

Weakness: Poor DirectX 10 performance on a 8800GTX

Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts is a great game every CoH owners should get. Even if you don't have the original, COH OF is an independent game so you don't need the original to play, but if you have the original you can play all 4 factions in multiplayer. The campaign let's you play as the German Panzer Elite and the British. It has a very good narrative just like the original.

The only complaint for this game is it seems to crash randomly when it is in DX10 mode, also the frame rate drops alot in DX10. Other than that, the game runs very well in DX9 and it is a must have if you loved the original CoH.

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Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Strengths: graphics, 2 new different armies

Weakness: standalone price for what amount to an expansion

I loved the original Company Heroes - from the campaign to the multiplayer - from the graphics and destructible environments to the audio. So when Opposing Fronts came out, I immediately bought it. This is a standalone game at a standalone game price - you do not need the original game to play Opposing Fronts. But if you don't already have the original, I would recommend starting with that one - it can be found pretty cheap and it is a better place to start for a CoH beginner.

This game includes two playable armies: the British and the Panzer Elite. The British are defensive with the ability to build trenches, machine gun nests, mines, barb wire, AT gun and Howitzer emplacements. There buildings are mobile, you can move them to where ever you want and then deploy them. They also have the ability to build officers that then can attach to a squad increasing their combat abilities.

The Panzer Elite are based upon mobility. They have scout cars that can capture resource points, they have tanks, armored cars, motorcycles, and halftracks that have unique abilities - I like the mortar halftrack. They also have a Vampire halftrack to drain resources from the enemy without capturing the resource point, and they have a munitions halftrack that speeds up the recharge rate for special abilities.

In Opposing Fronts, there is a campaign for each of the new armies (In the original game, the campaign was only for the Americans, although you could play as Americans or Germans in skirmish and multiplayer.) I have finished the Panzer Elite campaign and more than half way through the British Campaign. I enjoyed the Panzer Elite campaign because it has to do with Operation Market Garden and enjoy the movie A Bridge Too Far (which is about Market Garden) and Band of Brothers (which several episodes dealing with the 101st in Holland.)

If you have only Opposing Fronts you can still play multiplayer against someone with only the original game. You will be limited to the British or Panzer Elite and they will be limited to Americans and Germans. If you have both, you can play any of the four armies in multiplayer.

The graphics and audio are just as good as the original - I still think the destructible environments are great - destroyed burned out vehicles, artillery craters, partially destroyed or collapsed building litter the battlefield after a battle.

I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed the first Company of Heroes game.

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Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Testseek.com has collected 21 expert reviews for Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts and the average expert rating is 87 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.45 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #666 game of all time, #6 game of 2007 for the PC and #155 PC game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 17 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on...

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