SHOCK & AWE
This Italian airbase has turned into Hell. The seared, metal carcass of a plane dominates one of the airstrips, surrounded by craters and puddles of blood. The hangars are now just skeletons, and next to them screaming men dance as they burn. There’s so much shouting, with soldiers yelling orders and warnings as they move between fleeting cover. Then, a rocket-propelled grenade, and the soldiers are gone. And through it all I have this inappropriately goofy grin on my face because, finally, I’m playing Company of Heroes 3.
The scene, my first fight in the campaign, is the Company of Heroes I remember, but with the intensity dialled way up. There’s more destruction and noise and chaos, and the busyness of the battlefield speaks to the long list of new tools and units that have been flung into the meat grinder.
Among the headline attractions jockeying for position are a pair of large, dynamic campaigns set in Italy and North Africa; the ability to control the ground, air, and naval forces of both the US and UK, in tandem; an entirely optional tactical pause system, just for singleplayer; and the promise of a huge pile of customisation that will be like catnip for loadout tinkerers. It has the immense scale of a Total War game, complemented by Relic’s experience with designing more bespoke, linear strategy games.
TEAM UP
It’s the largest and most ambitious game Relic has put together, and it’s been in the works for a while. Along with a scale that evokes , the team’s been inspired by another fellow Sega developer, Amplitude, borrowing its focus on the community. “They’re amazing at working with players,” says executive producer David Littman. “We’re taking the same technology that they use, Games2Gether, and is set in Italy and North Africa – it was initially going to be in the Pacific theatre – so Relic’s been getting feedback from the people who play the most right from the beginning.
