I see where yall going with this.

So first I see this on pc gamer talking bout "xcom +company of heroes" and im like, intriguing, and pick it up.
Maaaaannnnn,...

I start the game, love the lil narrative, get to know my guys and try to be a decent NCO or whatever. Your men not only are affected in battle by their skills and attributes, but also their general condition, so its important to check up on them in camp. Doing so along with the journal intro events does attach you pretty organically to both the characters personality and their skill set.

The LT wont get off my ass, im trying to get a handle on my duties and hes giving us extra work?! We have to fight soon! Whatever, military life. We make it to the first battle my guys are exhausted but full bellied im like okay we will just hang back.

Most of us are doing okay, except i JUST. need the little guy. to point his damn rifle. IN THE DIRECTION OF THE FRENCH. and pull the trigger. and its just impossible for him.

I don't even know why they brought him out here he is not built for this, i figure hes gunna be cannon fodder, but hes a sweet child and i dont wanna see him get just brutalized for nothing. and also i need the extra hands for camp work. so i set him to non shooting tasks, at least hes attentive.

Then the artillery comes in maaaaannnn we got whacked lmao i tried to play it out to learn the mechanics, it went all bad. My best shooter and vet was wounded along with my solid guy, lil buddy took off running and we were soon to be surrounded.

I restarted and did a little better. Managed to fight our way to the front and capture some Frenchmen, but it was greedy. we sent two guys back with the prisoners, but they were captured on their way back to the squad.. we could see them and even though we got the retreat order, I didnt want to leave good men behind. it was futile. we manage to fight to them, only to see them being taken back behind french lines. the close quarters combat sent lil buddy fleeing and we were once again surrounded.

By the third battle me and my team were solid. i understood this was a real battlefield and we have to follow orders but we can be smart about it. we fought our way carefully to the french the whole way, we tossed a few grenades and took the trenches. by the end we were the honor squad holding the french at bay while our ai allies retreated. the last across the river.

our ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LT couldn't help but be pleased. 10/10

oh, lil buddy wasnt with us though. he had collapsed from exhaustion from all the camp work i had set him to, and was recuperating in the infirmary. where i know where tf he at.

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Mind you im writing this as only playing one battle but i had to come comment first impressions.

now for the technical, obviously its open access and a few bugs but not so much of the gameplay than as the visuals, its def playable and the sounds are wildly immersive. once the movement is smooth as butter? *chefs kiss*

i can see exactly where they are going with this.

10/10 would take MY men into the trenches and work the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ out little buddy again :)

the damn character creator alone was worth the wait, let alone everything else. sorry for those angry comments about your mothers.

10/10

So I am a salty old total war vet thats been playing for ages ive played 390hrs on this have 2.7k on empire, hundreds on shogun and the others etc etc etc. I play historical only as I prefer generals to be killable and not casting spells ( I have both warhammers and they are trash idc fight me, though im happy warhammer fans got a decent strat game.)

That being said I actually like this game. I was worried about the historical section of CA falling off but they did quite well. That being said try to get it on sale because its quite small and dosent have the depth of most the other historical Total War games.

First of all I only play on Legendary mode so I can only speak for the gameplay on VH, I say this not to brag (not that hard compared to online players tbh) but to understand im assuming the worst conditions in the game.

Also I would like to note that the Vanilla version of this game isnt nearly as good as with the Alliegence patch/beta that then are rolling out soon. They should honestly apply to rome II as well, more on this below.

The battle AI is significantly improved even from TW:Attila: Individual units will group together now and exploit your flanks, calvary will slip into tiny holes in your lines and beeline your missile troops, spearmen will hold in reserve and guard the archers devastating your lines, it makes battles much more thrilling, especially on Legendary when you cannot pause and give orders.

Food! The Alliegence patch/beta makes your troops and empire really dependant on food. This is a great difference between past TW games where single province countries could have 2-3 full stack armies sitting on them. Now you can properly gauge how strong a nation is with a glance: more land = more farms = more troops. Armies now march entirely on their stomachs making numbers realistic. More importantly, strategically taking food sources such as fishing ports from the enemy can now accurately widdle him down as you invade or even better: before you invade.

You now must truely manage how much your army consumes along with your cities, and as it should lowering or raising taxes changes your food intake in a pinch or prosperous times (most freemen paid in their harvest and not gold of course).

I will say that this map and the unit selection are kinda small. Once one has played one of each of the cultures the replayability ends. That being said its very well done, much akin to but not quite as good as Shogun Fall of the Samurai. They brought back a family and politican system that actually attaches you to your family amongst the schemes of court, much like Medieval II. The behaviors and buildings you choose also now appropriately affect your generals and governors traits. The cultures are different enough to require a few different tactics in the late game but nowhere near as varied as the full spectrum in Rome 2, which makes sense as its a much smaller geographic area,

Overall good job CA good job working on the historical chops. For fans or new players wait for a sale but if you see a sale definitely get it.