The negative user reviews are infuriating

I'm not advocating for their strategy. Is their number as bad as you say, dunno, they don't seems to be on fire at the moment so I guess it didn't went that badly as your examples may say.

The game is what it is and is already above most of their competitor even in the shape it is today. Games that tried to build a similar gameplay approach haven't been more than an expectation before deception so far so I don't know if it is something really related to Relic itself or the RTS side of the game industry.

It is so intersting how the tables have turned. All these discussions are almost identical to those 2013-early 2014. Now CoH2 is regarded as the gold standard for coh games.

I remember Coh2 having issues but largely still playable and mostly enjoyable ( sometimes frustrating )

Coh3 to me is a repulsive mess. I have just on 6 hours playtime. I literally cannot stand the visuals or
the overuse of icons. Game is also buggy and performance is often bad.

I also have issue with the elevation at times where I just quit because I cannot stand the bouncing around.

The other surprising fact is I have no interest watching community members stream. The game looks terrible
on most streams and is incredibly boring. There's no atmosphere at all.

I truely wanted Coh3 to be epic, but they would have to implement massive changes for me to bother with this
game ever again..

The other surprising fact is I have no interest watching community members stream. The game looks terrible
on most streams and is incredibly boring. There's no atmosphere at all.

I have the same feeling and I don't think there is one particular reason that stands out. I'd rather watch GCS2 instead of the newest CoH3 tournament. There's so much tension, the constant feeling of urgency, heroic-melancholic music setting the mood. Sounds, effects, all fit the graphics and art. I just looked up CoH2 gameplay from 2013 to check if CoH2 was bad at release too and improved afterwards. But it was all there right from the start. I even found a video dated to 10 June 2013, which is pre-release, and it all was there.

No thing in CoH3 is really horrible (some particular personal preferences aside), but there is also nothing great. Everything looks dull. It feels like the majority of models, sounds, effects have been finished to the point where you can somewhat label it as "job done" and then it has never been touched again. And the errors that are in the game are very obvious and even straight to your face. I cannot see a Coh3 video without noticing a weird visual glitch every 2 minutes or so. Dead soldiers are constantly teleported and rotated for their death animations, the minimap planes fly across the screen, shots constantly seem to disappear, weapons shoot without facing the target. Yes, some of these are in CoH2 as well, but just not as obvious and frequent

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As I said, it is hard to nail down what exactly sets CoH2 apart by that much, but here's a few things I noticed:
CoH2's overall effects are amazing. The craters from explosions look so much better, the earth is smoking for a couple of seconds. Some explosions create lingering smoke that stays for longer. Overall the particle effects look better and the artists back then used them masterfully to cover up graphical issues. Eg. look at collapsing buildings: They have to remove the old model and add a new, destroyed one in the same place. CoH2 spawns a ton of smoke to cover up the model being exchanged. It's not perfect, but they did it well enough. In CoH3, I have seen so many blunt changes from "intact" to "destroyed". It almost feels like the game is laggy for a split second, and I am only watching it. It is such a sharp contrast, as a viewer, you'll just be drawn into it.
Uniforms and coloring schemes blend perfectly into each other in CoH2. Infantry is clearly visible, but they all have a dirty look on them. And while also being a bit cartoonish, they look believable. The uniforms in CoH3 all look like toys. I think that's an issue with shading and lighting, but they just pop out so much that it does not feel like those men are fighting in a dirty and grim war. They're a moving toy figure on the screen.
Infantry in CoH2 seems to have more or more visible animations. There's more idle animations, and even animations between shots. Didn't really notice that in CoH3, it just looks more static. What bugs me as well is, that retreating is just a sprint. They look like they're jogging out of danger. CoH2's models somehow leaned more forwards. Retreating looks more believable, I also think they change their running animation sometimes and even duck their heads.

And after writing all of this, I think I forgot about the most relevant thing: The game overall lacks visual depth. Terrain looks washed out and muddy despite good textures. I guess the overall higher resolution does not help either. It makes the game look sharper and sets the expectation for more realistic graphics overall, but makes it only more visible if that's not the case. Stylized graphics often age better than "ultrarealistic" ones.

That was a lot of semicoherent rambling from my side, but I just find it hard to pinpoint the exact issues, because it is a big of everything in every corner.

I have the same feeling and I don't think there is one particular reason that stands out.

Good post.

I am in the minority but I dont like coh3 streams because:

• The team colors are horrible and confusing in most cases.
  
• You never know who is playing on or against the streamers team since player names are missing in the UI.
  
• Kill counts are missing from the UI. You cant ask a streamer to stop and show you sniper kills in the middle of a huge battle.
  
• The end game stats page is non existent.
  
• The horrible text and icons on the map points makes me puke and is completely washed out and illegible on lower quality streams.
  
• The complete lack of specular lighting makes the graphics look circa 1999.
  
• The reduction in the minimap quality is a good idea, but looks unfinished and too small.
  
• Not a fan of the abrupt game ending video. Would rather stay on the action.
  

Like you said Hannibal, there are 100 other little things that I dont like but I have not watched enough streams yet to say they are a factor. It may just be different from Coh2 enough that it feels weird, which is fine I just need to get used to it.

From the early play tests on I was really looking forward to Coh3 because the texture quality increase and the new map objects. And that is the only real plus for me, the maps look amazing visually. The artists and mappers did a great job. But even that hurts to watch when the bushes and trees are all dancing around in some weird impossible motion.

Coh2 is a smoking hot babe who got bit by a big dog and she has a scar on her thigh.

Coh3 is a smoking hot babe who has leprosy and half of her skin either fell off or was eaten by bugs.

So when she says "Hey baby." You go "Yeah, nah I'm good."

The sad part is I know none of these things will be fixed in the patch. It will be years if they ever even get looked at.

I've played CoH3 for a couple of hours now and I have to say I agree with a lot of the negative reviews. It just feels like a stripped down version of CoH2. It's like they only focussed on the core gameplay and more or less ignored the rest of the user experience.

It's nice and fresh to be able to play with new units/commanders/new maps. But that to me is the only upside over CoH2. Everything else is worse. The graphics/art style are a mixed bag. The airplane physics are laughably bad. Most importantly, a lot of basic multiplayer functionality is missing. No replays, no player names in team games, no stats, no ability to talk to your teammates post-victory/defeat.