metacritic score

Hei,

i honestly think, that the metacritic score seems kinda weird. many people giving it 0/10, because they are Russians and ignorant and dont like their history, many famous community guys giving it 10/10 (rogers, Hans, Markus, avderoos). cmon guys, coh2 is neither 0 nor 10 points, and we as intermediates to pros should know that. Krebs was at least honest not giving it 10 points.
what are your opinions on that?

Well... That is how it works. And because its the same for all games, in the end the score is comparable.

exactly

Hei,

i honestly think, that the metacritic score seems kinda weird. many people giving it 0/10, because they are Russians and ignorant and dont like their history, many famous community guys giving it 10/10 (rogers, Hans, Markus, avderoos). cmon guys, coh2 is neither 0 nor 10 points, and we as intermediates to pros should know that. Krebs was at least honest not giving it 10 points.
what are your opinions on that?

I don't consider metacritic a valuable place for rating a game, for a very simple reason: people put reviews there exactly like they open a thread on a forum after a game they lost, writing "OP OP OP, NERF NERF NERF, SHIT SHIT SHIT". It is exactly the same and you would notice it from many reviews where they gave 0, it was clear they just played a game, lost it and got mad. And be sure that the mad people is a lot more than the normal people who would review the game without being biased. (or without being a total fanboy)

But it's obvious, that's because we are talking of a game played mainly in multiplayer, including comp stomps (a game with good basics but still a lot to improve and a good amount of features that have yet to be implemented).

So yeah, instead of giving it 9 I gave it 10 even explaining the reasons in the deep analysis on the press I work to. (useless to post the link, it's in Italian ^^ )
The game obviously doesn't deserve 10 nor 0, in all honesty I would have given it a 9, but after all those 0 I simply gave 1 point more as compensation ^^

Now let's be honest, does COH2 really deserve the 5.8 it received?

@markus:
thnx for explaining. to be honest, 5.8 seems fair for the current version without ladders and chat and ... ( its still a beta).
keeping in mind, that relic will (hopefully) patch this, it is too low.

5.8 seems pretty unfair because that's way too high.

they are Russians and ignorant and dont like their history

Pff, story in CoH2 consists of dirtiest stereotypes about Red Army in WW2

Was it hard to make a story about SOLDIERS (like Panzer Elite campaign in CoH1) not WAR CRIMINALS? I can't understand why Germans deserve a good story and Russians are not

So you can see a result on Metacritic - even Russians need some respect. As for me, I gave 10 of course but because of great multiplayer only.

Was it hard to make a story about SOLDIERS (like Panzer Elite campaign in CoH1) not WAR CRIMINALS? I can't understand why Germans deserve a good story and Russians are not

I'm getting so frustrating reading this over, and over. Either people haven't played the campaign, or they have a severe lack of paying attention to the narrative.

*Spoilers ahead*
The Protagonist isn't about to unveil the world of the "criminal" acts that the Russians commited. It's about honoring the sacrifices of those men who died for their country, and to make sure that others would survive. Our "Antagonist", isn't neccasarily displayed as evil as you would think. For him, it was about protecting Russia, no matter the cost. But he never saw it the way our protagnist did. He towards the end of the game, regrets the acts that he commmited, and seeks some sort of redemption- by allowing the protagonist to escape, just before his execution. He saves the last bullet for himself.

Seriously, I'm so annoyed by the sheer magnitude of "haet" the campaign gets, as people spur the bs of "Russian stereotype" and "dem russiens be evilz". When the only displays of this, is only done really by the "Antagonist" of the campaign. And possibly some misc. stuff, but there is seriously, some good tid-bits of just sheer comraderie & heroism.

Seriously, if anything. The Campaign does a good job of portraying heroism & comraderie of the average Russian soldier. This was the whole freaking point of the "book". How the hell did people NOT listen to the narrative? I say, they just assume what the campaign is, or haven't played it for shit.

Dear Caeltos!

I don't want to begin one more shitstorm dude "sheer comraderie & heroism" in CoH2 are covered with tons of nonsense.

You say that all evil acts are done by "antagonist" but this "antagonist" is a representative of Soviet State (moreover there is no ANY good guy among Soviet officers in the game except Isakovich) so Relic implies that it's common for Soviets to make such a bad things (executions of soldiers, civilians etc).

Do you REALLY think that there were not good Russian officers in WW2? "Good" in fighting enemy not killing their own people? Not jelly-fish like Isakovich?

And once again - why Germans deserve a great story like Panzer Elite campaign (without killing civilians and executions) and Russians are not?

Hei,

i honestly think, that the metacritic score seems kinda weird. many people giving it 0/10, because they are Russians and ignorant and dont like their history, many famous community guys giving it 10/10 (rogers, Hans, Markus, avderoos). cmon guys, coh2 is neither 0 nor 10 points, and we as intermediates to pros should know that. Krebs was at least honest not giving it 10 points.
what are your opinions on that?

Robustness checks need to be applied to adjust for these type of outliers and atleast remove the 0 and 10 ratings. Apart from the statistical meaning of these extreme ratings, the people that give these ratings do not properly explain their valuation reasoning for the game. My estimate is that the 5.8 is fairly close to the actual rating of the crowd.

...

It is the internet... everyone who kinda likes the game feels obligated to give it 9 or 10 to balance out the "haters" who give it 0 just because they didn't like a single aspect of the whole game and feel obligated to balance out the "fanboys" who give it 9 or 10.
Scores should be distributed more evenly but people are too stupid to break out of this vicious cycle.

Plus the whole Metacritic and review score inflation is a stupid thing. 10 years ago a score of 70% was a game that had good ideas but was a bit flawed in some aspects and didn't have the newest graphics. Today, 70% is seen by people and reviewers as a score that only shit games get.

Now let's be honest, does COH2 really deserve the 5.8 it received?

in the minds of casual RTS fans it is a 5.8.
relative to other $60 RTS games it deserves this score.

the game came out 3 years after SC2 and its graphics and performance on machines is horrible in relation to it.

SC2 and C&C have really cool map makers and much better ladder support.
Both had a longer and more in depth single player campaign with better cinematics.

C&C3, RA3 and SC2 had 3 factions.

you can not crawl inside the brains of casual fans and assess their "motives and feelings".
all you can do is examine their actions.

only 10,000 or so play the game at once. the casual fan has spoken.

You say that all evil acts are done by "antagonist" but this "antagonist" is a representative of Soviet State (moreover there is no ANY good guy among Soviet officers in the game except Isakovich) so Relic implies that it's common for Soviets to make such a bad things (executions of soldiers, civilians etc).

Do you REALLY think that there were not good Russian officers in WW2? "Good" in fighting enemy not killing their own people? Not jelly-fish like Isakovich?

Well, not all acts are done by the "Antagonist" so to say. In particular during some scenes where there are Commissars present, they are doing both good in terms of inspiring courage through their speeches, but at the same time, inspiring "fear" that retreating is not an option. It's about of a dilemma, but I would assume it would really bolster the men to fight and press on, since there's no real other alternative. I'd call it a dilemma to be put in. Besides, I guess it's more of a chain of command thing anyway. The Commissars from what I understand (Correct me if I'm wrong historically) are just carrying out orders from their superiors.

There's no clear black/white in the Eastern Front. Both Factions commited atrocities, both against innocents and their enemy alike. I would probably agree there's little lack of display on the German Side of their actions, but from the documentaries I've seen. It's suprisingly very little of the display of their actions. But however, it's mainly a Soviet-oriented campaign, so I can't blame them for putting the empthasize on the soviet perspective. Much alike the comparison that Panzer Elite was focused on the german ones, and not the displaying of the other factions actions. And so on forth, every campaign previously focuses on the faction you're playing, not the ones you're not controlling.

I mean, in many games, not just this one. You're not getting a clear grasp or a good overview on the whole scenario. But that's partially just time-restriction + budget taking into consideration. If they had all the budget & time in the world, I'm sure you'll get a real good overview from all factions and a really indepth & historical accurate display of the World War 2 on the Eastern Front, but that's not being very realistic about it. So you've got to cut corners and make work with what you've got.

Besides, I'm sure there were actually good commanding officers. There was just no empthasize on it in the campaign more likely. It was more about the actual common-soldier like I've said. When they go back to get the "Protangist" when he is pinned down. He was afterall, a good officer that worth keeping around- and he was disgusted by the actions of the superior officer when he executed the ones that saved the main characters live. That was the point afterall, where he decided to go into journalist-route. So it's a 1 for 1 exchange in display of officers, showcasing that not everyone agreed with what they were doing. But like the "Antagonist" said, it was more a case of "Kill or be Killed" scenario, and every inch of terror and inspire they could instill to their foes & comrades to stop them from taking Moscow, then it was worth it. The morale of their actions catches up to them in the end (As shown in the last segment of the game)

The point is, constructing a game on the Eastern Front is probably not the easiest task (RTS + Story wise). Relic obviously wanted to pay tribute to the fallen, as shown again- by the ending segment of the game. But also showcase the questionable actions that was done by the Commissars. Our Protanogist was no grunt, he had some say in the matters. The Antagonist is the "Evil" side of the spectrum. The Soviets were no saints, nor were the germans (But again, the empthasize on the campaign is the Soviets, not the Germans, much like previous campaigns and others genres alike, they're putting empthasize on the ones you're playing) but that doesn't mean there were no good people. Our Protagonist had strong bonds with his men, he was a good officer during his time. He questioned the actions of his superiors. The normal-soldiers were also portrayed with a good heart. (Again, goes to show when they rescue our Protagonist)

Also the hospital scene is also another good scene with getting connected with another individual from the War. But there wasn't that much of him, so I assume it just got left in the dark for most people.

But again, we come back to the point of time + budget and deadline. If they had compressing (a particular scene that focused on the good-will of our protagonist) for the sake of showing a "Good" Commissar. There's a risk of losing one thing, for the trait of another. And "Good" + Commissar for the average joe, probably doesn't go hand-in-hand. (Movies, media & alike) have put alot of empthasize on the Commissar evil deeds. So trying to skew around that perspective is treading on thin ice, and you'd probably have forums complaining about inaccurate portration of the Commissars from World War 2.

I actually really enjoyed the campaign. I take it for what it is, and what they had to work with. It's not as easy to just tip in & throw in scenes. First off, you'll need to orchestrate the scenery, what characters are present, animate, voice it. Get the sounds in, make sure it doesn't bug out. The list just goes on and on. And at the end of the day, it's important that the scene reaches out and actually tells the audience something. It's alot of resources & time to ensure it gets done, and I'm happy with what we've got in the campaign.

Now, I'm not saying the campaign is flawless, there's always room for improvement. The scenes could probably have been abit longer and added more narrative dialogue to strengthen the story furthermore. I wouldn't mind views on the Partisans to get a clear grasp on them. But overall, I would give it a solid 8ish.


Multiplayer on another hand, is another thing. Theatre of War is another awesome addition and I can't wait for the continued additions they'll add. The co-op stuff in particular has drawn alot of my friends to play it, and I think that's really a strong selling point.

The co-op stuff in particular has drawn alot of my friends to play it, and I think that's really a strong selling point.

sales have not exactly been stellar.
it took 5 months in 2012 and 2013 to sell 20,000 copies.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-10-sega-claiming-nearly-USD1m-from-company-of-heroes-2-preorders

usually the game has 10,000 simultaneous users... and that # is in steady decline.

Why do you give a fuck about an arbitrary number on a random website?

it indicates how much future work Sega will authorize Relic to do on this game.

had the game sold 2 million units then Relic would focus a lot more resources on the game.

no need to get all upset and angry and use swear words just because the sales of CoH2 have been revealed.

it indicates how much future work Sega will authorize Relic to do on this game.

had the game sold 2 million units then Relic would focus a lot more resources on the game.

no need to get all upset and angry and use swear words just because the sales of CoH2 have been revealed.

Please point me to the exact location where that was pointed out, only thing i saw was "September 2012 through January 2013", did they stop selling after that? I doubt so, now please, next time give the real deal.

Please point me to the exact location where that was pointed out, only thing i saw was "September 2012 through January 2013", did they stop selling after that? I doubt so, now please, next time give the real deal.

the metacritic scores i references are all there.

it took 5 months to sell 20,700 units.
and there are 6,000 people online playing the game.

the highest i've ever seen is 21,000 simultaneous users.

look for future resources dedicated towards CoH2 to be kept to a minimum.
And remember who said it first.

sales have not exactly been stellar.
it took 5 months in 2012 and 2013 to sell 20,000 copies.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-10-sega-claiming-nearly-USD1m-from-company-of-heroes-2-preorders

usually the game has 10,000 simultaneous users... and that # is in steady decline.

Company of Heroes 2 was top seller for quite some time. Iirc, Noun even said they had 100k unique players roughly each day.

Besides that, steam is not the center of the universe when it comes to sales. There's alot of different retail stores & other websites. (There were alot of websites that offered a really good price) that you're not accounting for. I believe even it was Noun that said that CoH2 sold quite well in matter of fact.

You're not looking at UNIQUE players per day. 6k is the current players, sure - but this isn't exactly the prime time to be playing for most people. Espicially true in the US. Hell, even here in Europe, people arent' back from work, and US people are pretty much just waking up. It's so simplistic and narrow-minded to look at the player-count and not taking into consideration of all these factors.

Mark my word, it's 6k now, but it'll get higher later tonight.

You heard it here.