COH 1 is beautiful. The particle effects, the puffs of dust from the ground, the blood sprays, the explosions, the bullet rebounds from hitting armor, the terrain deformation and the realistic art-style stands above the others to me. It's clear that game was a passion project from the team with great love for the source material. COH3 however looks/feels like it was made by a team who have kinda heard about WW2 but who are just gonna run with their own interpretation. The units look like toys. I think what we're all missing however is that these games look/play almost identical despite nearly 20 years between the first and second game, and for this Relic are charging $60. That's the issue.

COH1 still unbeaten for me. The Voice acting, Animation, Backsound music, Physics all blend like a expensive and tasty cigarette.

One thing you could've shown is the distant sound version of the effects, i.e. not having your camera where the action is. It's one of the neat details I like about CoH where you can hearwhere a current fire fight is occurring while not paying attention to it. Another sound detail I like about the CoH franchise is how unit voice lines are delivered and how in theme they are with the current timeline. A big example here is how the US voice lines are delivered throughout the series. In CoH1 (Normandy, Summer 1944), they sound like the stoic army men, listening to orders and all that. In CoH2 (Battle of the Bulge, Winter 44-45), they sound more tired, weary of the war. In CoH3 (Italy, Autumn 1943), they sound more "green" and young, ready to fight the war ahead of them.

notice in coh1 the canvas of the bunker's shooting port blow open by the muzzle blast of mg42? notice the MG barrel glow red after contineous firing? that's real attention to detail. graphics is not about how many polygons are in a models or how high resolution you can slap on the texture.

The dust effect, whether it is artillery, rocket, flamethrower, vehicle explosions, or even just stray bullets landing on dirt ground is what made COH2 distinguished from the other two. COH3 has some decent smoke effects going for the stuffs that is currently burning, but does not have that kind of "dusty" or even "misty" kind of environmental sensation that happens a lot in COH2.

COH1 music, effects, sound effects, explosions, smokes, infantry animation, ... everything as a whole feels so much better.

Honestly I think one of the problems with COH 3 isn’t that it looks bad, but it doesn’t look good enough. For a game that requires 16 gbs of VRAM to run at max settings, it looks pretty much the same or worse than it’s decade old counterparts that run on much weaker hardware. Combine that with the 60 dollar price tag and it’s a pretty hard sell tbh

Its not just about how a game looks but how it moves. The original COH just seems a lot more fluid and polished. The sounds were on point aswell

There seem to be some equalizing issues in CoH3. The weapon sounds don't have enough punch, big bass small middle and lots of higher frequencies, like it's mastered for dance music or something.

You know it's a bad sign when you need to do this graphics comparison between games 10 years apart. This looks like coh3 and coh2 could have released in the same year really.

The impact on shots is so lacking in COH3

jesus christ how are they missing animations for coh3

The bright green colors of tanks makes me want an Army Men RTS remake now. Somebody make a reshade of that!

This really shows how good the sounds were in CoH 2, it makes most sounds in CoH 3 sound flat. But it's also the game play of the district sounds. You should be able to hear and identify the difference of most guns in a fire fight. COH 2 dose a really good job of this

CH1 Immersion CH2 E-Sport CH3 Candyland

Not enough progress after so many years...

In my opinion coh2 had the best tank combat. It feels way more weighty and impactful than the other 2.

There are definitely people saying "graphics" when they mean art style not fidelity. CoH 1 looks really good for it's age but you can clearly see that the greyhound's wheels are hexagons (edit: wrote bradley, meant greyhound)

Ok so here is my take while i think the soundscape for COH3 is a bit hit and miss what i can't ignore is how a 37mm gun makes the same sound as a 75mm gun this is something that the first game even got right. So i agree with mostly everyone here that COH2 has the overall best soundscape but COH1's really stands the test of time and is a testament to the talent relic used to posses. It needs work but i really like COH3 it has an excellent frame to work with now lets hope relic doesn't abandon this game too.

How are the textures more blurry on 3 than on 1?

The fire looks way better in COH 3, but COH 3 is missing the gritty lighting/contrast which COH 2 improved from the first game. COH 3 just looks a little too bright and borderline cartoonish. COH 2 firing effects look way better and mortars/shells have more weight to them while COH 3's feel like they float a little too much.

Graphically COH2 feels like the winner: * Great render quality in terms of lighting/shadow systems * Weapon firing effects are fantastic with their smoke trails and muzzle flashes COH3 did do a few details great though: * The Greyhound main gun reload animation is a solid detail. Didn't see that in COH1/2 footage, though it's hard to tell if (a) it's because those greyhounds already had the MG (which hides the anim), or (b) those greyhounds always have the MG (and so they never have the anim) * For vehicle explosions, I actually love that the leaned harder towards the "fire pouring out of the inside of the vehicle" feel, even though I think overall the three games are about tied in overall vehicle explosion quality Weirdly despite COH2 being the overall winner, the flamethrower effect was honestly worst of the bunch. (I think audio and flamethrower effects were done best in COH1.) Great vid overall, love to see comparisons like this!

COH 2 is such a sick game I have over 500 hours just playing skirmish. All the sounds are amazing my 2 favs are the 76 Sherman, and the Jagdtiger just punchy as hell.

Graphic never is the selling point of a game to me. But when developers release the same game three times in 20 years and I have to actively search for improvements I am not going to pay full price. The CoH brand was years ahead of it's time regarding graphics and audio; for me it is-or rather was-part of the brand. It doesnt look like the gameplay mechanics received a polish worth the full price, either...

Holding Carentan on COH1.. The suspense of preparing for the counter attack, the atmosphere gradually getting darker as the music changes with a sound of a German Stug whilst your 50. Cals hold of German infantry trying to hold the bridges. COH 2/3 will never be able to remake that experience.

Coh 3 doesn't even have them holding the MG properly anymore.. I keep saying it looks and feels very early access, not just because of graphics, but this is reinforcing my feelings on it a spot

Old as it is COH 1 wins on graphcs and effects hands down even with the irregular scale through the vehicle graphics being contracted out to different companies. Sounds better too.

2nd game sounds a lot more punchy and meaty still. Maybe my bias crawling in, I dunno.

Wow, CoH3 looks hilariously bad

Interisting to see that I always prefferd COH 1's grapics, over COH 2 but I like how the new COH 3 is a lot more colorfull and has a lot more physics, seeying more destruction in the enviroment and pieces of debris getting cought on the vehicles as it slowly slides off again made me chuckle.

I wish they gave us the option to remove team colors in coh3

im a decent COH fan. played since the first game came out 20 years ago. My expectations was high up after playing COH2 as the game was near perfect. Now after seeing COH3 i just wished they spent those 10years remastering COH2 at this point

Except for the flamethrower, I really prefer CoH2 over CoH3 from what I just saw. Not as if I planned to buy CoH3 day-one, but now I'm even more certain that I will at least wait a few months.

I've noticed audio quality for CoH2 here in this video feels different than when I play the game on my end. Idk if there's some better term for it, but I really like the pompuous nature of sounds in CoH2 especially artillery

Problem with COH3 is that it's too bright. With a bit of a polish it will have a great look imo.

CoH1 music still hits hard Great choice

Now remember that COH is over 16 years old. In 16 years we should be setting the bar much higher in terms of graphics fidality for COH 3.

Even though I disagree with you (I still think coh3 is a downgrade) I highly respect your work and thank you. Maybe do some more coh comparisons like these? With different units, maybe demo charges and compare the physics to each other. Crush of infantry and rag doll effects seem not to be present in coh3

Great showcase. I feel like specific visual details in CoH3 are amazing - the animations for more open-topped vehicles like the Greyhound, the flamethrowers, the sparks on the tracks when tanks turn on hard ground. And the audio for things like light tanls rattling over cobbles really stunned me when I first heard it. I do think that CoH2 had a slightly more coherent package overall though, with the lingering smoke probably covering any slight visual inconsistencies.

I'm so glad I found your channel man, you're the best RTS KZfaqr! So glad to see this genre slowly coming back to life after so many years of neglect. Keep up the great work bud!

man I absolutely love COH2 !

Is it just me or they got confused or maybe they accidentally swapped out the audio quality for the voice lines and the sound effects. It's strange that the radio quality of the units, like the Sherman, in 1 and 2 sounded like it was either coming from inside a tank or the radio of one. Here in Coh 3, the voice lines sound crisp as fuck, like a recording booth, which isn't great when you want them to sound like they are outside or on a battlefield (i understand all recording happens in a booth it's just the editing of it). MEANWHILE, you have the effects (shooting, explosions, etc.) sound like it's coming out of a phone speaker with absolutely no bass to it, which would be fine if that was the voice lines and not the explosions and what have you. There is no impact with sounds of battle with very few exceptions. Shouldn't this be the other way around?

Small arms fire feels very lackluster but cannons do feel quite good

Great video, CoH 3 is still disappointing 10 years after CoH 2, in some regards even a step backwards. It is absolutely insane, that there are 17 years between CoH 1 and CoH 3, they look far too similar (quality wise), the explosions look better in the first and second game, alot more meaty and more dirt and volume. They are even lacking the more detailed MG reload animations in CoH 3 even though they were present in 1 and 2. Smoke effects were very good in CoH 2 in CoH 3 they look cheap. Vehicles had weight in CoH 1 and 2, in Coh 3 they look and feel like toys. Vehicle explosions look better in 1 and 2 as well, in CoH 3 the transition from vehicle to wreck is really choppy. All in all it looks like a cartoon version of Company of Heroes (like Battlefield Heroes in comparison to real Battlefield games) rather than a true successor. CoH 3 was developed for consoles in mind and you definitely notice that. Relic can fix all this criticism, however i doubt they will do. This doesn't look and feel like a 60$/€ game and more like a 30-40$/€ early access title. They are only a shadow of their once glorious past. Their latest iteration of the essence engine is just bad (they use it since Dawn of War 3 which had a similar comic/cell shading styled look)

This guy doing the work! Excited to see what all the hubbub is about. I'm still contemplating whether to buy the game or not. This'll be a lot of help!

why is everything SO SHIINY in CoH3? holy emperor

COH3 sounds, sound so tinny

COH 1 is way ahead of its time

i refunded COH3 because i felt like CHO2 was more appealing still. i think its because they made CHO3 available for console too and because of it the game has to takes steps backwards. Or i just like the darker looks of COH2 and the particle effects more

I am playing CoH 2 right now, and sounds are just amazing. I hope CoH 3 will get new overhaul because so far it's not good at all.

Coh2 quality sound and dialogue more impressive than other 2

CoH 3 looks and sounds like "I made CoH 3 in Unreal in 24 hours".

Although the COH1 was built with facilities 20 years ago, it is far superior to the others. Everyone draws, but cannot be an artist. Art appeals to the emotions and the soul. Copying a work requires a skill, but they couldn't even do it. This frustration affects me deeply. There are so many things they cut while copying. I wish they could see this. As an artist, I would love to help.

It's not that coh 3 looks bad (I think it might just need a little reshaping) but it's that coh 2 still looks pretty good, especially all the smoke effects. Coh 3 has some pretty stellar animations though and I personally love the audio. In particular if your camera is not on the action, you can hear the cracks of the rifles being shot which I don't remember it sounding like that in the previous games.

I will never forgive Relic messing up the Garand's reload, not until they fix it. They very clearly re-use a bolt action reload animation for the Garands, where in CoH2 and CoH1 they actually reload the gun properly.

One detail I haven't really noticed before is the completely missing dynamic lighting in CoH3. Look at the muzzle flashes of like mg's an tank shells. CoH and CoH2 illuminate the model and close environment, while CoH3 is does not. One more detail that adds to the worse than necessary graphical presentation.

COH1 to this date is still the best game - even the graphics is better.. Its feels like playing chess - a game which never gets old.. They should have sticked with COH1 and instead incorporated eastern front, new maps, tweaks, and relaunched the competitive ladder with modern tournaments and maybe subscription for long term community. Even today this would be possible

I see why everyone is upset about CoH3 now. Graphically its marginally better than 2, vehicles look nice though. But the animations and audio are a step back from previous versions.

Biggest thing in the coh3 is the sun position. It's high noon and little shadows, coh1 and coh2 have a golden hour cinematic and romantic feel to the lighting. Maybe there's some more golden hour lighting for coh3 so I can get a better lighting and shadow comparison.

COH1 is still the best. I was really looking forward to 3, I hope they fix/update the hell out of it to bring it up to standard.

I bought CoH3 on impulse cause I loved the first 2 games. After playing a handful of hours I'm seeing issues with 1. Camera, it's way to close, 2. The Game feels clunky, like it's not 100% polished yet and feels slightly rushed. I also don't remember the games being super difficult gameplay wise, I've been playing skirmish a lot to just get use to the game again and it's a very weird unfamiliar feeling while playing.

TBH CoH2 looks better its more stylized

Sounds lack the "punch" in them, it seems. In the older games, heavier units also had beefier sounds. Also the smoke and mist effects are worse in CoH3, visuals are too clean in my opinion. Tank wrecks burning instead of exploding is a good addition though.

does company of heroes 1 and 2 run alright on modern computers?

1:03 one of the things I really enjoy is how there is a skybox around the map

Damn. COH2 is so much better...and that COH3 garand sounds like a nerf/pea shooter? How the hell did they fuck that up?

COH 1 still has the best sound of any RTS to this day. I got here after having my ears hurting from how bad explosions are on COH 3, they sound completely distorted like those ancient movie explosions where the microphone peaks and completely destroys the audio quality.

I loved COH 1.. that game was great.. if only they can remastered it Inhanced the graphics like coh 3 i think people who played the coh 1 will be like crazy loved it.. i wish..

Those death animations are unintentionally hilarious on COH3.

Company of Heroes 2 Patch Notes - February 23, 2023 Added a new DLC, it's cheaper than Forspoken: - New Campaign, BIGGER and BETTER than EVER, trust me bro. - Added additional Polygons, wheels finally became well rounded.

coh1 has the best flamer, vehicle explosions and this little hmg barrel overheat detail, if coh2 had retained these aspects it would be even better

I've always found the vehicles in the later COH games to be very cartoony/floaty in their death animations. In COH1 it just exploded, in COH3 it does this silly wiggle as it explodes.

Please do another comparison with the improved audio/visuals a year after CoH3's release

This is the first time in a LONG time with AA games where I was actually pleasantly surprised by COH3. I was expecting nothing but absolute garbage at this point, given the absolute state of the gaming industry. Loving COH3 and I think it can only get better.

CoH3 vehicles seems improvement. But over all the lighter tone is a bit let down. Except if it can be fixed or be modded

Certain aspects deffinetly look nicer / Smoother on COH3! terrain overall looks better. Although a lot brighter and more colorful half estetic choice but its also focusing on Italy/north afrika on sunny days instead of rainy day on eastern front, COH colorpallet on terrain might actully be closer to real life, while COH2 dark estetic was less realistic and more movie estetic. BUT the units in COH3 are deffinetly more cartoony, also less detailed, perhaps to make the game run smoother, but you notice it on bags on infantry getting draged out as the animate, while on COH2 bags didnt get dragged out when soldiers animate, they were a ceperate entity sort of. Viencles movement and interaction with the world looks better, flames look better and a lot of stuff. BUT like many have said it's sad that a new game is compared to 10+ year old game to even see noticble improvement.

i think coh 2 has better graphics because of the grittiness

Honestly the problem i have with CoH3 is the AT gun and feel like they been heavily nerfed and focused more on the Bazooka team.

I think Coh 3 has some nice engine sounds for heavy vehicles, especially when tanks get hit you can hear the engine make some nice noises

So far, COH3 has the better gameplay, but what jumps out here is the lighting and particle effects. COH2 is mostly better in this respect. COH3 is doing some interesting things though. Looking at the Staghound main weapon discharge, COH3 simulates different types of smoke emission, as well as the violent effects of the shell’s vacuum wake. That’s damned impressive, and not even attempted in the previous games. I think COH3 has mainly suffered from poor art direction, but this can be fixed. Relic has done this before, with DOW3. That changed its look dramatically after launch, but by then it was too late. COH3 will come good, because the game itself is very strong.

coh 3 is unforgetable. this game is a tragedy

The graphics seem pretty good, especially the flamer effects and the death of tanks which varies with a large explosion or tanks having ammo cooking off. Sounds on the other hand is very lack lustre still, more so the heavy machine guns, cannons seem fine.

Coh3 is impressive on max and runs like butter. Just my opinion.

How do game companies go backwards

Where is the Desert Rats vs Afrika Corps comparison ?

COH 1 will always be my favorite

That coh 1 music really brings back memories I get it now why those oldheck still love n64 games

It's me or COH3 isn't looking as a 2023 game... It seems so even with 1 and 2. Especially when units fire each other while being uncovered and miss, like there is only a DPS factor.

why does it feel like coh2 is much better than coh3

The lighting made a lot of diff

What I DOn't like about the COH series animations is that the Vehicles looked perfectly ok up until the moment they are destroyed. In C & C Generals, a much older games, the vehicles looked ravaged when they are hit. But its still my no 1 game. All series.

Very nice video mate, thank you for your effort that you spend. Greetings from Türkiye 🇹🇷

All three look and sound great to me. I can't wait to play 3 but am so busy probably won't get to for a few months at least.

Kind of hilarious that the only thing in CoH 1 that didn't age too well is texture fidelity. The overall attention to detail is still bloody amazing, even if some of the models in first CoH were patently cursed and/or effect of cutting corners (StuG IV, which was rare, instead of StuG III, simply because they could re-use parts on Panzer IV model. Churchill turret being too big. Stubby Panzer IV, which was no longer in use in 1944, and should have been Panzer III N, the wrong turret on 76mm Sherman - still using the turret of 75mm, like never implemented prototype 76mm Sherman, hilariously huge Hellcats). Also, hilarious how it got the flamethrowers the best out of them. You can actually see that it is supposed to be a liquid on fire, while in CoH3 it is basically an area of effect beam weapon with instant hit. There is also something patently wrong with shading and texturework in Company of Heroes 3. Bump mapping looks just... off - it is very visible on certain parts of various models. Especially the Greyhound wheels. There is also non-existing contrast. It makes CoH look almost like one of those weird experimental "textureless" games - you know, these with Breath of the Wild style washed out colours and almost completely featureless, flat texturework that flood the shovelware and mobile gaming market.

COH3 is hit or miss with the sounds. Tanks rolling/being shots are great, some gunfire are on point, plane engine sound and even plane's MG is ok too. But overall explosions/off map artillery feels like they're lacking. In COH2 you knew when a mortar was hitting you, here the explosion sound from a mortar shell has 0 impact. Artillery explosions are different but I still prefer the COh2 counterpart, they felt more spectacular overall (as it needs to be in an arcade WW2 game). They said they recorded real sounds for some of those assets, well when comparing the work there to Gates of Hell: Ostfront for example, they are still quite far from having a realistic soundscape. As for graphics, it's a shame that they ditched the "dusty/realistic" athmosphere to a more "streamlined/everything is beautiful" kind of look. It made the game unique now I just find it bland.

Why sound of bullets impact to metal was removed in CoH3

Why do i feel like Relic applied everything they learned from AoE4 into CoH3?

I don't like how the smoke and flame looks on 3. 2 really hits the sweetspot for me in terms of that.

coh2 had the coolest cook-off animation for vehicles

US mgs went from M1919 with water cool system to a 50.Cal and the downgraded into a 30.Cal