Good morning all,
I thought I might introduce myself with an initial post and a "first play" experience of COH:EF.
Having played COH for years, the last expansion (TOV) was somewhat of a disappointment for me. I had enjoyed the realism of COH - discounting the magical ability for tanks to be built and required panalopy of an RTS - and so superheroes who can be put back on their feet in a few seconds was a bit lame. Causeway seemed so easy that I thought they should simply replace the paratroopers with Spartans in Mjolnir armour and be done with it. The saving grace was the Falaise Pocket which I truly enjoyed.
When I came across Eastern Front, admittedly very late to the party, I have to admit to being a bit unsure. The last mod I got for a Relic game was a Babylon 5 mod for Homeworld. Everyone had called it "awesome" yet the quality was nowhere near the original in terms of textures or playability. As a web Software Engineer I took heart in the fact that the mod website showed some quality in design (always a good sign), but I still thought "it's going to be nearly good enough".
Having downloaded the game and a few teething problems in install (I bought the game retail, then bought the expansions through Steam, so it got confused), I thought "gah, yeah, it's gonna suck". A difficult install always makes you grit your teeth and think "n00bs", which is unfair because it's not as if I could do any better. Anyhow, I battled on.
And was simply amazed. The quality of the models, the textures, the build tree, the balance - all superb. Even voice acting - although I think maybe faux Russian would be better like ze faux German in ze original vould vork better ja? - was very good. I'm looking forward to my first multiplayer game against my arch nemesis later today and see if I can kick his Wehrmacht arse in a 1v1 in Stalingrad.
Some things I really like are the popcap restrictions being lifted, and I'm going to try out later the amendments made to other units in the game (notably the British). The popcap being lifted allows also for a few scenarios in the future. Recently for fun we did a 2v1 game where I played Wehrmacht vs allies, and my opponents gave me a ten minute head start to cap the map and build defences. They then had to assault and take back the map in under an hour (otherwise our superior halves would kill us). Was a fun game, and pop cap was an issue as Germans because after the ten minute cooldown I had 110 I immediately started losing sectors and thus max popcap. (Oh, the allies took my base in 1 hour twelve minutes, so we called it an honourable draw). I can see possibilities for more shenanigans like this with no popcap limits.
One thing I was surprised not to see is unlocking of all armies. Personally I'd quite like to see the ability for the US to fight the Soviets, Wehrmacht versus Panzer Elite etc. I'm sure there's a reason this can't be done but whenever I see the question asked on Relic forums the reply is always "who on Earth would want to do that?".
I haven't found the Navy units to be particularly awesome as yet, is there an idea of how good they are?
Oh, and God of War makes me laugh maniacally.
Overall, I have to say I am extremely impressed, and hope that the Ostheer match your already superb effort. Please keep up the good work.
