Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
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Company of Heroes has established itself as the top video game franchise when it comes to real-time World War strategy. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is the latest standalone expansion which aims to improve the overall experience of the game and add some brand new game modes, too.
Unfortunately though, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor will ultimately dissapoint most fans of the original game and the previous expansion, Opposing Fronts, as the extra stuff this expansion adds to your game is, we are afraid to say, not worth having.
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor brings you three new campaigns, and within each is a series of missions which are annoyingly short and easy to make your way through - nine in total. You are also given a few new multiplayer modes but again these are certainly nothing to shout about, and you would not miss them if they weren’t there.
Last, and for a change also least, come a few game tweaks which as you have probably already guessed do not live upto the standards set by the original Company of Heroes title, and they add absolutely nothing to the game in all honesty.
Most of the new missions in Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor are squeezed down missions similar to those in the previous titles of the series - only these focus on a small number of units battling for small areas of the French countryside during the days and weeks after the D-Day landings. This scaled down variation of the missions seen in previous Company of Heroes titles does bring one of the very few plus points about the game to the fore - because small numbers of units battling for small areas means close combat, and the combat system works surprisingly well when you consider how bad everything else appears to be.
The single player modes, though quite challenging at times, will give you no more than two-hours gameplay as it does not take long to master everything and you will soon overcome any difficulties you engage. Some of the missions are actually quite exciting, and the battles are frantic with enemies packed so close, but it all becomes too easy thanks to the lack of length to the missions and also the sometimes incredibly dumb AI of your opponents. It is great to mention a good thing about this game, however what the close combat gives to the game experience as a whole, the step-back in terms of tactical battles takes it away again.
It is always nice to have the complete set of a great game series, but we do not have the heart to recommend buying Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, not even to fans of the original Company of Heroes game. This expansion quite simply does not live up to the series name is so proudly adorns.
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