Tales of Valor (Out now on Steam)

[Mutley]

Anyone getting this?

New maps, 3 new multiplayer game modes and 3 new campaigns. I love the CoH series, shame it's £29.99 on Steam! But hell I love the game to bits I'm going to buy it anyway for Easter hols.

 

[Lucid]

What the **** it's already out?! :O:O:O:O:O:O

 

[Kyorisu]

Available: 17 April 2009

This game will unlock in approximately 1 week, 1 day and 7 hours

Yeah **** you region specific release dates.

 

[Mutley]

Yeah it's out now, I'm pretty sure it said April 19th or something when I looked before but I just bought it and downloading now.

 

[Lucid]

I have yet to get Opposing Fronts, so I'll probably hold off on this one too.

 

[Mutley]

You get all the content (the 2 factions, maps etc) from OF in ToV... except you don't get the singleplayer campaigns.

 

[Lucid]

You get all the content (the 2 factions, maps etc) from OF in ToV... except you don't get the singleplayer campaigns.

The games are a huge blast to play online but, I really only want to play the campaigns.

Do tell how they handle the 'direct control' feature they made a somewhat big fuss about though.
Really interested in that.

 

[Shakermaker]

Eurogamer isn't terribly excited about it, but it doesn't seem to suck. It's in the shop for 35 euro over here (on Steam as well), which is a bit too steep if you ask me. The new patch came with a couple of new maps, so I don't really see the incentive to buy it yet, since I only play it for skirmish or multiplayer.

 

[Lucid]

Also new in this mode is Direct Fire, which makes things even more arcadey by giving you active control over the weaponry of tanks and infantry. Appearing in the special skills icon box, once selected you no longer direct the movement of the unit but target with the mouse and click to fire. It's a curious addition, neither cerebral enough for strategy nor fast enough for action, and it doesn't really make much difference to play. Since you'd be finding and clicking on your targets anyway it feels like change for change's sake, and the AI is generally so good that there's rarely any tangible advantage to pulling the trigger yourself. In fact, it sometimes seems that taking manual control leads to more trouble than its worth.

That's a shame, was hoping it'd be like in Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 where you could move your units with the keyboard and fire with the mouse at the same time.

 

[Mutley]

Massive download though, I've done 20% in 4 hours, crappy slow content servers!

 

[Shakermaker]

The update is amazing. You get a shitload of new maps, both official and fan-made. I tried out the 1 vs 1 beach map first. Put the AI on normal difficulty so I could take it easy. Or so I thought. Relic has given the AI a full overhaul and it shows. It now fights back, troops and vehicles get their upgrades as soon as they are available, and even on normal you're struggling to even hold on to the points on your side of the map. And talking of which, the new maps I played are very well done. The beach map is quite open, almost no buildings, but lots of trenches and quite a bit of height difference. The 2nd map I tried was also a 1v1, fan made, and it showed. Not that it sucked, but it lacks the detail of the maps made by Relic. The 3rd and last map was a 4v4, called King of the Hill. Great map that's reminiscent of Hill 331, just with more vegetation and it's asymmetrical. I played it with 3 hard computer teammates against 4 normals. Hard AI kicks some serious butt. I could basically sit back and watch the blitzkrieg unfold. Expert must be uneatable.

tl;dr version: get this update, even tho the p2p downloader sucks ass.

 

[Mutley]

44%... Steam is SO SLOW!!!

 

[Zephos]

I just bought CoH and OF for 20 bucks at an EB sale. Had a few sweet online matches but now I'm stuck downloading this omega bastard of a patch

Also, I suck at this game

 

[Viperidae]

I've yet to try the update. If it doesn't suck, I might have more options for gaming this summer ahead of me.

 

[Zephos]

Okay, so I close the downloader and reopen it, and for some reason it takes 20% off progress. What the **** you cocksmoking piece of shit.

 

[Kyorisu]

Wow steam fixed the release for Aus. Shame it's a bloody rip off.

Steam: 49.99 USD = 69.4509 AUD

Impulse: 34.48 USD = 47.9030 AUD

Effectively a $23 difference between Steam and Impulse and Impulse doesn't **** you around.

 

[Shakermaker]

I've yet to try the update. If it doesn't suck, I might have more options for gaming this summer ahead of me.

The update is basically an expansion. You'd be mad not to get it. Loads of new maps plus vastly improved AI. Relic may have taken its time with it, but it was certainly worth the wait.

 

[Mutley]

1 Day later but now at 93%, yeye!

 

[Shakermaker]

1 Day later but now at 93%, yeye!

Just to prepare you for it: the patching process itself is very sluggish. It'll take upto 20 minutes.

 

[Viperidae]

The update is basically an expansion. You'd be mad not to get it. Loads of new maps plus vastly improved AI. Relic may have taken its time with it, but it was certainly worth the wait.

Yes but have they balanced the races. The biggest issue with this game is balance, not lack of content. The resource nerf to team games is hopefully enough to make 2v2's against Allies bearable... we'll see.

The reports from the Gamereplays forums look unpromising.

 

[Combine Hybrid]

So, does it even have a single player mission?

 

[Shakermaker]

Yes but have they balanced the races. The biggest issue with this game is balance, not lack of content. The resource nerf to team games is hopefully enough to make 2v2's against Allies bearable... we'll see.

The reports from the Gamereplays forums look unpromising.

Flames are more prevalent just after the launch of a new patch. All in all the different sides are pretty balanced. The Volksterminator is a tad overpowered, but that's nothing a well placed MG can't handle.

So, does it even have a single player mission?

It has three very short SP campaigns. Plus skirmish is a lot more fun with the new AI. But you don't need ToV for that.

 

[Mutley]

Loving TOV, the new modes are fun but only 1 map for each? Tad dissapointing for a new release!

But has totally revived CoH. Bravo.