Bar none the best RTS I've yet to play, worth the money and then some.
What is so refreshing about CoH is that the main focus, unlike most past RTSes, lies not in resource gathering, but instead on small squad tactics and battles. Resources do play a part, but they are masked as supply points that must be fought for and held, instead of the generic "crystal fields" near your base to send your harvester back and forth to. And as these points lay all over the map, that old RTS strategy of turtling in your base and building up an army for a rush has been rendered pretty much obsolete. There's now a need to maintain adequate supply lines, which demands a constant ebb and flow of action.
Speaking of action, it's brutal. Run on full settings, it looks incredible while maintaining a steady, solid framerate. Back in '06 this may have been a problem, but playing with today's tech renders this game to it's max, and it is beautiful. It's not only beautiful, but it also evolves depending on the action. EVERY PIECE of the battlefield is destructible to some degree or another, fully governed by the Havoc physics engine, thus opening up different strategies (such as creating cover for your men using artillery to pound craters in the ground) or clearing a new path through barbed wire right into the enemie's back yard. Tanks can simply drive right through walls and sandbags. Troops can hunker down in buildings for cover. Mostly anything is possible.
Like I said, the combat is brutal and is portrayed nicely, with tracers flying everywhere, grenades taking out squads, and screaming grunts as they burn to death from an engineer's flamethrower, just to highlight a few among many others. Artillery strikes are particularly impressive and satisfying to watch, especially on a mass of troops or those pesky anti-tank guns. Nothing quite beats seeing legs and arms fly everywhere as the ground shakes with each round. I really can't emphasize how well CoH looks at full settings when the action heats up, you need to see it in person if you haven't already. After a long struggle, what started out as a nice town to visit can be left in shables, buildings burning, with artillery craters and burning tank husks littering the landscape. If there's one thing that really separates CoH from other RTSes out there, it's this attention to detail.
There are a few issues that affect the enjoyment, mostly consisting of the pathfinding variety. They're not huge, but things such as my tank getting pounded to dust by an AT gun as it fruitlessly rotates around a tank trap can become infuriating at times. The majority of the time it works great, but at times can be insanely frustrating. There's also times where units will get stuck in building rubble, taking up space but becoming useless thus reducing your overall population cap.
But aside from this, there not much more to say. Company of Heroes has turned me on to an entire genre, the only downside being no other RTS has quite measured up to it. I'm crossing my fingers for CoH2 at some point soon (Relic get on it!), and would love to see the Pacific Theatre tackled.
If you're even slightly curious about CoH, try it, even if RTS really isn't your thing. You might change your mind, as I did. It's worth a shot, this game is a gem and should not be missed.