Feral Releases Classic RTS 'Company of Heroes' on iPhone

[MacRumors]

Feral Interactive today announced the release of World War II real-time strategy game "Company of Heroes" for iPhone.

Originally developed for Windows by Relic Entertainment, the critically-acclaimed RTS was recently designed and developed by Feral for the ‌iPad‌, which has now become a universal app.

The game sees players command two crack companies of American soldiers and direct an intense campaign in the European Theater of Operations starting with the D-Day Invasion of Normandy.

Feral has optimized the game for iPhone, and it features the same sophisticated command wheel and command panel options seen on iPad that let players execute real-time tactics, adapt to constantly shifting environments, and do battle with the opposition to secure the liberation of France.

According to MacRumors sister site TouchArcade, on first look the jump to iPhone is very impressive.

I played the game on an older iPad Pro for review and everything is more responsive on my iPhone 11. It runs at 60fps without battery saver mode turned on and loads much quicker than the iPad Pro. I was a bit concerned with the interface but there are some new control options to try for interactions that help a lot.

"Company of Heroes" is officially supported on all iPhones released since the iPhone 6S, and is now available on the App Store for £13.99 / $13.99 / €14.99. Players that already own the game on iPad can install the iPhone version for free.

Article Link: Feral Releases Classic RTS 'Company of Heroes' on iPhone

 

[ruka.snow]

I guess when ARM Macs come it’ll be easier to get a universal game to iPhone, iPad, and macOS in the one.

 

[FuzzMunky]

This is a great game. I always wondered if touch controls would work with serious rts games.

 

[amartinez1660]

What’s the specifics meant by an “older iPad Pro”, there are many generations now. 2018 and 2020 11in being maybe the more performant friendly as their screen is smaller hence have less pixels to push.

In any case, this is an amazing game, glad to see it ported over. It helps the “there are no serious game on portable devices” narrative be crushed more and more. CoD did a real good number on that front.

 

[arvinsim]

Company of Heroes
Classic

I feel old

 

[Madonepro]

I guess when ARM Macs come it’ll be easier to get a universal game to iPhone, iPad, and macOS in the one.

This is one of the benefits I am looking forward to. At some point in the future, apps/games that are on either iOS, iPadOS or macOS should be available on all.

 

[AngerDanger]

I guess when ARM Macs come it’ll be easier to get a universal game to iPhone, iPad, and macOS in the one.

This is one of the benefits I am looking forward to. At some point in the future, apps/games that are on either iOS, iPadOS or macOS should be available on all.

Ha, I'm just looking forward to the blunder years where games originally designed with terrible onscreen d-pads in mind are made even worse by requiring the player to click each button with their mouse.

 

[Plutonius]

This is a great game. I always wondered if touch controls would work with serious rts games.

I think it might be very frustrating trying to play this on an iPhone even though the graphics look nice.

 

[Mabus51]

I think it might be very frustrating trying to play this on an iPhone even though the graphics look nice.

I would agree. But I think with the Max model iPhones it would be fine. But I haven’t tried it on the phone so I really can’t comment. It’s a great game though. Hope to see Dawn of War release some day.

 

[mrjackal]

Does this mean I can play the same game on iPad and iPhone. If I play on my iPad for a bit, i can pick up right where I left off on that game on my iPhone, or would it run two separate game progressions?

 

[GeoStructural]

I guess when ARM Macs come it’ll be easier to get a universal game to iPhone, iPad, and macOS in the one.

Developers would still benefit by making use of Apple’s Metal 2 engine which is quite efficient and allows games to play smoothly in a wide range of iPhones and iPads currently. Some MacOS games currently use it, but many big titles were not developed with it.

So MacOS users will need to get used to ports of primitive low budget mobile phone games rather than ports of big budget x86 Console and PC games?

Exactly my point, but someone just called me toxic on another thread just for pointing that out.

 

[1madman1]

I guess when ARM Macs come it’ll be easier to get a universal game to iPhone, iPad, and macOS in the one.

So MacOS users will need to get used to ports of primitive low budget mobile phone games rather than ports of big budget x86 Console and PC games?

 

[BigRedMachine89]

Does this mean I can play the same game on iPad and iPhone. If I play on my iPad for a bit, i can pick up right where I left off on that game on my iPhone, or would it run two separate game progressions?

I can't speak directly about Company of Heroes, but Feral ported Rome Total War to iPad and iOS and I am able to play on my iPhone and then pick up where I left off on the iPad. The save files are stored via iCloud sync.

 

[MJaP]

So MacOS users will need to get used to ports of primitive low budget mobile phone games rather than ports of big budget x86 Console and PC games?

That is my concern. Unless there is some way that a game can alter it's graphical settings and user interface by detecting the device it's running on then for universal apps we're going to get ports that cater for "the lowest common denominator" even on hardware that could run it better.

Just looking at the video it is glaringly obvious it is using low resolution textures and has eliminated a lots of the environmental effects and details that are on the PC version. A necessary compromise for mobile platforms, but I would expect more if I was running this on a laptop or desktop.

 

[jlocker]

Once Apple gets past rosseta 2 for Mac Applications things will get better on ARM. But even in the developer conference the could only get tomb raider to run at low res 1080p. I have been using boot camp to play PC games and it has been good. I am afraid that Once the Intel chip is gone, I will have to rely on a PS5 or XBOX X for gaming. Might have to give in a build a gaming PC. Think that Microsoft and Apple should have done a deal on direct x years ago, but that is now water under the bridge.

 

[SevenSeas]

This is tedious enough to control on an iPad, going to be interesting to see how this works on an iPhone.

 

[Shirasaki]

iPhone? RTS? With 6.7” screen? I just don’t see those play well together. More of a novelty thing than anything serious.
With that being said I would love to check out how iPad plays RTS game. I played CoH before and was a nice game.

 

[minimo3]

I don’t see iOS having first rate games even when Macs transition to ARM. It costs approximately $20-30M to develop a AAA game plus another $10M to market it. Why would anyone target the iOS gaming market with a top quality title when Apple has conditioned customers to pay no more than $2.99 for a game? iOS is a great platform for casual games that can be monetized through in-app loot but the business model does not fit a top quality game title (even if the hardware/software is up to snuff).

 

[nylonsteel]

hmm...
this might motivate me to use my unused ipad

 

[ActionableMango]

So MacOS users will need to get used to ports of primitive low budget mobile phone games rather than ports of big budget x86 Console and PC games?

I know you're just joking, but for anyone who doesn't know, Feral's iOS games are Total War, Company of Heroes, GRID, and Tropico. In all cases these are console and PC games, not low budget mobile crapware.

 

[Kwyji]

So I own this on iPad, yet the Dutch App Store still expects me to pay 14.99€ to play it on iPhone...!?

 

[JacobHarvey]

I know you're just joking, but for anyone who doesn't know, Feral's iOS games are Total War, Company of Heroes, GRID, and Tropico. In all cases these are console and PC games, not low budget mobile crapware.

Yep they're not low quality crapware games. The only part that might stand is the 'primitive' part they were talking about. These games were mainstream titles but most are pretty ancient PC titles, with Company of Heroes originally from 2006, Rome Total War from 2004, Tropico for mobile being based off Tropico 3 from 2009. I'd call them old but gold classics rather than 'primitive' though

 

[MacBH928]

Feral and Aspyr game choices are very questionable...I wonder how they settle the decision on which games to port.

 

[Yandawg]

So I own this on iPad, yet the Dutch App Store still expects me to pay 14.99€ to play it on iPhone...!?

you should be good. I contacted feral and asked the same question . They told me to go ahead and act like I am paying for the iPhone version. I did that like I would normally purchase a game. After it looked like I paid for it a message popped up stating that I already owned the game and I wasn’t charged for it.