For fuck's sake, a game isn't gonna flop because graphics or audio is not fully nailed down. It's the GAMEPLAY that really matters in the end.
COH 1/2 impressed casual players with amazing immersion and that`s 100% a big part of the success of the franchise. No way would COH2 be able to attract so many players 10 years after launch without amazing grahpics and sound.
COH2 even had amazing graphics at launch that were poorly optimized but hat a wow factor. The game had problems and the launch was bad but the potential was obviously there. Start COH2, load up one of the initial winter maps like Pripyat Winter and look how soldiers and tanks leave marks in the snow and look at the visuals in general. It looks amazing even by 2023 standards.
COH2 is often hated on but its success is pretty amazing. Over 5000 concurrent players almost 10 years after launch.
With COH3 everything just feels mediocre and in many ways a downgrade. I don`t think they can fix the sound for example. The Tiger sounds like a vacuum cleaner and is barely audible even when looking directly at it. This is such a huge disappointment compared to COH2. I have no idea how they could manage to get it so wrong.
The graphics have potential but they desperately need to fix lighting which is just horrific at the moment and insanely off-putting for a very large percentage of casual players.
COH3 will have dominant metas very soon as well. Every RTS has. Considering the amount of units and battle groups this will be even harder to balance than COH2. People just haven`t figured out what OP meta they can abuse yet. This is an advantage for now but will change over time. The amount of units and diversity is good and Relic should be applauded for it but that doesn`t help when the basics are just not there.
I am just disappointed by the lack of love and effort that were put into this game. This is especially obvious when looking at the UI in game and in the main menu. Both suck and just look so low-budget. It just makes the game feel soulless. I can`t believe this game has been developed since 2017. Either Relic developers are simply not as talented today as they were 15 years ago or they cut corners to save cost.