Introduction

Although World War II might have officially ended September 2nd 1945, millions of people are still fighting it out everyday on virtual battlefields. Video game series like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor and Commandos have all enjoyed phenomenal success by depicting the most memorable and infamous moments during the war. Invading Normandy on D-Day through the eyes of a solider is an exhilarating experience that can only be relived via these different games. However, one thing that is rarely represented in most World War II series is the strategic finesse required to win battles against overwhelming odds. While the Commandoes franchise does necessitate tactics and strategy, it’s only on a small scale since you never end up controlling more than four or five men at a time. But all that was about to change when the Relic Entertainment unveiled the revolutionary World War II based RTS game called Company of Heroes.

History
In the past seven years, the Canadian based developers Relic have unleashed plenty of the innovative RTS games that have completely changed the way people think about the genre. Personally, I find that their most pioneering franchise to date has been the critically acclaimed Homeworld series, bringing full 3D space battles to the masses. While this might seem trivial today, in 1999, when RTS games were still for greater part in 2D space, this was a radical change that instantly set Homeworld apart. Then, fast forward to 2002 and another ground-breaking RTS game was unveiled called Impossible Creatures, where the player could literally create any army he could imagine. Mixing the initial animals together allowed gamers over a 127,000 different combinations, resulting in a very unique gameplay experience.

But, being too revolutionary has it’s downsides also because many people simply can’t grasp the extra freedom offered to them. The mild success of the two franchises I have stated above was proof of this and as a result, in 2004, the Canadian developers decided to stay a bit more conventional, yet still offer innovation wherever feasible. The end product was Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and it immediately became one of the most successful RTS games of its year, being nominated for several GOTY awards from various magazines. And now, by keeping the same subtle philosophy in mind and using all their knowledge from past experiences, Relic Entertainment has released their most ambitious game yet; Company of Heroes.

Essence
Company of Heroes, like all the previous game series from the Canadian developer, has a brand new 3D engine called Essence that pushes the limits of what is technically possible. Sadly though, this comes at an incredibly steep price since the minimum requirements are astonishingly high:

• Windows XP or Vista
• 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV or AMD Athlon XP equivalent
• 512 MB RAM
• 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB video card
• 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card
• 6.5 GB of uncompressed free hard drive space

Obviously, the recommended specifications are even more demanding and while my computer (3.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV, 2048 MB RAM, X850XT PE, etc.) can run other intensive games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion relatively smoothly at high resolutions; this was simply not possible with Company of Heroes. Even with many of the settings on medium and a low screen resolution of 1024x768, the in-game benchmark gave an average of barely 27 frames. And during a normal session, it wasn’t rare to see my FPS dip into the single digits as the action got rather intense. While I am sure that part of the performance impact is legitimate, especially considering the graphical quality of the game, I’m also certain that poor optimization also has a part to play. By looking at the “out of the box” product, it’s obvious that Company of Heroes was slightly rushed since SLI cannot be enabled and a few other bugs rendered the Essence Engine fragile. However, these minor annoyances where solved by a couple of patches that Relic quickly released, to the relief of many.

Mouth-Watering
When you think of sublime graphics, rarely do Real Time Strategy games ever come into mind, given that it’s typically First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games that benefit from the latest of technologies. Well, this is all about to change the moment you witness Company of Heroes’ Essence Engine in action, since it makes sure that the World War II game has every graphical effect imaginable, even out-doing games like Half-Life 2. If your video card is up to the task, High Dynamic Range, normal mapping, advanced shader effects, dynamic lighting, high polygon models and dynamic shadows are all available to make Company of Heroes a gem to behold. In fact, the visuals are so impressive that I actually confused an in-game cinematic for a CG one! Everything is polished, from the detailed textures to the vast amount of animations, immersing the player into war-torn Europe like no other game ever has.

Last but not least, Company of Heroes also utilizes the wonderful Havok 3 Physics Engine, helping it reach an astonishing level of immersion. I’ve rarely seen a strategy game where collateral damage irreversibly transforms the level in which you play. Entire buildings can be obliterated by an artillery strike or even collapse as a tank decides to drive straight through them. Dust and smoke behaves just how you’d imagine, being influenced by the wind and debris reacts realistically as various explosions send barrels and bricks flying, showering your troops with them. Best of all though is that large blasts leave craters behind where units can actually find refuge in, aiding them in their combat. It’s these kinds of details that make Company of Heroes stand out from the competition.

Ear-Shattering
Whereas the graphics are truly magnificent, the sound department is almost perfect, if such a thing is possible. It isn’t rare for the audio to be overlooked in many games, especially RTS ones because it just doesn’t seem that important. Thankfully though, Relic Entertainment didn’t cut any corners in this area and instead, have given it an unprecedented amount of attention which shows in the final product. Starting with the music, there isn’t much to say except that it’s faultless for Company of Heroes, helping the game convey its sense of urgency and war ideally. As is the custom for games these days, the music varies and adjusts itself perfectly to the onscreen action, either increasing the tension or adding to the grandeur of battle.

Add to that the great sound effects that immerse the player even deeper into the game and you’ll start to understand why I consider this department one of the highlights of Company of Heroes. Each sound, whether it’s the rumbling of a tank, the thud of a bullet hitting flesh or the bang of a M1 57mm AT gun going off is exactly what you’d expect in reality, reinforcing the authenticity of the game. If you are fortunate enough to own a 5.1 Dolby Surround system, you’ll be in for a real treat as all five speakers will be occupied, filling your room with the sounds of battle while the subwoofer will perfectly recreate the powerful explosions from tank shells and mortars. My favorite sound effect in Company of Heroes is when an Axis V1 Rocket is about to devastate a large area because all you can hear is the wail of a huge bomber flying overhead, followed by the sudden shock wave created by the gigantic explosion, filling you with awe.

Ground-Breaking
If anyone has played Relic Entertainment’s previous strategy franchise, Dawn of War, they will immediately find themselves in similar territory with Company of Heroes. What the developers have achieved for the World War II strategy game is again, keep a very simple and conventional looking game, but full of subtle gameplay mechanics that make it stand out and shine. The game focuses a great deal on the combat and resource gathering, leaving the base building less importance than typically seen in RTS games. Resources are divided into three distinct categories; manpower, munitions and fuel, each serving a very different purpose. Manpower is the basic resource since your Command Post will generate a small supply of it, which is enough to sustain a few soldiers. On the other hand, munitions and fuel can only be acquired by capturing strategic points, helping you upgrade and improve your defensive and offensive capabilities. However, it must be noted that not all fuel or munitions point have the same value, forcing the player to think intelligently about where to send his troops and how to set up defenses to make sure that the enemy won’t be able to steal away the high value areas. In addition, quickly rushing forward and capturing a strategic point which isn’t connected to your other zones is rendered useless, as you won’t receive its benefits. All these variables make each game very interesting and also give them an incredibly fast pace, where speed is important but finesse also. It really is a perfect mix and one that I instantly fell in love with since you can’t just stay in your base and build up a gigantic army. You are obliged to venture into the unknown and fight for your very survival, meaning that action is always just around the corner.

Company of Heroes has a very stylish menu with three distinct different modes where you get to put your strategy to action; campaign, skirmishes and multiplayer. First of all, the campaign mode is absolutely terrific since it’s well presented and extremely varied; always making you want to play more. You are mostly in control of Able Company, following their path into Europe from D-Day and onwards, continuously fighting the stiff German resistance.

And all this eventually leads you to the skirmish and multiplayer modes, both of which are absolutely terrific. Here, both the Allies and the Axis are available to the player as he decides whether he wants a one on one or a cooperative game with up to eight players, four per team. Unfortunately, Free For All is missing as a game mode but it is understandable why the Canadian developers didn’t introduce, since it would lower the reality of the game. Apart from that, choosing a side is an important decision given that each team has very different units and very dissimilar Command Trees that can determine the entire skirmish. During each session, you will earn points that can be attributed to three different Command Trees, enabling abilities like the Allies’ airborne bombing run or the Axis’ Blitzkrieg technique. When timed properly and used shrewdly, these special skills can be a matter of life and death.

Finally, while the physics are especially pretty to look at, they are also extremely practical since they have real gameplay consequences. As I mentioned a while ago, the landscape can be totally transformed during the course of a battle, either intentionally or unintentionally, forcing the player to keep adapting his strategy as new chokepoints are created or old ones lost. Craters can become vantage points for squads of soldiers or the perfect place to set up an MG turret, obliging your enemy to consider a way of flanking you. Anything that should be fully destructible, is fully destructible and this allows an unprecedented amount of freedom that can completely change the course of a battle. If I had to pick just one thing that I loved most about Company of Heroes, it would definitely be the way physics and gameplay are intertwined and part of each other. Lastly, we can discuss the most important part of any RTS game, the AI. I’ll start with the good part first, which is the general computer AI during skirmishes or the campaign and the AI of your troops. Both are quite exceptional since the AI of the skirmishes is continuously changing strategy, trying to outsmart you, and usually succeeding if you aren’t wary. But even better than this is the AI of your own soldiers that will automatically dive for cover when shot upon, or even change position as they get flanked. If an explosion goes off too close, you’ll see them blocking their ears, maybe even covering their heads with their arms as debris falls all over them. They react eerily realistically, like true men under your control which again, reinforces that all important immersion feeling. Sadly, I can’t say the same thing about the AI of the vehicles under your command since they simply don’t react well at all. It isn’t rare to see them get stuck into buildings or other units as they try and reach their destination. While I’m sure this can be corrected with a patch, that isn’t the case yet and it can become frustrating as your tanks need constant attention if you want to get anything out of them.

Conclusion
Company of Heroes is an amazing World War II based strategy game that has set the bar awfully high for future games. It is absolutely superb in almost every way imaginable, whether you take into account the gorgeous graphics, magnificent audio or exhilarating gameplay. Relic Entertainment has proven again that when it comes to innovative RTS games, they are simply unstoppable. This review can barely scratch the surface of what Company of Heroes has to offer and I can only say one thing; go out and buy it. It doesn’t matter what RTS games you’ve played over the years, this World War II based game is a must have in any gamer that considers himself an RTS veteran. My only warning is the following; make sure you have the power to run the game, otherwise you might miss out on possibly the best game of 2006.

Gameplay 19/20
Graphics 19/20
Sound 20/20
Value 20/20
Preference 20/20
Overall 97/100