Product Description

There's been a huge amount of excitement surround Relic's Company of Heroes ever since it was first revealed. Since then, it has gone on to win countless industry awards, all indicating that it would eventually become one of the finest strategy titles, PC games and WWII experiences, to-date.

A few short weeks ahead of its release and reviews have given further weight to these expectations. PC Gamer described it as 'the finest RTS we have ever played' and PC Zone remarked that it is 'nothing short of brilliant'. And the praise is continuing its relentless advance as the downloadable demo circulates internationally.

Aesthetically, the visuals, audio and overall presentation are quite astonishing. The emotional intensity of the deeply involving gameplay is also like nothing seen before, as players zoom in from their strategic overviews to witness the pained expressions on their own soldiers' faces. The remarkable AI ensures the chosen strategy is executed as intended, and with fully interactive, dynamic environments punctuating the cratered backdrops.

For RTS fans, PC gamers and WWII enthusiasts, Company of Heroes is essential. As, indeed, it is to anyone with even the most fleeting interest in video games.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4927 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: THQ
• Released on: 2006-09-29
• Rating: To Be Announced
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review:
World War II needs winning again but this time you’re not going it alone as you take command of Able Company in this innovative real-time strategy that sees you battling through the D-Day landings and the liberation of Europe.

The lowdown:
Real-time strategies have been stuck in a rut in recent years but this game doesn’t just offer a change in scenery. It goes out of its way to reduce the amount of micromanagement, with troops that can be trusted to act sensibly when under fire and don’t need you to tell them to duck when a shell comes their way. As you’d expect there’s no mining of resources, but instead you have to expand your territory via control points to get more men and resources. Stockpiling fuel, munitions and manpower allows you to bring in more specialised units but to keep a sense of realism everything needs a lot more time and effort to build than in the average real-time strategy. With a surprisingly subtle mix between the needs of realism and gameplay this is the freshest new strategy game for years.

Most exciting moment:
Graphically this is one of the most impressive real-time strategy games ever seen, but what really impresses is the artificial intelligence, both of your troops and the enemy. Soldiers on both sides will take cover without being asked and the enemy will constantly try to outflank and outgun you.

Since you ask:
Company of Heroes is the first game to use developer Relic’s "Essence Engine". It features many special effects usually only seen in first person shooters such as HDR (high dynamic range) lighting and the Havok 3 physic engine.

The bottom line:
Bored of WWII games and real-time strategies? This makes both seem exciting again. HARRISON DENT

PC Gamer:
"This is nothing short of genius" (October 2006)

Manufacturer's Description
Company of Heroes is a WWII Real Time Strategy game that brings to life the journey of the brave men of Able Company as they fight across Europe in the greatest war mankind has ever known. From the studio that brought you the blockbuster games of the year Homeworld, Impossible Creatures and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War comes the next revolution in action strategy.

From the opening shots of the D-Day invasion of Normandy players will find themselves immersed in a rich single player campaign. Experience the cinematic intensity, courage, and bravery of the heroes that defined a generation, set against the backdrop of the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game.

Customer Reviews

A huge leep foreward in RTS standards
I do not do RTS games.

They annoy and frustrate me, to the point that I shout at them and load them up no more, and this usually happens at a very early stage in the game, from past experience.

But, I was drawn in to looking at the demo for this game by the clever publicity, (wall-to-wall adverts on Freeview History chanel). And, I have to say, the demo really looked good; the graphics were great, the sound samples were top-notch, and the Historic element in the recreation of the Normandy invasion was a big draw. I was hooked.

How does the full game measure up to expectations, after having seen the adverts and the demo???

I have been equally blown away!

Seriously, this is one serious game! I have spent the past 5 days giving serious attention to the Campaign single person game. It is a belter. Very hard, but with an amazing level of satisfaction on completing each mission. The missions build up progressively, guiding you deeper and deeper into the more powerful elements of the game. I think, after a weeks worth of gaming, there may be much more ahead with the single player game.

Regards the Multiplayer, online game, all I can say is I was blown away yet again!!!

Absolutely superb in every detail. A wonderful example of a user-friendly interface, with a stunninlgly good game experience on the other end of a few mouse clicks to be there competing with other players on the internet.

I am hooked. And considering I was previously only interested in First Person products, capturing my interest is a massive achiement in itself. I can add to that, just one week in, that I am convinced already that this game will be a "Classic", a milestone, and one that will manage to break the barriers between FPS and RTS.

I love it! What better praise can I give?

If you are remotely interested in WWII and/or RTS games, this is the game you have been waiting for. Buy it!

Company of Heroes maybe?
The Game plays great and the graphics are excellent and so far the campaigns have been good fun some tough some easy (I have been playing on normal level).

If you are a RTS fan this is a must game and the added bonus of war hammer (which I've not tried yet) was very pleasant.

There is nothing fundamentally new in the process of building up your army, other than the resources; this is a bit lame for want of a better word. Capturing command points means extra resources, which means extra men and machine to capture them which in turn means extra resources, which means extra men and machine to defend the resources.........This can become very frustrating when the krauts keep slipping in and nicking the point before you can reinforce it. You then have to wait for resource's to build up in order to start the process again. Unlike other RTS games where you can keep every thing together these command points are all over the map.

The AI's not bad but from time to time (especially Armour) it can leave you a little frustrated, i.e. your tank runs over your sand bag wall you have just built instead of going around, your tank drives backwards straight in to an enemy tank exposing its weakest armour, your tank runs straight into a building and gets stuck for no reason.

As for the men's AI they seem to be pretty much on the ball i.e. if they see a tank they will duck for cover but every now and then they will commit suicide.

All in all though this is and excellent game and the zoom feature is brilliant and the detail is great. I would hartley recommend this to any RTS fans.

One word of warning check the system requirements as its graphic drain is amazing and you need a good graphics card to appreciate the detail of this game.

Excellent.
Where to start.
This game is nothing short of genius.
Initially i was quite skeptical about this game, as i sometimes do not listen to the hype about supposed "Best game ever". This was not the case with this one.
I have always been an RTS fan, and with the recent spate of world war II genre games getting good and bad reviews, i loaded it with some trepidation.
Initially, once you load up you have two main choices:
1. Jump staright in and play the skirmish game blind,
or my personal favourite,
2. Play the training levels.
The training levels in my opinion allow everyone from the new RTS player to the advanced to get to grips with the game console and basic movement. It also cleverly has the option to bypass the basic movement explantions of left click selct, right click move.
It has the more advanced explanations of the different types of units that can be used- infantry, armour, engineers etc.
It also explains how you obtain resources in order to buy those new units, or upgrade existing ones.
Now its time to start to play the campaign.
The first mission takes about 30-40 minutes to complete and is based around Omaha Beach (thats all I'm saying-NO SPOILERS).
Each mission has an optional objective allowing you to earn medals if you complete them, and look at them in the main menu display case at your leisure.
The missions get gradually harder but still remain attainable on the normal level and are quite challenging as i still have not comleted it.
I was shocked to find that i particularly enjoyed the "Rag-doll" physics employed as you launch mortars or "88's" into a bunker where the enemy is hiding and they fly into the air bouncing onto the surrounding countryside. The first time i did this i was speechless as it brought visions of the modern world war II films and i started putting faces on these characters. However as the computers AI did not have any problems returning fire, this feeling is replaced with a glint in the eye and evil smirk on the face.
All i can advise is that everyone buys this game if you like or think you will like either RTS games, or WWII games.