Company of Heroes


Company of Heroes is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ for the Microsoft Windows and OS X operating systems. It was the first title to make use of the Games for Windows label.
Company of Heroes is set during the Second World War and contains two playable factions. Players aim to capture strategic resource sectors located around the map, which they use to build base structures, produce new units, and defeat their enemies. In the single-player campaign the player commands two U.S. military units during the Battle of Normandy and the Allied liberation of France. Depending on the mission, the player controls either Able Company of the 29th Infantry Division's 116th Infantry, or Fox Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th PIR.
Company of Heroes received widespread acclaim, winning multiple awards for the best strategy game of the year. Two expansions were released for the game, the first one named ' in 2007, and the second one titled ' in 2009. A free-to-play massively multiplayer online version of the game, Company of Heroes Online, was briefly released as open beta in South Korea in April 2010, before being cancelled in March 2011.
The success of the game led to a sequel, Company of Heroes 2, which was released in 2013., the whole Company of Heroes series has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. There was also a film adaptation, starring Tom Sizemore.
An iPad version of the game, developed and published by Feral Interactive, was released in February 2020. A version for Android and iOS mobile devices is scheduled to release later this year.

Gameplay

Multiplayer

For Company of Heroes, Relic began using a new online matchmaking system called Relic Online. Previous Relic games had used GameSpy Arcade or World Opponent Network services. This new system includes many features that the previous systems did not have, including a built in automatch and ranking system.
Relic Online matchmaking has been recently shutdown. In order to play multiplayer users must transfer the game to Steam.
This game allows multiplayer matches of 1-8 players via LAN or the Internet. The new steam version does not allow for LAN matches.
Company of Heroes allows players to fight as both the Allied and Axis forces in multiplayer matches.

Game modes

Victory Point Control

These games focus on controlling several victory points around the middle of the map. These victory points can be captured similarly to strategic points. When one side has more victory points under their control than another, the other side's "points" start to decrease. When one side's counter runs out of points, they lose. Alternatively, the player can simply destroy all enemy structures to win the game. Before the start of the game, the host can choose between 250, 500, or 1000 points. The point function in Company of Heroes works much like the ticket feature in the Battlefield series.

Annihilation

Annihilation games lack the victory points of the VPC game mode. To win, the player needs to destroy all enemy buildings excluding observation posts on points.

Plot

The single-player campaign puts the player in some of the major American operations during the Battle of Normandy.

Development

Company of Heroes is Relic's first title to use its Essence Engine, which allows various graphical effects, including high dynamic range lighting, dynamic lighting & shadows, advanced shader effects, and normal mapping.
Company of Heroes also uses the Havok physics engine, giving it a more realistic physics system than previous RTS games. Parts of buildings can be destroyed by grenades, satchels, or mortars, and tanks can drive through sections of walls or other barriers. Smoke created from explosions behaves realistically as possible, including its behavior in wind. Debris is also influenced by explosions; a blast can send barrels flying and shower troops in dirt, while leaving behind a large crater. When infantry are bombarded by artillery, body parts sometimes detach and are dispersed over, and some units are thrown about in the immediate area. Bridges and buildings can be destroyed by engineers using demolitions.
On May 29, 2007, Relic released the Company of Heroes patch v1.70, which included a new DirectX 10 rendering mode with better terrain, more world objects, and improved shadows and lighting. This patch made Company of Heroes the first commercial video game to support Direct3D 10.

Expansions

''Opposing Fronts''

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts is a standalone expansion pack. It contains two factions; the British and the German Panzer Elite. Owners of Opposing Fronts will be able to play against owners of Company of Heroes and vice versa, although only using the armies from the game they own. Owners of both games will be able to play all four armies in multiplayer. Opposing Fronts was officially announced on April 5, 2007 and was released on September 24, 2007. Opposing Fronts was later re-released along with Company of Heroes as Company of Heroes Gold and later as part of the Company of Heroes Anthology.

''Tales of Valor''

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is a standalone expansion pack. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor was officially announced on November 3, 2008 and was released April 8, 2009.

Reception

Company of Heroes received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

Upon its release the game received wide critical acclaim. On the review aggregator GameRankings, the game had an average score of 94% based on 57 reviewsmaking it the fourteenth highest rated PC game of 2006. On Metacritic, the game had an average score of 93 out of 100 based on 55 critic reviewsconsidered "universal acclaim" by the site., it remains the highest-rated real-time strategy game and the highest rated strategy game.
In June 2011 the game was ranked #51 on IGNs Top 100 Modern Games. Edge ranked the game #30 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today", stating "From its lofty perch above an RTS battlefield, Relic gets to the heart of WWII, turning the genre's plusses and minuses into salvation and sacrifice. If only the same could be said of countless first person shooters."

Awards

The editors of Computer Games Magazine named Company of Heroes the overall best computer game of 2006, and presented it with their special awards for "Best Strategy Game", "Best Sound Effects", "Best Multiplayer" and "Best Voice Acting". They summarized it as "an ideal real-time strategy game", and as "a perfect storm of visuals, sound, and gameplay."

Sequels

''Company of Heroes Online''

Company of Heroes Online was a free MMO real-time strategy computer game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. The open beta for the game started on 2 September 2010, and the game was cancelled on 31 March 2011. The game has no link with the original Company of Heroes multiplayer system and is a stand-alone game, unlike its predecessors. The game uses the same graphics engine as the retail release of Company of Heroes. Relic also released a Chinese and a South Korean version of the game. The Chinese version was co-developed and published by Shanda while the South Korean version was published by WindySoft and developed entirely by Relic Entertainment. The Korean and American versions featured the entire single-player campaign from the retail release while the Chinese version did not.
Company of Heroes Online was a real time strategy game which was based on Company of Heroes. Company of Heroes Online gameplay placed emphasis on usage of varying degrees of cover which together with a destructible terrain. Another departure from mainstream RTS's was the implementation of sector supply whereby the resource income of a player is linked to the sectors under that player's control. A unique feature of Company of Heroes Online was the bewildering amount of combination of hero units, special abilities and doctrinal abilities a player could utilize, giving the potential for very diverse yet equally effective strategies emphasising on creativity.

''Company of Heroes 2''

A sequel, Company of Heroes 2, has been released on June 25, 2013 in North America and Europe. The game officially features the USSR's Red Army as a new faction and takes the player on various stages of the Eastern Front campaign, from Operation Barbarossa to the Battle of Berlin. It uses the new Essence 3.0 engine which includes new environmental effects and the new "True Sight" and "ColdTech" systems mimicking unit line of sight like in Men of War and weather effects such as snow and mud as well as blizzards.