Call of Duty meets Gangsters. You will find in this game, that the WW-II genre is far from being over.

User Rating: 9.7 | Company of Heroes PC
By pesci_fan | Review Date:
I remember when I first saw the preview of this game back in 2005. I was astonished how they were ever going make this game become as interesting as when Call of Duty first arrived on shelves. During that time the World War II genre has been saturated and exhausted. Especially in the FPS market, many were looking to Vietnam around this time. because almost everyone was sick of the same old, kill Germans, and play as Americans. It seemed that when Call of Duty 2 came out, it was the Jump-the-Shark moment for the WWII FPS genre, and it could go no further. There was of course the RTS WWII market that has seen little to almost non-existent success. There was the huge market failure of Atari's Axis& Allies, and the failure of the promising, but poorly made Codename: Panzer's. This has led to believe that the RTS WWII market was a dead zone. Until one August day in 2005, when I saw a preview of Company of Heroes. It seemed almost too-good-to-be-true, situation, and I figured it would suffer the same fate as Codename: Panzer's. Great idea, but poor success. I purchased this game in January of 2006, as a late Christmas present. I played the first few missions, and I will assure you, that this game fills in all the gaps that Codename: Panzers had. It is in-depth, yet at the same time playable, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to micro-manage, or "baby-sit" your little squads. The AI has an almost unbelievable improvement over its predecessors. So after playing this game, I have finally came to the conclusion that although the doors for the WWII FPS market, maybe closing. The doors of the WWII RTS market are just now starting to open.

Gameplay:
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The gameplay is very fluid, and easy. After about 30 minutes of CoH, easy-to-learn tutorial, you will be accustomed to the basics, and after around an hour of gameplay, and memorization of the hot-keys, you will find that the developers have made the mediocre part of pressing keys, almost non-existent, so you can focus all of your time and effort on strategy, and actually playing the game.

Graphics:
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The graphics will blow anyone away, and the even more interesting note on this, is that it is only the DX-9 version that is currently out. CoH, is DX10 compatible, so when the DX-10 patch comes out. (Probably will come out in May 2007) I will probably be even more amazed. In this game, you will see that the developers took time and effort to really put the eye candy to good use. This type of graphics, can only come from a dedicated developer, for which I am grateful. Although being a WWII history buff, a part of me cry's foul, for its small mistakes in the historical accuracy, such as all of the German troops are wearing jackboots, when most where wearing low boots with leggings, at the time the game is set. But the historical detail set aside, the team members over at Relic, delivers a jaw-dropping experience.

Sound:
______________ This is where most games slip-up, but not in Company of Heroes. The sound is very in-depth, and will impress any gamer, with it's epic explosions, to the sounds of mortar shells wreaking havoc, amongst your men, and I cannot leave out the voice-acting. Each squad, has their own unique voice actor, who acts as the sergeant of the squad, and will say lines that encompass the very comical, to the very dramatic, depending on the situation. Although reaching back on historical accuracy, there is a lot of cursing in this game, enough to give any novice curser a potty-mouth, it does help drag the player (In which today, cursing is not as taboo, as it was back then.) into the thick fight. Relic, once again impresses me greatly.


So if you are a WWII game fan, this game is a must, if you are sick of WWII, you wont be for long, if you just want a game that is fun, exciting, and worth the $50 bucks, then once again, buy this game. -This is Pesci_fan reviewing for all your gaming addictions.

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