Historical RTS action... but US forces only?
So, a World War 2 based real time strategy game. From Relic, the guys behind Dawn Of War. That pretty much sums it up. So stop reading and go and buy it, ok? (Is that it? I pay you for this? – Ed)
Ok, ok. Let’s look a little deeper into Company Of Heroes then. Just what do you get in this “double-you double-you aye aye” game? Company Of Heroes follows the story of the Allied forces as you land at Omaha Beach on D-Day and then fight your way out of the beachhead and into Normandy before eventually liberating the entire area, giving the Allies a firm footing in Europe. Given the varied operations of the campaign, you’ll occasionally be in command of different squads, such as Airborne troops, but in the main you’ll be commanding Able Company, a fictitious unit of one of the battalions involved in the D-Day landings.
Click for larger imageCompany Of Heroes drops you into the role of commanding Able Company as they make their landing on Omaha beach and here’s where you take over. Don’t expect a Medal Of Honour or Call Of Duty style beach landing here. As this is an RTS game you’re detached from being down on the ground under fire so although your units will get chopped up by the enemy machine guns as you try and make it up the beach, there’s no real sense of being in danger or of fighting to stay alive.
But let’s not judge Company Of Heroes on one beach landing alone, because there’s far more to it than just that. Each mission follows the path of Able company as they fight in key engagements in the battle to break out of Normandy. As you progress through the campaign part of the game you start off with a relatively meagre squad but, in the tradition of Relic’s other RTS titles, you gain access to larger numbers of more varied units with each successive mission.
Click for larger imageThe missions themselves are based on historical engagements that actually took place during the Normandy campaign, so history buffs will be well served with the assault on Carentan, the subsequent German counter-attack, the liberation of Cherbourg, the encirclement of St Lo and so on. It’s worth noting that all these missions are based on exclusively US Army actions, even though the British, Polish and French were just as heavily involved. Noticeable through its absence is the British assault on Pegasus Bridge which is famous for the incredible flying skills of the glider pilots which saw the first Allied soldier set foot on occupied territory. Ah well…
Many of the missions will see you start off with an objective and perhaps a secondary objective that although not crucial to the completion of the mission, earns you a medal if you get it. At the start of every mission you’ll hold just a small corner of the map and, seeing as you’re invading occupied territory, the German’s will hold everything else. By capturing strategic points and fuel and ammo dumps, the idea is to progress across the map to either destroy the enemy or achieve the objective.
Click for larger image