Company of Heroes [PC]

With a game like Homeworld under its belt, strategy developer Relic became an instant name-brand. Since THQ purchased the company towards the end of 2004, the publisher gets to slap its own logo on Relic's upcoming Company of Heroes, which could do for World War II what Homeworld did for space.

The game, which follows the soldiers of Able Company across the European Theatre, may be the most technologically advanced real time strategy title to hit the PC. The solo campaign will begin with the Normany landing during D-Day, and then continue across the continent, presumably coming to rest in Russia. Multiplayer for two to eight players will also be supported.

What sets Company of Heroes apart is the engine driving the action. Called 'Essence', Relic's new technology integrates deformable environments, exemplary physics and impressive squad AI to replicate the chaos of battle. The Havok physics engine has been integrated into the design, and the result is incredible. Experienced gamers have plenty of preconceptions about Havok's capabilites, but we'd never seen anything like this in a strategy game.

Essentially, Essence allows players to change the battlefield. Fire a large-bore shell at a building and watch the whole thing disintegrate. Not in the manner of animated sprites, however. Everything in Company is fully modeled and articulated. You could shoot the same building a dozen times and not see the same exact results twice. This goes for everything in the game, so players can create new cover, either from structures or earth, and destroy the same on the enemy side.

Company of Heroes also boasts AI unlike anything to grace an RTS. Each soldier seems constantly aware of the environment. They'll react to threats with action or a defensive posture, depending on the situation. And like the physics engine, nothing is pre-set or scripted, so playing the same encounter several times should produce different results each time.

The upshot of the AI is that players won't have to micromanage each unit, leaving their attention free to concentrate on the overall pace and movement of battle. As squads move towards a set target, each man will actively seek and use cover. They may take refuge behind a blasted tank that has been rusting in the path for two weeks, or behind wreckage created ten second earlier by a blast. That's true next-gen AI (as seen in Ghost Recon 3 for the Xbox 360) and really sets Company of Heroes apart.

There's a solid year before Company of Heroes will be ready for release; given the amount of progress already made on the title, this could become a standout in the genre. Look for more updates on the title's development later in 2005.

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