''Company of Heroes'' is a 2006

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...

developed by

Relic Entertainment Relic Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as THQ Canada Inc.) is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver, founded in 1997. The studio specializes in real-time strategy games and is known for series such as ''Homeworld'', '' Warhammer 40 ...

and published by THQ for the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and la ...

operating systems. It is the first installment of the ''

Company of Heroes ''Company of Heroes'' is a real-time strategy video game series developed by Relic Entertainment. The series is set during World War II. Games ''Company of Heroes'' The first game in the series was released on September 12, 2006 in North ...

'' series, and was the first title to make use of the

Games for Windows Games for Windows is a discontinued brand owned by Microsoft and introduced in 2006 to coincide with the release of the Windows Vista operating system. The brand itself represents a standardized technical certification program and online service ...

label. ''Company of Heroes'' is set during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

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 (

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

) and the liberation of France ( Operation Cobra). 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 The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

's 506th PIR. ''Company of Heroes'' received widespread acclaim, winning multiple awards for the best strategy game of the year, and being considered one of the best video games ever made. Two expansions were released: '' Opposing Fronts'' in 2007 and '' Tales of Valor'' 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 ''Company of Heroes 2'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for Windows, Linux, and OS X. It is the sequel to the 2006 game '' Company of Heroes''. As with the original ''Company of Heroes'', ...

'', which was released in 2013. , the ''Company of Heroes'' series has sold more than 4 million copies. A film adaptation, also titled ''

'', was released in 2013. An

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...

version, developed and published by

Feral Interactive Feral Interactive is a British video games developer and publisher for macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows platforms. It was founded in 1996 to bring games to Mac and specialises in porting games to different p ...

, was released in February 2020. A version for Android and iOS mobile devices was released in September 2020. The latest installment in the series,

Company of Heroes 3 ''Company of Heroes 3'' is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for Windows. A sequel to '' Company of Heroes 2'', the game features new mechanics and modes and is set in the Italian and North African the ...

, released in February 2023.

Gameplay

Multiplayer

''Company of Heroes'' allows multiplayer matches of 1-8 players via

LAN Lan or LAN may also refer to: Science and technology * Local asymptotic normality, a fundamental property of regular models in statistics * Longitude of the ascending node, one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in spa ...

or the Internet. ''Company of Heroes'' allows players to fight as both the Allied and Axis forces in multiplayer matches. For ''Company of Heroes'', developer Relic Entertainment used a new online matchmaking system called Relic Online. Previous Relic games had used

GameSpy Arcade GameSpy Arcade was a shareware multiplayer game server browsing utility. GameSpy Arcade allowed players to view and connect to available multiplayer games, and chat with other users of the service. It was initially released by GameSpy Industries, ...

or World Opponent Network services. This system includes many features that the previous systems did not have, including a built in automatch and ranking system. Relic Online matchmaking has been shut down. In order to play multiplayer users must transfer the game to Steam. The Steam version does not allow for LAN 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

On June 6, 1944, the US Army's Able Company, under the command of Captain MacKay and Sergeant Conti, storms Dog White sector on

Omaha Beach Omaha Beach was one of five beach landing sectors designated for the amphibious assault component of operation Overlord during the Second World War. On June 6, 1944, the Allies invaded German-occupied France with the Normandy landings. "Omaha" r ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Preceding them is Fox Company, a

101st Airborne The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operati ...

unit that drops into

Vierville-sur-Mer Vierville-sur-Mer (, literally ''Vierville on Sea'') is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. History World War II On 6 June 1944 ( D-Day), the U.S. Army's 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantr ...

, secures the roads to Omaha Beach and assaults

Carentan Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was m ...

. Able relieves Fox as they repel the German

counter-attack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objectives typically seek ...

on Carentan. The US Army begins its push towards the port city of

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

. In

Montebourg Montebourg () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Geography Montebourg is located southeast of Cherbourg. Heraldry International relations Montebourg is twinned with: * Walheim,*, Germany (1960) * St ...

, Able Company defends the

Red Ball Express The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944. To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red ...

convoys from the elite ''Panzer Lehr'' Division commanded by Tiger tank ace ''Hauptmann'' Shultz. Supported by USS ''Texas'' and other warships offshore, the company then takes the main harbor of Cherbourg in vicious street fighting. Afterwards, Able Company provides armored support to Fox Company as the paratroopers infiltrate and destroy the V2 launch facility at

Sottevast Sottevast () is a commune in Normandy in north-western France. Sottevast in World War II During World War II, there was a German storage and servicing bunker for V-weapons near Sottevast. The site was captured by the 504th Parachute Infantry ...

. The focus shifts towards Operation Cobra and the breakout to Saint-Lô. Able Company captures a bridgehead across the river Vire at

Saint-Fromond Saint-Fromond () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Manche department The following is a list of the 446 communes of the Manche department of France. The commune ...

before fighting through the

bocage Bocage (, ) is a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture characteristic of parts of Northern France, Southern England, Ireland, the Netherlands and Northern Germany, in regions where pastoral farming is the dominant land use. ''Bocage'' may a ...

to take Hill 192 outside Saint-Lô. The German garrison in Saint-Lô is encircled and defeated, but the ''Panzer Lehr'' escapes. While the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

carpet bomb much of the ''Panzer Lehr'', Able Company's

M10 tank destroyer The M10 tank destroyer was an American tank destroyer of World War II. After US entry into World War II and the formation of the Tank Destroyer Force, a suitable vehicle was needed to equip the new battalions. By November 1941, the Army requeste ...

s mop up its remaining

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern Front (World War ...

s at

Hébécrevon Hébécrevon () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Thèreval.Mortain, with Conti given command and a field promotion to lieutenant. However, a German armored counter-attack strikes at Mortain; Able defends the hill until relieved and retakes Mortain. The Germans begin to withdraw from Normandy, and Able attacks one escape route at Autry, destroying Shultz and his remaining Tiger tanks with a Pershing tank. By August 19, the German 7th Army is almost encircled in the Falaise pocket. With support from the Air Force, Able Company links with

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

and Polish forces at Chambois and crushes the German escape, ending the Normandy campaign. A postscript notes that Able Company sustained an 80 percent casualty rate by the end of the war, although Conti survived.

Development

''Company of Heroes'' is Relic's first title to use its Essence Engine, which allows various graphical effects, including

high dynamic range High dynamic range (HDR) is a dynamic range higher than usual, synonyms are wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, expanded dynamic range. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic range of various signals such as images, videos, au ...

lighting, dynamic lighting and shadows, advanced

shader In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...

effects, and

normal mapping In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or Dot3 bump mapping, is a texture mapping technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents – an implementation of bump mapping. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common ...

. The game was in development for more than 3 years. At its peak, more than 100 people worked on the game. ''Company of Heroes'' also uses the Havok

physics engine A physics engine is computer software that provides an approximate simulation of certain physical systems, such as rigid body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics, and fluid dynamics, of use in the domains of computer gr ...

, giving it a more realistic physics system than previous RTS games. Parts of buildings can be destroyed by

grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...

, satchels, or

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...

, and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...

s 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 Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

, 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 Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking ...

. Relic released the ''Company of Heroes'' patch v1.70 in May 2007, which included a new

DirectX 10 Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

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 Second Army The British Second Army was a field army active during the First and Second World Wars. During the First World War the army was active on the Western Front throughout most of the war and later active in Italy. During the Second World War the army ...

and the

Panzer Lehr Division The Panzer-Lehr-Division (in the meaning of: Armoured training division) was an elite German armoured division during World War II. It was formed in 1943 onwards from training and demonstration troops (''Lehr'' = "teach") stationed in Germany, ...

(German Panzer Elite). Owners of ''Opposing Fronts'' are 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 are able to play all four armies in multiplayer. ''Opposing Fronts'' was released on September 24, 2007. It was later re-released along with ''Company of Heroes'' as ''Company of Heroes Gold'' and later as part of the ''Company of Heroes Anthology'' (together with ''Tales of Valor'').

''Tales of Valor''

''Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor'' is a standalone expansion pack. It was released on April 8, 2009.

Reception

''Company of Heroes'' received a "Silver" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), 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 Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the game had an average score of 93 out of 100 based on 55 critic reviewsconsidered "universal acclaim" by the site. In June 2011 the game was ranked #51 on IGNs Top 100 Modern Games. ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

'' 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

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

: Game of the Year 2006 * GameSpy: PC Game of 2006, Best Sound, Best PC Strategy Game, Best PC Multiplayer * Satellite Awards: Outstanding Puzzle/Strategy Game *

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

: Best PC Game 2006, Best Strategy Game *

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

: PC Game of 2006, Best PC Strategy Game, Best Use of Sound on PC, Best Online PC game *

Game Critics Awards The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. Format The nominees and winners of the awards a ...

: Best Strategy Game *

: 2005 Best PC Game of Show; Best Strategy Game of Show; Best Overall Game of Show *

: Runner-up, Best

Strategy Game A strategy game or strategic game is a game (e.g. a board game) in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous, decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decisi ...

( PC), Runner-up, Technological Excellence ( PC) * GameSpy: Best of E3 * Interactive Achievement Awards: Strategy Game of the Year * Mod DB Hall of Fame: Two modifications, ''Europe in Ruins'' (2007) and ''Company of Heroes: Eastern Front'' (2010), have each earned a spot in the Mod DB Hall of Fame. 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".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Company Of Heroes 2006 video games Aspyr games Company of Heroes Fiction about the United States Army Games for Windows certified games Lua (programming language)-scripted video games MacOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Real-time strategy video games Relic Entertainment games THQ games Video games developed in Canada Video games scored by Jeremy Soule Video games set in France Video games set in 1944 Video games using Havok Video games with expansion packs Windows games World War II video games Works about the British Armed Forces D.I.C.E. Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year winners Feral Interactive games