WW2 Game Rocks

WWII video game ‘Company of Heroes’ has more than enough grit to go around
by Dan Scheraga

This new real-time strategy game begins as the Allied forces storm Omaha Beach on D-Day.

From there, it is up to you to guide the soldiers of Able Company through several well-defined missions as they slug it out against the Nazis across France.

As you capture territory and strategic locations you increase your ability to deploy personnel and armored vehicles, and to build support and defense fortifications.

Troops and armor come in many stripes, each with its own strengths and special abilities.

Riflemen, mortar squads, howitzers, snipers, halftracks, bazooka-toting rangers and Sherman tanks are just some of the weapons in the player’s arsenal, and most are upgradable: Bulldozer blades can be welded onto tanks to clear away obstacles; engineers can be armed with flame-throwers to burn the enemy out of buildings.

Players also earn points that can be spent to order up satisfying attacks like artillery strikes and bomber runs. Patton would’ve loved this game…

Everything on the battlefield can be destroyed, which greatly adds to the game’s appeal. But you will have to think twice before demolishing anything, because buildings and other structures afford crucial cover for troops, which can make the difference between victory and defeat.

A multiplayer option allows players to test their mettle against other gamers online, but the game’s single-player skirmish mode should prove challenge enough for most armchair generals.

The first several times I engaged the computer, within 20 minutes there were scorched craters where my defenses used to be, and Nazi troops were hosing down my headquarters with napalm.

However, the game’s artificial intelligence isn’t foolproof, particularly with regards to your own vehicles, which seem to have no awareness of each other. Direct more than one to the same point simultaneously and they will collide and get stuck.

Not surprisingly, some liberties were taken to reconcile logistics with gameplay. Call in the airborne and your paratroopers arrive immediately, with no need to plan the air drop in advance.

But that is where the suspension of disbelief ends. The rest of the game is generally realistic, and the visual detail is often impressive. Buildings crumble to the ground when you blow them up with a satchel charge. Trees uproot when you drive a tank through them.

One aspect that really adds to the realism, at least for me, is the salty dialogue.

The voice acting definitely trends more toward Saving Private Ryan than South Pacific, with plenty of f-bombs.

But it never comes off as gratuitous, and your troops don’t have to use profanity to get their point across. A few times they even made me laugh out loud. (Let me guess … you found Nazis and you want ’em dead?)

The knock on World War II games is that the genre is tired, but Company of Heroes gives it enough of a kick in the pants to buck up any soldier’s morale.

Three stars out of four.     

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