Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes is a World War II real-time strategy video game and the first installment in the Company of Heroes series, released for Microsoft Windows and macOS in September 2006. It was developed by Relic Entertainment and was published by THQ until the company's bankruptcy, at which point the game is now published by Sega.

The game received two stand-alone expansion packs: Opposing Fronts in 2007, and Tales of Valor in 2009.

A sequel set in the Eastern Front, Company of Heroes 2, was released in 2013. It would eventually receive expansion packs set in the Western Front.

Gameplay
Players can choose between two factions (four if the stand-alone expansion packs are installed): Americans and British for the Allies, and Wehrmacht and Panzer Elite for the Axis. Each have their own gameplay styles, and have three command trees that grants players support powers, not to mention unique upgrades and units. Players may only choose one of these trees at a time.

Like Relic Entertainment's earlier RTS game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, in Company of Heroes players acquire resources by capturing control points. They are divided in three: strategy points that generate manpower, as well as munition and fuel depots. These points can be secured so that they can generate more resources and prevent the enemy from capturing them. The game also has a territory system; if one of your control points are cut off from the rest of your territory, they will not be able to generate any resources.

The game also has cover and suppression systems for the infantry units. You can place them in certain spots in the game (or even build fortifications) that provide them with either light or heavy cover. Infantry that are suppressed move slower and will start to find cover if there are any nearby them. Their combat capabilities will also suffer. Eventually, once infantry are suppressed long enough they get pinned down; they are effectively immobilized unless ordered to fall back to the headquarters. Infantry that are garrisoned inside structures are effectively invulnerable to being suppressed.

There is also a veterancy system for the games' units; the higher the veterancy levels, the better they will be in combat. American units gain veterancy overtime by accumulating experience points. Wehrmacht units gain veterancy by researching them in Kampkraft Centres. British units do not gain veterancy and instead command units are used to boost their capabilities. And lastly, Panzer Elite units can be given either Offensive or Defensive bonuses once they accumulate enough experience points.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Innovative gameplay, which contains plenty of improvements from the first Dawn of War game and its expansion packs.
 * 2) Challenging difficulty.
 * 3) Great graphics, at least by 2006 standards.
 * 4) Awesome soundtrack courtesy of Jeremy Soule.
 * 5) Great and dramatic storylines for the campaigns.
 * 6) You can create custom maps using the game's World Builder.
 * 7) Lots of mods to try out that either add factions (such as the Eastern Front mod that add the Soviets and the Ostheer), makes changes in the gameplay (such as the Blitzkrieg mod), or even take the game to other eras such as WWI or the modern era.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) It is the first game to implement the infamous Games for Windows Live service.