"Company of Heroes blitzkriegs its way through to the fore."

Sound effects in RTS’ have been a mixed bag in the past but again Company of Heroes blitzkriegs its way through to the fore here as well. Troops will notify you of contact with the enemy or completion of tasks with often humorous comments. For example set a unit to building sandbag defenses and you can expect a “If I see one more f***ing bag of sand” when it is all complete or sometimes it’ll be when you give the order out, but they don’t get that repetitive and every so often something new will give cause for a smile. Another huge plus is the off screen effects you get, give the order for an artillery barrage and you will hear the distant crumps of the guns firing, these are amongst the most realistic sounds ever.

For all the great features and gameplay there are some places that CoH stumbles, unit path finding leaves a lot to be desired. Move more then one vehicle at a time and you will find them bumping and getting in each others way and since a lot is given to the armour ratings on each side of these vehicles you often find one or more turned around and advancing with the highly vulnerable rear armour towards the enemy (highly annoying when facing the Tiger in later missions since large numbers of Sherman’s were required to take one out)

So, do we need another WWII based strategy title? When it’s of the standard of Company of Heroes then yes, we most certainly do. The fact that there are only missions in a small area of France must surely speak of the ubiquitous expansion packs covering the other major battles (Arnhem, El-Alamein, Iwo Jima, etc.). At least, I would hope there will be, since this game engine must be used again. The learning curve in this title may put some people off, certainly later in the missions, but there is enough to make the game enjoyable to green strategists while the veterans will find these same late missions give them something to think about. This game does contain some strong language, but then the subject matter isn’t exactly meant for the faint of heart, but, you’ve been warned.