Company of Heroes [PC]

It's hardly surprising that Company of Heroes is from the developers of the visceral and imaginative Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. They've taken tired old World War II tropes and breathed thrilling new life into them with what is arguably one of the finest RTSs to date.

But be forewarned that Company of Heroes is a handful. This isn't one of those RTSs about getting more wood than the other guy. But it is micromanagement intensive in the sense that you have to use your troops according to sound tactics, pinpoint timing, and careful balance against whatever forces the enemy army is using.

You usually control units in squads, and the AI does a remarkable job of handling the finer details of cover and firing. For instance, if you move a squad across a graveyard and they come under fire, your men will take cover behind headstones and walls, returning fire unless they're pinned. Nearby mortars will automatically target revealed enemies. No matter which way they're facing, tanks will rotate their turrets to fire at the best target. You still have to manage tactics, but the little details are in the very capable hands of the AI. This isn't one of those games where your guys stand around waiting for your orders while someone shoots at them.

But neither is this one of those games you'll win by simply building a lot of units, drag selecting them, and sending them in one general direction. This is a game about guiding your men with all the care and attention of a lieutenant in the field, and sometimes even a sergeant. At times, when it comes to firing an anti-tank weapon or positioning the arc of fire of a machine gun, you're down at a corporal's level. This is often a matter of making tough choices about resources (an anti-tank shot will cost resources you might want to save up for something else) or anticipating how the game will progress (you might want to align the machine gun down a particular street to cover your flank). So the micromanagement is always integral to the action rather than being annoying busywork.

This level of involvement is actually a lot of the appeal of Company of Heroes. In many RTSs, you're hovering above everything. But just as they did with Dawn of War, Relic uses awesome graphics, a flexible camera, roaring sound, and convincing voice work to pull you down onto the field. There's an immersive 'you are there' sense to the action that you won't get in most RTSs. The basic feel of playing Company of Heroes isn't unlike playing Call of Duty.

There are only two sides in the game, and they each have the same basic unit types. This might sound limiting in comparison to other RTSs. But when you consider that each side has three unique "doctrines", there's a considerable amount of variety. As you fight, you earn command points, which you can spend in one of three doctrines. Each has a simple tech tree of special powers that tweak the game rules, add new units, and give you powerful abilities.

For instance, the Allies can choose among Infantry, Airborne, or Armor doctrines, each with six unique powers that you can purchase once you've earned enough command points. At first glance, these might seem minor, offering perhaps a special unit or an off-map attack of some sort. But after closer examination and maybe a few games, you'll see that each tech tree almost breaks the game.