Company of Heroes

Combat Mission , Operation Flashpoint , some installment of Pro Evolution Soccer - these are items like a boomerang returning to my tough guy after each format. I particularly value this first game (the whole series, although with an indication of Afrika Korps ) - because how not to love a program that has been invariably chaining to the monitor for many years, enticing with realism of the gameplay, richness of details and incredible playability (and Poles play in this spectacle his role, not extras). However, in any such long-term relationship, sooner or later, this inevitable (though temporary!) Fatigue occurs: in time, we demand from the partner to carry out a deeper facelift in the sphere of video and audio, enlargement ... of gameplay with new possibilities or removal of this irritating cellulite near UI. If this does not happen, it is time to face a more serious crisis of ties - and everyone deals with it as much as they can. I - not trying to be original - liked the method of harmless side-leaps: all these second-war RTSs are just such small, insignificant betrayals. And let's face it: Company of Heroes created by Relic Entertainment is probably also such an adventure for a while - yes, shapely than its predecessors, more playful and gymnastic ;-) but still - for a while.

The program will lead us through a large piece of French Normandy occupied in 1944 by the Fryców. Getting to know the tourist attractions of this beautiful land, I think, will start with the steel hedgehogs Omaha (this time we are getting a section of the Red Dog), protecting our people from MG-42 bullets. Protecting roughly as much as the fig leaf from the prying eyes of jewels covered with it. We will cross the ruined port of Cherbourg, the city of St. Lo, at the end we will close the boiler at Falaise. The collective hero of the story was made of soldiers from Company A (like Able) - paratroopers, but also ordinary walkers (popular "hares"). Although the campaign offered allows you to look at the events only from an American perspective, we should not complain about the duration of the game - going through each of the dozen or so missions takes a lot of time and we certainly will not be able to tick off a single act of this story between soup and the second course (in addition to the game menu suggests that there will be quite a few additional scenarios in the future).

The mechanics of the game are based on the well-known (because of Warhammer) concept of taking control over strategically important sectors of the board and building bases, and then own, small armies based on raw materials flowing from these territorial gains. More vividly? Please: do you want to suppress the enemy's resistance by confronting him with your multi-ton armored monsters? Nothing simpler, first you just have to take over - in a often bloody battle - the fuel point (being the heart of the relevant sector), in order to be able to produce tanks and throw them into battle. The more of these sectors you have in your hands, the more fuel flows in a wider and more rapid stream, enabling the subsequent descent of cans from the assembly lines.

Things are similar when the Soviet doctrine of flooding the enemy with the sea of infantry is closer to you, but then you must take care of the inflow of raw material called "manpower". In one sentence, to be able to effectively compose your army with many types of weapons (infantry, tanks), you need to ensure free access to the resources you need, in addition to the two ammunition mentioned above - the latter is needed, among others to upgrade units. And to make the gameplay even more complicated and more attractive, sectors rich in these "deposits" must be combined with your home / home (in which you set the base and produce units) - otherwise the raw materials will not reach their destination.

And it's probably easy to imagine how such mechanics translates into playability. The enemy suffocates us in an armored embrace, from its too strongly defended base are the tigers and leopards leaving uninterrupted stream? Then you can try to turn off the oil tap, cutting him off from the fuel sectors. Or maybe master the latter by dropping on them a small landing of elite "drops"? The Łebski commander will always find here several alternative ways to solve the problem.

Tank battles are another sphere of the game bearing the features of a more original than the competition. The silly strips of life over the carts were not given up, but the effort was made to implement more accurate vehicle damage: the 'can' can be used to fine-tune the engine, significantly reducing its mobility, in the same way you can 'spoil' the car's cannon, making it less dangerous, and finally to kill a machine gunner on board (although this is more damage to ... a man ;-)). The standard in RTSs is remembering of different armor thickness depending on the side of the tank (sides and back thin and fire-sensitive), here, in addition, I did not really notice the situation that the fire of infantry weapons, or even small-caliber cannons attacking the tank from the front, caused him to deplete his life belt. But vehicles are also one of the few beets of this game: I have repeatedly witnessed armored duels "from touchdown", when tanks exchanged courtesies rubbing against each other with armored sides (and no exaggeration) - horror, immediately to be corrected.

I liked the physics for which the Havok 3 engine is responsible, such a mix of realism with Hollywood eye-catching effects: a big impression is made by a man thrown backwards by a bullet, falling like long; or a killed tank shooter to anyone on the tower, limply sliding down the armor to the ground, not to mention soldiers being thrown into the air by a nearby explosion, often in several pieces.

The sound effects, or rather their entire cacophony, caress our ears more than sufficiently, although the tone of the MG-42 working at full speed is rather not like this characteristic sound of a torn canvas. In general, gunshots sound great, with a kind of mechanical clang, I would write. Soldiers' remedies cannot be faulted either, except maybe that some of the lyrics are shocking with humor (but I've always liked this distance). However, I will stick to music, one of the weaknesses of the program - such thrilling musical themes as (let's say it) in Hitman: We won't hear bloody money here. So it's a bit like this characteristic American pathos is missing, probably because the game was made by ... Canadians ;-).

The whole graphic orgy is complemented by movies merging individual episodes of the campaign - maybe they do not sin with the originality of presenting the story (some boards with arrows and symbols of units or a picturesque, battle-like landscape with a dead body in the background), but they also allow you to feel the right atmosphere. Similarly dynamic for the variety of cutscenes in the missions - just as Spielberg's film made a great impression on everyone, you can convince yourself by watching the intro to the first of them (Omaha) ...