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Company of Heroes

A close encounter

To get an idea of the detail in graphics, animation and physics modeling in CoH, let's take a closer look. Here an Allied M10 Tank Destroyer is able to sneak up on an enemy Panther, and fire a shot.

The Panther's armor is just too tough, despite the M10's perfect shot. Things are not looking too good, and the M10's crew is telling the player as much, only a lot less politely! Notice how the tree trunk in front of the M10 is blown forward by the muzzle blast.

The Panther returns fire, with unfortunate consequences. You can clearly see the recoil of the German tank's main gun, followed by an explosion that rips the M10 apart, throwing wheels and metal plates in all directions.

Plowing the battlefield

A continuously changing terrain creates new challenges for both the player and the game's artificial intelligence routines. The AI steps up and does its part of the job adequately. Units behave pretty logically with their movement and pathfinding AI, although sometimes your combat engineers decide to take shortcuts through the enemy lines, tanks reverse to combat with their vulnerable rear armor exposed, and units get stuck in narrow spaces. These occasional glitches are exacerbated by maze-like maps set in hedgerow-filled Normandy, although luckily some units can mow down the obstructing terrain (Havok Physics to the rescue!). Units that get stuck will eventually give up and stand around waiting for new orders. This is nothing new in the world of RTS, and not nearly the worst apple out there.

Can the player cope with this new environment any better than the AI? Absolutely, thanks to some great new features in the gameplay mechanics. Most importantly, the game uses a simple system for displaying cover available in a certain location. Little green, yellow and red shields next to the mouse pointer represent good, little and no cover, respectively. Choosing a location next to a wall makes the troops line up along the wall for cover, while moving an infantry unit to open ground makes them assume a wide line, aiming towards where they are ordered to face.

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