Company of Heroes 2 pre-E3 peek

Company of Heroes (CoH) is one of my personal favourite RTS games, and despite its relative age (launched in 2006) it’s still a fantastic looking game, with rock-solid gameplay mechanics. Of course, considering that veteran RTS developer Relic Entertainment (Homeworld, Warhammer 40K Dawn of War franchise) is behind the title, I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Back in 2010, Relic and THQ experimented with a free-to-play Company of Heroes game which would have generated income through micro-transactions, but that project was canned. Surely they will have learned a few things from the exercise.

With a lot of focus subsequently put into numerous Dawn of War titles, Company of Heroes has taken a back seat – but it’s ready to burst back onto the RTS scene with its first big showing, happening at the E3 2012 gaming expo.

Here’s what we know so far.

The Eastern front

The original Company of Heroes focussed on the oft-told tales of the battles on the Western front of World War II.

Company of Heroes 2 takes a tour of duty on the bitter Eastern front of the war, where some of history’s most brutal and devastating conflicts took place. It is 1941, and players will take command of the Soviet Red Army as Nazi Germany launches a full-scale invasion across the frozen tundra of the Soviet Union – a war which would result in over 14 million military casualties.

Presumably, the campaign will see us firstly defending the motherland from the Nazi scourge, and then driving them back into the very heart of Berlin.

Company of Heroes 2

There are new commander abilities promised. In the original these abilities granted players perks and unique units based on their commander specialisation, such as commando para-troopers for the allies, or brutal Panzer tanks for the Germans. Another new feature teased is named ‘Dynamic Battle Tactics’; not much info on that, so we’ll wait for E3.

A full-featured online multiplayer component is obviously a core component of any modern RTS, and Relic promises to deliver both competitive and co-op modes. This is one area that I’m hoping Relic have learned from Company of Heroes Online, as well as CoH 1 which used the frustrating “Relic Online” match-making service.

Company of Heroes 2

The essence of Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes used Relic’s own Essence 3D engine. Dawn of War II bumped things up to Essence 2.0, which most importantly introduced multi-processor support.

Company of Heroes 2 will be the début of Essence 3.0, which will boast more improvements. For now Relic has only revealed that the engine utilises a True Sight system, which will have an impact on the strategic elements of gameplay.

CoH using Essence 1.0 was a very demanding game for PC systems at the time, and on the highest settings, it will even thoroughly test modern gaming rigs. Hopefully Essence 3.0 will be a smoother ride.

Company of Heroes 2 is set to invade PC sometime in 2013.