There were dozens of WWII strategy games, almost more than shooters. The strategy allowed you to see the tactical side of the way and could play out real scenarios in a more realistic manner. Many of them were boring and bad, but the king of them all is the Company of Heroes. It revolutionized the strategy genre and surprisingly pushed PCs to their limits with DirectX 10 graphics. Who would have thought a strategy game would do that? Company of Heroes had a great interface, tons of levels, addictive multiplayer, and great strategy elements. The only issue was that the game was as buggy as sin, but slowly got patched over time.

Company of Heroes

Release Date: 9/13/2006 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 93%

Sales: Unknown

Company of Heroes was a fantastic game and one of the best strategy games ever made. It was just one of the best WWII games period. It had great tactics, a wonderful interface and really showed the gritty depressing tragedy of the war. You got down to the individual tactics that only a strategy game can do. It was praised by everyone for all the great features. It also used DirectX 10 graphics and really pushed PCs to their limits, it was a benchmark game and a graphics card seller. It only received some nit-picking about long load times, a lot of bugs, and the small number of factions you could choose. Every strategy gamer needs to play this.

Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts

Release Date: 9/24/2007 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 87%

Sales: Unknown

Opposing Fronts was the highly anticipated expansion and was received warmly. It added new factions that were really needed and a whole new campaign that was a blast to play. The destructible environments really helped push the game’s surreal atmosphere, it honestly didn’t get better than this. Bugs still remained despite being a year old, yet fans at the game up like candy.

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

Release Date: 4/7/2009 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 71%

Sales: Unknown

I can’t say it enough, even the best games can fall from grace. Two years was a long gap for an expansion to come out. By now people had moved on, why Relic released an expansion 18 months later is a head-scratcher. You can really feel the lack of attention to the game because the new campaign could be finished in a couple of hours and was just lacking. It only added a few new maps and was just nothing compared to the previous games. THQ must have forced Relic to make this, it also looked really dated at this point in time. It goes to show that you can’t force and rush even the best of games. The series would take a long 4 year hiatus for the next sequel.

Company of Heroes 2

Release Date: 6/25/2013

GameRankings: N/A

Sales: N/A

I know this game isn’t out yet, but the fact that a WWII game is coming out in 2013 is pretty weird and scary. Can it live up to the original game? Will it have groundbreaking graphics again using DirectX 11? It focuses on the Russian front in 1941 which will be interesting. After all these mediocre WWII strategy games have come out what else can Company of Heroes offer? June 25 will tell all.