Company of Heroes is a WWII Real Time Strategy game that brings to life the journey of the brave men of Able Company as they fight across Europe in the greatest war mankind has ever known.

From the studio that brought you the blockbuster games of the year Homeworld, Impossible Creatures and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War comes the next revolution in action strategy. Company of Heroes is a WWII Real Time Strategy game that brings to life the journey of the brave men of Able Company as they fight across Europe in the greatest war mankind has ever known.

From the opening shots of the D-Day invasion of Normandy players will find themselves immersed in a rich single player campaign. Experience the cinematic intensity, courage, and bravery of the heroes that defined a generation, set against the backdrop of the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game. It is simply without equal!

Here are some key features of "Company of Heroes":

· Essence Engine - Relic's next generation cutting-edge engine provides graphics quality and a physics driven world that is unprecedented in an RTS.
· Environmental Strategy - Real-time physics and a completely destructible environment guarantee no two battles ever play out in the same way. Destroy anything and re-shape the battlefield in your image! Use buildings and terrain to your advantage, or deny them to the enemy.
· Living Soldiers - Advanced squad AI brings your soldiers to life as they interact with their changing environment, take cover, and execute advanced squad tactics to eliminate all enemy opposition.
· 2-8 players MP competition via Lan or Internet - Go online with friends and join in the ultimate battle of Axis versus Allies.


What's New in This Release:

DX10 Features
· Edges of particles are softened where intersecting 3D objects.
· Thousands of additional 'litter' objects in the world.
· Improved user control over anti aliasing settings.
· Alpha to coverage anti aliasing to improve quality of alpha test objects such as shrubs.
· Lighting quality has improved by moving all calculations per pixel.
· More precise point light calculations.
· Point lights can now cast shadows.
· 3D short grass on the terrain.
· Vertical refresh synchronization is enabled by default to improve visual quality by preventing tearing of the display image, use '-novsync' to disable.
· Hardware PCF for improved shadow quality.
Other Fixes
· Various crash fixes.
· Improved hack detection.
Gameplay
· Axis Pak38 50mm accuracy modifiers vs infantry target types have been reduced.
· Allied M1 57mm AT gun accuracy modifiers vs infantry target types have been reduced.
· Certain Infantry Antitank weapons (bazookas, panzerschrecks, recoilless rifles) accuracy modifiers vs infantry target types have been reduced.
· Attack ground functionality was removed from the 234 Armored Car to fix issues enabling it to fire through shot-blocking objects.
· Tank and armoured car weapon types can no longer one-shot kill 234/Puma Armoured car and M8 Armoured Cars.


Note: Vista Users, it's VERY important that you get the latest beta drivers if you want to use DX10.

Relic reports there's a bug in the 158.18 drivers that prevents display of effects, and also those drivers have performance optimizations for DX10.