The year is 1944. The European Theatre has reached a critical point. Realising that control of France is the key to victory, Allied forces plan and stage perhaps the most important military offensive in the history of the modern world, codenamed Operation Overlord. The plan is simple: using airborne and ground forces from the United States, Canada, the UK and other countries, the Allied war machine will invade France, wrest control of the country from the Nazi regime, and continue on the path to Berlin and the end of the war. But things don't go quite according to plan.Despite detailed planning, the Allied forces soon ran into complications. Incoming aircraft carrying parachute units met heavy resistance, leading to airborne 'mis-drops' and scattering of key squads across the French countryside. While allied forces met little resistance at Utah Beach, the casualties at the Juno and Omaha Beaches were staggering. Despite the high rate of dead and wounded, Allied forces continued to push forward at the beachheads, eventually overcoming the heavily entrenched German resistance.Company of Heroes is the PC game that lets you re-live all the events of June 6, 1944 in the most detail: detail that is sometimes mind-blowingly good (PC spec permitting) and horrifyingly, viscerally realistic, but in a good way, of course. COH is a real-time experience and WWII like you've not seen before, and while the game is not as much fun as watching Kelly's Heroes on DVD for the umpteenth time (then again, if we're talking World War 2-based entertainment, what is') the action within is worth 'shelling' out for. So never mind Saving Private Ryan, start saving for Company of Heroes and its wonderfully cinematic gameplay experience.