Rating: Summary: Great fun, but too easy Review: Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is overall an excellent game. If you are like me, sick of real-time strategy games that focus on how fast you can build troops and tanks to swarm the enemy, than CCV is for you. Most other games in the genre focus on who can build technology faster and kill the other teams ore trucks with greater effectiveness. Not CCV. This game focuses on tactics and realism. Your soldiers react realistically to situations. If a soldier sees his squad wiped out by a flamethrower, he'll likely break down and be useless. This adds alot of depth to the game and pushes it head and shoulders above the rest. The maps look superb and they are affected by mortar barrages etc. The intro music is pretty poor. It doesn't give the game the right feel, but this is minor. The real problem with the game is that it is too easy. The AI is just really poor sometimes. I've seen 3 whole squads crawl down a road and be mowed down by machine gun fire, and then the AI will send another squad down the same road to meet the same fate. This makes the game far too easy. likewise, the AI doesn't use tanks effectively at all. A tank can be the best weapon of all, but it can also be scrap metal. The computer AI prefers scrap metal. The expolsions look great, as do the animations. All in all, 4 stars. Great fun, and graphics, really poor AI.
Rating: Summary: Invasion Normandy returns to Close Combat's roots Review: Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is probably the best recent title in the Close Combat series. It returns to Normandy, the battle ground for the first CC title. You are commanding either the US divsions invading at Utah Beach or the Germans trying to stop them. No Tommies in this one! Personally, I would have liked to have been able to control British troops as well. Invasion Normandy puts the emphasis back on infantry and returns the armor to its support role. For those of you who thought that The Russian Front had way too much armor in it, then you will be happy to know that in Invasion Normandy most of the missions have no more than two armored vehicles to each side. Of course at times there are more, but for the most part this is an infantry strategy game. In some of the battles between the airborne divisions there isn't any armor at all! Game play is still pretty much same as compared to previous CC titles. During campaigns, you can now control your different battalions movements on the overall strategic map. This lets you move your battalions forward to take a new section of the Cotentin Peninsula and assign your mortar barrages, naval bombardments, and air strikes to battalions that you think will need them the most. It adds another dimension to the game and makes you think a little more. And sit back and enjoy the show when your naval bombardment comes from the 13in guns on a battle ship!!! The graphics have been improved slightly since The Russian Front. I haven't played Battle of the Bulge, so I don't know how the graphics compare there. The AI is still...well the usual CC AI. The infantry AI has never been that all that bad. The armor AI has improved some in this game, but you still end up wondering, as you watch tank after tank get destroyed by some stupid blunder, if maybe the tank commanders aren't really Nazis at heart! There are a few minor bugs in the program, but nothing catastrophic that I have seen. All in all this is a well rounded, real time strategy game, that is historically accurate and a whole lot of fun to play. This game ranks right up there with Age of Empires II as one of my favorite strategy games. It is definitely one of if not the best WWII strategy game out there right now. SSI made a smart move in aquiring the rights to the series as it fits right into the genre of games they produce.
Rating: Summary: Vast Improvement over CC4 Review: Close Combat: Invasion Normandy may be the best game in the CC series. Thanks to more balanced gameplay (i.e. armor doesn't overpower the game as in previous versions), each battle is interesting and different -- even against the computer! In previous versions, it seemed the computer would put the same units in the same places in the same battles -- very boring. The AI has been upgraded for this edition. The Battlemaker option has been fixed -- you can now pick and choose individual squads instead of picking unchangeable battlegroups. This feature allows you to design your own campaigns, battles and operations -- great when the preset battles get boring. To be honest, I haven't gotten bored of the preset battles (I've had the game the day after its release)! Also, online gameplay is incredibly smooth -- this adds another dimension to those gamers who tire of the computer's AI. Great game!
Rating: Summary: This is what I have been waiting for!! Review: Finally, a Close Combat game that features the invasion of normandy. I snatched this game up so fast, I couldn't wait, and once I got into it I wasn't disappointed. The first thing I noticed is that I can actually pass some of the missions. Close Combat IV was so incredibly difficult it almost made me hesitant to get this latest installment. Thank goodness, the easiest setting really means easy in this one. The game itself really isn't any different than the last couple CC games, and really could be considered an addon if it were any other game. Basically just has new missions, maps and various other minor features. That doesn't mean I don't like it. I love it. The missions involving taking the beach are just a blast, and so is basically everything else. This is definetly the best Close Combat yet.
Rating: Summary: A mix of Close Combat 2 and Close Combat 4. BUY IT! Review: Firstly, I'm a regular gamer and I say: BUY IT. We return to the hedgerow fighting of CC2, but with better graphics, this time. Die hard fans will notice small features like ambient sounds such as machine gun fire, and faint explosions on the edges of maps -- makes you feel like you're there...very nice addition. In this edition, the armies fall back on their infantry. This is not a huge tank battle like the Bulge or the Russian Front. It's nice to get some soldier action going on, finally. In short, this is the most "realistic", and probably most fun, real time strategy game you're going to find.
Rating: Summary: Demo was great So game Must be better! Review: I downloaded this demo from gamespot this morning. I have played non stop trying to master the Americans and the Germans. Great reality engine and awesome graphics. This is the best of the Close Combat series and If you have liked war games or strategy games in the past you need this game. The demo only comes with one mission though but it is a mission that delivers the full power of the game. These are your soldiers each one with a background, each one with a story. The mortal cries of your men deliver a strange adrenaline rush that I had never gotten from any game before. Definitely in my strategy collection. Definitely in my favorites collection.
Rating: Summary: So Far.. Review: I got the demo of this game, and it looks and plays like the previous four titles. Although feeling a little like a Close Combat: Battle Of The Bulge, that's definately not a bad thing. The graphics are getting a skoch old, (It looks a lot like CC3: The Russian Front) but, again, they still shine as compared to some other RTSs. The sound is better than ever, and the mission I played was fun, exciting, and intense. The tutorial will get a newbie off to a good start, and the highest difficulty level will challenge even the most fire-hardened grognard. A good pick for all wargames and fans of the Close Combat series.
Rating: Summary: Storm The Beach! Review: I have always been a close combat fan since the series came out. The game is fun overall, but can get dragging at times. I do like how the game is focused more on the infantry, rahter than heavy armor. Sounds are great, graphics are great, game play is great, but my only complaint is that there is no zoom in button. I know other CC games had them and I don't know why this one shouldn't have one. But that is ok. The planning feature of the game is intersting too. You are in control of what forces you are sending in as back up. The game is fun, especially if you are a hard core CC fan. There isn't much of a huge improvement over any of the other CC games, but like I said it is still fun to play. I hope they come out with more theaters of combat in future installments.
Rating: Summary: one of the best Review: I have played many games and i love this game.
Rating: Summary: one of the best CC's in the series Review: i just heard about this game last week surfing the web and couldnt believe that i didnt hear about it earlier! I am a die hard CC fan! bought every single one first day they came out and this definitely wasnt a dissapointment. Once again realism is unbelievable, sound is great...and i will never get old of its graphics. Its a classic. This game tends to lean more towards using soldiers instead of the massive tanks rushes in CC4 and CC3 so if you have been waiting for an awesome historical strategy game that is not just about tanks running though infantry....GET THIS GAME!! It is definitely worth it. PS: German SS sturmgrenadiers are unstoppable oh yeah that reminds me, this game has an RPG touch to it, units become veterans as campaigns progress and veteran troops dont panic as easily as "greenies" bUY THis GaME!!!
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