Rating: 
Summary: A Bridge To Far blew us away, now three games later...
Review: ...comes the Invasion of Normandy! As all World War II gamers have noted, the Close Combat series is as close to the "real thing" as it gets. Now that Close Combat V has arrived, a simulation is totally turned into reality. From the high firing-rate of the MG-42 to the moan of a wounded soldier, the sound effects will have you spinning in your chair. But the biggest feature and improvement of the Close Combat game is the graphics. Smoke effects, explosians, war machines, and even buildings and vegetation all make you feel as if you are looking at the battleground from a couple hundred feet. Play as the Germans and fight the numerous Allied forces, or side with the Americans and war against the stubborn and veteren German army. The one complaint, which may not be worth mentioning, it you have no 3D vision, so you can't tell when you are on a high hill or a low valley. Having an elevation window next to your curser would be a handy item. But enough of the complaint! As far as virtual gaming is concerned, nothing will come close to reality of warfare. The best historic game ever made, even educational at times, and most of all fun and exciting.
Rating:
Summary: A Bridge To Far blew us away, now three games later...
Review: ...comes the Invasion of Normandy! As all World War II gamers have noted, the Close Combat series is as close to the "real thing" as it gets. Now that Close Combat V has arrived, a simulation is totally turned into reality. From the high firing-rate of the MG-42 to the moan of a wounded soldier, the sound effects will have you spinning in your chair. But the biggest feature and improvement of the Close Combat game is the graphics. Smoke effects, explosians, war machines, and even buildings and vegetation all make you feel as if you are looking at the battleground from a couple hundred feet. Play as the Germans and fight the numerous Allied forces, or side with the Americans and war against the stubborn and veteren German army. The one complaint, which may not be worth mentioning, it you have no 3D vision, so you can't tell when you are on a high hill or a low valley. Having an elevation window next to your curser would be a handy item. But enough of the complaint! As far as virtual gaming is concerned, nothing will come close to reality of warfare. The best historic game ever made, even educational at times, and most of all fun and exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: Good head to head, crappy single player
Review: After paying two online Grand Campaigns with two very worthy opponents, I have come to respect this game for what it is - a fun H2H game, but it is not much more.The graphics out of the box are cartoon cutouts that look like they belong on a kids television show. Tank and AT guns simply look like they were copy and pasted from a comic book, which is horribly ugly to look at when you have the gorgeous maps you play on. Fortunatly, this can be solved with graphics mods for the game that greatly help and make the vehicles and guns look as they should, realistic. As for gameplay, it is safe to say that any experienced player will have no challenge at all on single player. The AI is atrocious, and no mod can help this. The only wayto get any enoyment whatsoever out of this game is to find a good, reliable opponent online, and play the grand campaign, that is where this game is fun. WWII grogs like myself will love this game, however, being a serious gamer the bugs detract from the simple play this gives. Since Atomic went out of business, the CC community now has to rely on third party patches and fixes to an extremely buggy game out of the box. If the CC series had actually evolved from its first installment, to now its fifth, then Atomic games might actually still be in business. This is a cheap knock-off of CC4, which was the absolute worst in the series, but can be fun when you find a very good opponent to play who is honest. Why? Reenforcement bug in GC - unlimited reinforcements for American player... In my first GC, I had to go up about three times the American armor is should have, which ruined the game. Fix this by keeping a paper chart with your opponent so as not to ruin the game, because there wont be any patch for this.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: An improvement over CCIV, CCV-Invasion Normandy is almost the ultimate WWII game. A Close Combat fan from Day 1, I thought CCIII was the best of the three when it came out, with its ability to build the opponent forces (although only for the initial battle). CCIV added the strategic element but eliminated the ability to control the make up of your own battle groups in the campaign scenarios. Invasion Normandy retains the strategic element as well as allowing you to control your opponents forces at the beginning of each engagement. The downside is that you can not build a fantasy group stacked with armour. If you want that, buy CCIII. I would rank the series as follows; III, V, IV, I, II. WWII games I enjoyed the most: Avalon Hill's "Third Reich", and the V for Victory Series, especially "Market Garden" by Atomic Games.
Rating:
Summary: Into the hedgerows.... and the beaches, and the port, and...
Review: As a fan of all the Close Combat games since CC2 (Market Garden), I'm glad the system hasn't changed too much. I can't say I'm all that thrilled that it's mostly infantry now (IMHO CC4 had a good balance of infantry and tank battles), but that comes with the terrain: run a tank unaccompanied by infantry down a lane with hedgerows on both sides and don't be surprised when a panzerfaust hisses out and blows it up. The comment about the Fallschirmjaeger being unbeatable probably reflects the reviewer playing the Germans against the AI as the Americans --- play the Americans and the Airborne units are immovable, even by FJ's. I may have a few quibbles (the devastating effectiveness of 80 mm mortars against artillery, for example), but as a deeply involving simulation of the difficulties of bocage fighting, this is a great game. Shame they don't have a Mac version....
Rating:
Summary: Virtually perfect virtual warfare
Review: As a fan of previous incarnations of Close Combat, I overlooked this latest offering when it was released. I only got round to buying it after playing a demo. This is surely the best version yet. I got the game 2 months ago and since then, it's rarely out of my CD-ROM drive! Whether you're new to Close Combat or you've played earlier versions, this game is a must have. You'll panic with your troops when a well placed machine gun team ambushes your advance. You'll whoop with delight when a lucky mortar shot takes out an enemy tank. You'll be relieved when your troops survive a map relatively unscathed. The initial learning curve is a little steep for new players, but the well written manual and simple tutorials should get you up and running quickly. Once into the game, you'll learn your lessons the hard way, from experience. The computer enemy AI is unforgiving to players who make rash decisions. Fortunately the multitude of possible difficultly settings mean you can find a level of play which suits you. The only fly in the ointment is the Tank AI which occasionally messes up. However, as you soon discover, even a fast moving Tank travelling in the right direction is an easy target in the hedgerows of Normandy. So the glitch is only a minor one. In combat the graphics are viewed top down. The clarity is excellent, allowing you to make the right decisions about the terrain first time everytime. The sounds in Close Combat are very good (invest in a good bass speaker). You'll learn to fear the sound of an MG42, unless you play as the Germans! The command screens are clearly laid out being easy to use and giving you all the information you need. Truly a five star General of real time strategy.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the rest ?
Review: As an avid player of the CC games I looked forward to CC5 very much. I enjoy the graphics and scenario system as well as the playing system. However, I was very disappointed by the fact that the game is limited to the American front in Normandy only. Some of the most interesting fighting, with some of the most interesting units on both sides took place in and around Caen. Not included. The British and Canadian attacks on the 1st SS Panzer Corps would have made some great battles to play. I can only hope that a "CC6" for the Normandy campaign that will cover these aras of the great battle.
Rating:
Summary: Same Great Action..One Quirk!
Review: Being the Close Combat fanatic that I am, I purchased it the first day. As usual, CC did not disappoint giving me the same intense action of past titles, with better sound effects. The map is huge and the grand campaign seems like it could be endless. This is a must have for any CC fan or any war gamer in general. One quirk however, was during the initial load screen, the game would crash saying "unable to stream". I know this usually means that Media player is not installed or your video card sucks. However, I know this isn't the case here because I have a PIII and Voodoo3 card and run every other game including other SSI's titles with no problem. Also CC doesn't take much CPU power to play. However once I turned the video's off in the options screen I was good to go. A bug I am sure they will fix!
Rating: 
Summary: Careful!
Review: Close Combat 4 was a huge disappointment! Careful with this one!
Rating:
Summary: Careful!
Review: Close Combat 4 was a huge disappointment! Careful with this one!
|
