Close Combat is a pausable real-time wargame series, heavily focused on historical accuracy and realistic soldier psychological profiles. Team management is crucial as every man in your teams matter. Close Combat: Gateway to Caen focuses on the largest, concentrated British offensive since the Normandy landings in an attempt to penetrate the German lines west of Caen and cross the Odon River to get the stalled advance moving again.
With Close Combat: Gateway to Caen you can play at the strategic and tactical level, putting yourself in the boots of both the generals and the platoon commanders. You can move or combine your battlegroups on the strategic level and decide the outcome of battles on the tactical level. You will command squads in close combat situations, using small arms, mortars, machine guns, armored cars, and tanks to triumph against the enemy. You command artillery and mortar barrages and even air strikes. You will get to know individual solders, platoons, battalions, and the larger brigades and battle groups which they comprise.
Close Combat 5: Invasion: Normandy - Utah Beach to Cherbourg includes a free copy of Close Combat (Windows 7 / 8 only, added as a bonus goodie) Close Combat: Invasion: Normandy takes WWII realism back to the beaches of Northern France. Re-live the campaign that gave the Allies a foothold on the doorstep of Fortress Europe. Close Combat: The Bloody First is the latest release in the critically-acclaimed Close Combat series, and the first using the new 3D Archon engine. With this Close Combat: The Bloody First combines classic Close Combat tactical gameplay with battles fought across a wide variety of diverse 3D landscapes including craggy ridgelines, narrow.
Players can experience the desperate situation of the outnumbered, but well-armed Panzergrenadiers, or the daunting offensive mission of the fully-supported British infantry advancing across the treacherous Odon Valley. At your command are Churchill, Cromwell, Firefly, Sherman, Stuart tanks and more. Panther, Tiger, Stug, and Mk.IV tanks will arrive to support German Panzergrenadiers as they try to hold the line against a concerted British attack.
The historic scope of Operation Epsom is captured in single battles, operations, and the grand campaign. The strategic battlefield offers over two dozen individual battlefields with over three dozen accurately portrayed German and British battle groups. British infantry regimental history is reflected in name among the various battalions. You can deploy your battalions as they actually fought in the struggle for the Odon. The game includes all new maps and a range of upgraded effects.
THE SETTING
With the success of the Allied landings at Normandy and their domination of air and sea, expectations were high that the momentum would continue on land. It was not to be so. Though initially surprised and overwhelmed, the German Army quickly recovered, mobilized, and, counterattacked. Field Marshal Rommel formed a capable defense in Normandy that made the Allied advance costly. Superior Allied artillery and air power failed to crack the German lines. Though the Norman City of Caen was originally a British D-Day objective, its capture would elude and frustrate Montgomery’s 21st Army for weeks to come. Operation Epsom was Field Marshall Montgomery’s first concentrated attempt to go around the city and the Odon River, and break through the strengthening German bulwark. The newly-arrived British VIII Corps, supported by 700 guns of the Royal Artillery made a go of it along a four-mile front between Rauray and Carpiquet. Defending that front was the infamous 12th SS Panzer Division. Though reduced by weeks of heavy fighting they remained a potent and experienced foe. The Germans had offensive plans too, but the British struck first, and the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, the last of Germany’s offensive reserves in Normandy, was instead committed to stopping the British breakthrough along the Odon. Can you, as Montgomery and his commanders, re-chart the course of the Normandy campaign and prevail against Germany’s SS Panzer divisions? Can you as the Germans, once again stop Montgomery, or eclipse history and push the British back entirely?
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World War II is one of the most justifiable wars in which the United States has participated, so it comes as no surprise that video games reflecting this era are very popular. Most people look on the war as a moment of great triumph for the USA and its allies against an enemy with previously unheard of means for destruction. WWII veterans have few or no misgivings about why they were fighting and neither will you when you play Close Combat: Invasion Normandy. The game is based in France where the Allies gained a foothold in Europe.
The main objective is to control as many important points as possible and not simply just kill the enemy. In fact, eliminating the enemy in every mission isn't possible because there simply isn't enough time or manpower. Each side begins with a certain number of control points and must advance and take control of as many new ones as possible. This slow process will aggravate some gamers because troops move like molasses. While you do have the option of quicker movement in some situations, troops cannot run right past an enemy -- each time enemy troops are spotted, your units hit the dirt and attack. This element of gameplay lasts a very long time due to the difficulty in dispatching the enemy from certain positions. Tanks and large guns also prohibit you from blazing through the battlefield because of their range.
The game seems very simple when viewed in terms of its stated goal to 'control the most points' but, in practice, this is hardly the case. Before starting, you move your troops to any point within a highlighted area on the map. You then have to advance each unit towards the enemy front and, with well over ten units to control, many options for taking control of the battlefield are presented. It's possible to select multiple units and send them out to points that you deem more important or you can simply advance all of your troops directly forward. Typically, the side that controls the most points wins but occasionally, control of a specifically important site can mean victory.
Some hot keys are available but the mouse is the controller of choice. It's easier to simply right click on a troop and give the orders in an effort to try and speed up slow gameplay. The keyboard is used to set waypoints and utilize sea or air support. You can play a full campaign or any of the missions independently but gameplay doesn't end when you simply defeat the scripted scenarios. By customizing your own game, you can decide how many control points to assign to each side, how many and what type of troops and even limit supplies. For example, give the enemy a low supply of ammunition and no air or sea support and you increase your chances of winning significantly.
Not only can you create your own scenarios from scratch but you can also edit the existing campaigns. Each battle can be loaded into the editor and then customized. Doing so, of course, eliminates any historical accurateness of the original scenario. If you save the customized scenario over a preexisting one, you won't be able to restore the original without either reinstalling the game or grabbing the original file from the CD and importing it to the correct folder.
Even though very customizable, Close Combat: Invasion Normandy's gameplay can get very repetitive after repeated play. Granted, you have a multitude of strategic possibilities with the number of troops and unit types but, in the end, the game still has the same objective -- get the most control points. The characters and scenery are very small and after an hour of watching the tiny forces attack each other, it's easy to get tired of the entire concept. Although small, the environmental graphics look realistic.
The sound is well done but some varied objectives would've helped improve the game's longevity. For instance, what about having certain missions with no control points and an objective of simply destroying the other troops or a certain building? In World War II, certainly intelligence had to be used to find target points of great importance to eventually destroy them but, here, you only have one objective. Of course, changing these parameters would also expand the game beyond its strategic borders and lead to some inconsistencies.
Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is entertaining, though, and the custom mission builder lets you vary the difficulty of every level. The sounds immerse you in a very intense battlefield situation and while your troops don't move very fast, the weapons still fire quickly and when completely involved in a battle, you can hear it raging. You can play as either German or American forces with the number of troops for each tracked by a red (German) and green bar (American).
The game should appeal to the true war strategy fan but the lack of action coupled with repetitive gameplay will annoy many gamers. Just think of Close Combat: Invasion Normandy as a World War II board game with sound and animation in which you advance your troops in teams to control certain victory points.
Graphics: In high resolution, the trees, sand, water and other terrain look very realistic but it is all too small with no ability to zoom in on the action. Gunfire is represented by green and red streaks.
Sound: The sound is the only aspect of the game that gets intense and exciting. When you're in heavy enemy fire, you hear realistic gun shots along with yelling and screaming when soldiers are killed.
Enjoyment: Some aspects of the game make it repetitive but it still has some solid entertainment value. Watching the yellow smoke signals rise into the air to signal where bombers should strike is fun, especially when the screen shakes after they drop their payload. Much of the work lies in positioning your troops before they strike (it is a strategy title) since it's not possible to move them much after the battle starts.
Replay Value: Defeating the campaigns and pre-generated battles is only the beginning since you can also create your own battles, operations and campaigns. Additionally, you can play multiplayer with one other person using any of your own creations.
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