Close Combat: First to Fight
Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 1:36 pm
I had high hopes for this game, seeing how it's based on a Marine Corps training sim and all. Well, I was let down. I don't think the game sucks exactly, but it falls short in many areas. First among them is the AI, both your team's and the enemy's. I've seen many instances of enemies running into and through you before they engage, and your fire team is lousy at finding cover.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that they billed this game as being very tactically oriented, with the emphasis placed on proper control of your fire team. Well, they don't give you much in the way of control options. You don't even have positional control, and the team moves slow as shit. The only thing that works well is the 'Take Down' command you issue when going through doors. The team is pretty effective at clearing rooms, and you can have them throw a frag before clearing the room also. But, you don't always have either option. Controls are issued from a 'radial' menu brought up by the right mouse button, and you're limited to whatever options the game thinks you should have at that point.
You usually have sniper, mortar, or airstrike support. The snipers are cool because when you call them on a target, they don't just shoot the one enemy, they clear the whole area.
The other thing I really can't stand is the fact that you have to have your crosshair pointing at a target to issue the suppressing fire command to your team, which usually leaves you exposed and shot. Your team sucks at suppressing, too.
Graphically it's nice to look at. I'm running it at 1600x1200 w/2x AA. My system could handle more, but I haven't bothered.
The weapon sounds are mediocre, certainly nothing on the order of CoD.
Overall, I'd give it about a 5. It's a great concept that's just not very well executed. Needs more than a fair bit of work, so wait for this one to hit the bargain bin.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that they billed this game as being very tactically oriented, with the emphasis placed on proper control of your fire team. Well, they don't give you much in the way of control options. You don't even have positional control, and the team moves slow as shit. The only thing that works well is the 'Take Down' command you issue when going through doors. The team is pretty effective at clearing rooms, and you can have them throw a frag before clearing the room also. But, you don't always have either option. Controls are issued from a 'radial' menu brought up by the right mouse button, and you're limited to whatever options the game thinks you should have at that point.
You usually have sniper, mortar, or airstrike support. The snipers are cool because when you call them on a target, they don't just shoot the one enemy, they clear the whole area.
The other thing I really can't stand is the fact that you have to have your crosshair pointing at a target to issue the suppressing fire command to your team, which usually leaves you exposed and shot. Your team sucks at suppressing, too.
Graphically it's nice to look at. I'm running it at 1600x1200 w/2x AA. My system could handle more, but I haven't bothered.
The weapon sounds are mediocre, certainly nothing on the order of CoD.
Overall, I'd give it about a 5. It's a great concept that's just not very well executed. Needs more than a fair bit of work, so wait for this one to hit the bargain bin.