The Close Combat series by Atomic Games from Clear Lake (Houston, Texas) takes us for a ride down the memory lane to a time when innovation in games was a high priority design element. Atomic Games introduced a two dimensional, squad based, real-time strategy game that even today ranks as one of the most realistic combat simulations. The Close Combat games recreated various battlefields of World War II Europe in which, through carefully designed algorithms, your actions affected each member of your squad down to their combat experience and psychology. Unfortunately for Atomic Games, the overuse of the "good ole" innovative formula that made their games a stunning success proved to be a root of their demise. By the time the 5th title (Invasion: Normandy) in the series came out, most of the original fans got tired of the same rehashed game play that brought minimal graphical improvements. The overall mood was one of disappointment: until now.
Destineer Studios, a fairly new game development house decided to fill the gap that resulted in the overuse of the original Close Combat formula. By buying the copyright for the Close Combat series, Destineer set out to bring back innovation. This "time around" the game would look and feel completely new but would retain the real world combat design of its predecessor.
Game content often follows or mimics current geopolitical events. Close Combat: First to Fight is no exception. Although placed in a somewhat fictional battlefield (future Lebanese political and military chaos), the game's thematic content is borderline clichй. Add to that the fact that you are a US Marine squad leader tasked to bring order, you will almost feel as if you are drowning within another US military commercial akin to America's Army and Kuma War. While many may feel that my comment is unpatriotic, I must add that at the time when on average two of our soldiers die each day in Iraq and Afghanistan and many are wounded along with countless civilian casualties, the glorification of war, sadly, tends to be a good commercial venture.
Aside from the game's plot, I was very impressed behind the technical and gameplay elements of CC: First to Fight. If you enjoy first person shooters you will be happy to know that Destineer fulfilled its goals of adding innovation to the stale genre. For starters, the command of your squad feels natural due to the intuitive layout of controls and almost human-like level of artificial intelligence of your squad mates. Your enemies are just as impressive - I was amazed at how natural their behavior was during the intense fire fights. They duck for cover and often move trying to get an upper hand by finding a more advantageous position from which to open fire. The game is big on fluid tactics and that is one of my favorite elements that I find make this game so unique.
In many first person shooting games, with the exception of the Rainbow Six and SWAT series, you can get away a lot of time with a John "Rambo" like mentality. This is not the case with CC: First to Fight. Rushing in and trying to act as a one man army will buy you quickly a ticket back home in a body bag. The utilization of the proven Marine combat tactics and the feeling of camaraderie will allow you to feel what it means to be a Marine. Sempre Fi will echo as you become attached to your squad and fully immersed in combat. This is most likely a result of the tight cooperation between Destineer and the many Marine Corps active duty and retired personnel that were called in to assist in making the game realistic and true to the very principles of the United States Marine Corps combat doctrine. Many of the game's advisors served in the Middle East recently and that can be easily noticed in the way missions have been constructed.
The explosive gaming experience is even more amplified in the multi-player segment of the game were you play cooperatively with fellow human players either locally (split screen or system link) or over the Internet (Xbox Live). CC: First to Fight co-op gameplay is simply amazing as strategy is of paramount importance and team work is delegated among your team members. With Xbox head sets being common among many gamers, true voice communication scores major cool points. Aside from co-op there is also a standard team death match type of game.
The technical side of the game is strong. The Xbox version of the game includes good quality maps with plenty of unique elements such as TV crews, realistic looking Middle Eastern locales, artillery support and many other surprises for you to discover. The 3D models display high polygon count and the animations look natural. The audio elements are of high quality as well. The weaponry sounds realistic and the soldiers' acting is good in both English and Arabic. The background music is subtle and it fits the gaming atmosphere well.
Overall, Destineer has been able to insert life-giving originality within a genre that is often stuck with worn out and politically questionable content. Even though the game takes place in a sadly familiar part of the world, CC: First to Fight deserves high marks for revitalizing the Close Combat series' golden legacy. The US Marine Corps should be also proud for the combat realism that this game delivers.
I have been addicted to gaming since I played Pong for the first time when I was six years old. In the meantime, I have played thousands of games (all possible genres) on various systems from Atari 7800 and ZX Spectrum to Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga 500, PCs (Intel 8086 to the latest Intel and AMD chipsets), all Nintendo systems, all Sony Playstation systems, all Sega systems and finally Microsoft's XBox. Aside from gaming, I love to read (sci-fi, military history, politics, mysteries, puzzles...) and love to play chess which I do on a daily basis...
