From: "Todd Warner" Subject: CC3 Review Here is my review of Close Combat 3 (CC3). I am playing this game on PII-400, 128 Meg ram, and full install with a 19” monitor. I have played both from the German and Russian side. I will break down the review into the following sections: Introduction, game enhancements, pre-game interface, game interface, AI and Gameplay and finally my campaign results. INTRODUCTION: If you have played any of the CC series then you will fully understand the basics and will be ready to jump right in. If you are new to this series, then there is an excellent tutorial called “Bootcamp” that will allow you to learn the basics. To become an expert will take experience. Overall it is an easy game to learn but tough to master. Overall (at least from my experience) this game is very stable with no noticeable bugs. I have had no crashes and no other problems. Atomic should be commended for this since it seems like anymore we are paying to beta test games. Now atomic has taken some historic liberties with the game but they are not bugs IMO (though some people are bugged by them). GAME ENHANCEMENTS: Here are what I find to be significant changes from the CC1 and CC2 games. Atomics has added a facing indicator that shows you which way your people/tanks are looking. It also allows you to make quick adjustments. This is very useful in allowing you when in the defense (and even in the attack) to have all areas covered. WAYPOINTS have been added. This is probably one of the most needed enhancements. Now you can decide what route to take instead of leaving it up to the computer. In addition, the Tank movement routines do seem to be improved though occasionally there are some anomalies, but still much improved over CC2 Leaders have been added. You are now represented on the battlefield as this leader. You decide where you should be to best direct the battle and to keep your soldiers morale up. You can even add additional leaders to as to increase your force effectiveness. Options, options, options. Atomic has gives you options to tailor the game you want. You can decide what is shown on your map (overview map, soldier monitor, and team data) with a click of the function keys (F5-F7). Very nice feature. Additional options are there to allow you control the fog of war, AI strength and additional situational awareness. You can decide on what language you want to hear (Russian, German or English). Offboard artillery is used in certain battles though cannot be controlled by you. It really there to simulates the prepatory barrage before the attack. Improved statistics on your force. You can now see what your losses and what you inflicted for the battle, operation or campaign. More information about your teams/roster is available. Units, units. PRE-GAME INTERFACE When setting up your game you have options (or least I did) of resolutions of 800x600 to 1600x1200. I choose the 1024x768. At higher resolutions, I found the PRE-GAME INTERFACE to be too small for my liking. The interface is straightforward and it seems that Atomic tried to make improvements from CC2. I will mainly talk about the buy screen as this is where I spend most of my time and really is the central point. The buy screen has several enhancements now. First, you now have controlled whom you want to reconstitute after the battle (REFIT button). When examining units you get the usual INFO, but have the option of clicking a DETAIL button that will allow you to see what are the actual weapons breakouts. There is now a REST button that will allow you to select what forces you would like to rest for a battle. There is even a option to RENAME you units. This only allows you rename the squad, not the individual soldiers. At any time from this screen, you can click on various buttons that will take you to your operation and/or battle briefings. You can get an overview map of your next battle. You can also check out a historical timeline. GAME INTERFACE The game interface has changed substantially. In fact, I disliked the changes initially because I didn’t like the layout. Then I read a little more and played around and found the function keys (F5 to F7) and came to accept that they infact improved the interface. If you recall from CC2 the interface had a map overview, team data (displays a quick status of all teams) and a soldier monitor (displays more detailed status of soldier in team) all there. You could either have it on or off. Now in CC3 you can choose what you want displayed. This allows you to have more maps available and with a quick key press you can have more detail. You also can toggle on the outline and powerbars. There are many options (read flexibility) here to decide what is important and you want displayed. The graphics and sound are well done and have been improved upon. Explosions and smoke are greatly improved. Maps are just pretty. AI AND GAMEPLAY/MANUAL: As far as the AI goes, I would characterize it as average. There is the ability to change the handicap. You can increase/decrease yours and/or the AI buy points. The one criticism I have with the AI/computer is how it buys it forces and I believe this leads to some of the perception that the AI is weaker compared to CC2 . It loves tanks. It will buy tanks and keep buying tanks. I learned this the hard way playing as the Germans. I used what I learned from CC2 and built myself what I thought was a balance forces. But as I progressed through the campaign (as Germans) I found I was outmatched by a predominant armor force. Unfortunately, this ends up making this a game of a armor vs. armor. Don’t get me wrong, you still need infantry but the AI seems to buy mostly armor which in turn forces your to stock up on armor/AT weapons. Another problem/concern that can be annoying is that if you decisively beat the computer in a operation then in the next operation you will only get usually 10 pts (none of your points carryover – so spend them if you got them). From what I read this was a play balance issue which I can see. However, this can be very painful for your next operation if you suffered substantial casualties. My other disappointment was in campaign play. I loved CC2 campaign. I felt it really gave a dynamic environment throughout the game. CC3 is more of a linear campaign system with dynamic operations (i.e. fighting across various maps in an operation). But in the end I have come to accept the campaign system for what it is: Your not trying to change history, but build a effective fighting force that can beat the enemy on a wide variety of battlefields. I don’t think it was a innovative as the CC2 campaign engine, but then again they are fighting a different battle/war and you just need to keep your expectations/perspective checked at the door and accept it the way it is. The manual is adequate. It gives the minimum you need to know. It has some nice historical information side notes. It would have been nice if he had summary of all equipment available with important details (toilet reading material). What is missing is there no description about what the leader radius (and color) means. I assume the drawn leader radius indicates the leaders effectiveness range (have no idea what the color means. Also there are other options like powerbars and outlines that can be displayed but the meaning of the colors meanings are never really explained (though I can infer what they mean). One nice thing is a back page summary (in color) of what the different direct/indirect targeting line colors mean. As well as the targeting dot colors. This will be especially useful for new people who never have played the series (I have it already memorized after CC1 and CC2). MY CAMPAIGN RESULTS I have completed half the operations as the RUSSIANS. Overall, I have completed 8 out of 16 operations. I have 4 Total, 1 Major, 1 decisive victories. I have 2 losses. The first loss was from the 1st operation where the russians are very weak and I fought with an open hand instead of a closed fist. The other operation was the first Stalingrad battle. I had won a total victory in the previous operation but suffered some serious losses/damage. I only got 10 points to refurbish. I actually trade in some units to get a flame-thrower and couple AT rifles (I had 1 operational tank). I set up expecting (actually hoping) mostly infantry force with some tank support. I got almost completely armored force that just overwhelmed me. From there on I fought a delaying action trying not to get my forces decimated and took my loss. Overall so far the losses have been: Soldiers Germans Russion (me) Killed 216 91 Wounded 209 67 Prisoner 49 9 Vehicles Germans Russians Destroyed 84 12 Damaged 11 8 Captured 11 1 My core force (major) is: 2 T-34 Command Teams 2 Combat Engineers 1 SMG Infantry 1 HMG Infantry 1 120mm Mortar 1 82mm Mortar 2 KV-Is 3 T-34 1 KV-Ia 1 slot open OVERALL SUMMARY: Overall CC3 is a very solid game. Atomic applied a substantial number of enhancments to the game system. It does seem like they have tried to listen to what people wanted changed in CC2. In fact it is to bad they couldn’t somehow apply these enhancements to CC1 and CC2. So far my gaming experience has been fun and interesting and will probably be worth the $40 dollars I paid. There are some playbalance issues that do (see main text) detract from the game (IMO) and will cause some criticism. Hopefully they will consider addressing some of these issues whether its just through a explanation of how the game systems works or though some type enhancement in the game engine. -- Todd Warner