Close Combat: First To Fight
The first to storm in and try this, the first to move on.
Tags: Close Combat: First To Fight Categories: Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Travis on May 11th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close Combat: First To Fight (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| First Person Shooter | No | ||
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The United States Marines have a proud history as well as a few negative social stigmas, but no matter what you think of them, they are usually the first to land in combat zones and take charge of the situation (whatever it may be). The Close Combat series takes the opportunity to use this concept and tie in the history by incorporating Marines into their series, while at the same time improving and changing their style of gameplay to create an all new experience.
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If you’re familiar with the Close Combat franchise, you might expect that First to Fight follows the same road as its predecessors: a 2D, isometric strategy game with a focus on percentiles and stats. While the games had a huge following of grognards (that’s war gamers in geek speak), the rest of the gaming populace was a bit overwhelmed by the monstrously steep learning curve. So for those of us that don’t know a flanking maneuver from a flank steak, there’s First to Fight.
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Don’t think it’s just a dumbed down Close Combat game, though. First to Fight is actually an extremely complex, strategic and action-filled war title… but in a much more accessible format. The entire game plays from a first person perspective, placing you in the role of fireteam leader. A fireteam consists three Marines and a leader who directs the group to complete objectives. As the leader, you’ll run point for the other three soldiers (consisting of a heavy machine gunner, a rifleman and an assistant gunner), giving them orders to lay down covering fire, clear out an entranceway or call in for artillery fire.
Taking place in the Middle East, Close Combat: First to Fight has you leading a squad of four Marines through war-torn streets and bombed-out buildings while engaging Syrians and Lebanese. Don’t expect much in the way of background information or character development because Close Combat is not a story-driven game. The only cutscenes come in the form of fictional news footage in-between each of the six missions.
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Not that a plot is necessarily required in a militaristic shooter. All that’s needed are some thrilling firefights, some clever tactics and workable controls. In Close Combat, you control the leader of a small squadron, with three other soldiers who follow your orders. Running and gunning is only effective on the easiest setting, and even then you’ll find yourself failing the mission more often than you’d like. Maneuvering around carefully and ordering your squad to perform effective techniques is the best route to take.
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Issuing commands is a breeze with the ontrol scheme. Even though every button on the controller is used, everything can be easily performed. Laying down suppressing fire while flanking the enemy position sounds like a complicated technique, but it can be performed with the touch of a button from the radial menu. Simply clicking the action button brings up several options depending on what you’re aimed at. Providing cover fire, healing a fellow Marine, calling in air support and many other options are readily at your disposal thanks to the intuitive radial menu.
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When the enemy does, usually by chance, manage to bring down a fellow soldier you must provide first aid to that soldier. If you do not he will eventually die and you will have to start all over. For some odd reason the game sometimes starts you off from the exact moment following the death of the Marine (so you play with 2 Marines), and sometimes you go to a checkpoint. Other oddities in the game include your Marines sprinting faster than you when you give the “go” command and your speed is drastically increasing while climbing stairs. This lack of polish in the game is something that is recurring, and I feel that this game could have been much better if a few more months were spent tweaking it.
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Another gameplay device is the different room attack options.. Opening the radial menu while aiming at closed door will let you take one of two options. You can prepare your squad to simply storm the room, or take the less subtle approach and lob a grenade in the room when the signal is given. As soon as you decide which approach to take, tense music starts as the squad gathers around the door. On your signal, the door busts upon and the planning either pays off with dead hostiles or it flounders with some injured allies due to poor positioning.
If you manage to take an enemy’s comrades out, lay down suppressing fire, and so on, then you can use the radial menu to demand that the hostile surrenders. Once in a while they comply and you can cuff ‘em for an improved mission rating, but oftentimes they refuse your order if you haven’t done everything you could to discourage them. Once in a while they even fake the surrender in order to draw you out in the open.
As satisfying as clearing a room of hostiles or causing the enemy to surrender is, some of the “tactics” are cheap and come across as unrealistic in a game that proudly advertises its realism. When you’re not going against enemy armor or a turret, you only have to look for an enemy’s arm protruding from his cover to take him out. Far too much of the game has you waiting around corners for the enemy to foolishly reveal part of his body to take a shot, and then repeating this process several more times until he is eliminated.
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All in all, the gameplay of Close Combat: First to Fight was a bit weak. I would have loved to see better AI, less glitches, and more weaponry. There were a few nice features such as RTFA, takedowns, and support, but overall the game lacked polish. With a bit more time, this game could have had much better gameplay. I hope this game proves that gamers, for the most part, prefer a completely finished game delayed until after the scheduled release date over an on-time game that feels as if it should still be in beta testing.
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The audio in Close Combat: First to Fight is pretty cut and dry. The game has all the standard noises of war-torn streets and big guns, but music is only played during planned “exciting moments”. This could be an attempt to create a more realistic sounding game or simply yet another area of Close Combat that was rushed. The one thing that bothered me most about the sound was the alarms and sirens. Making their debut in one of the very first levels, these things shocked me out of my seat when I first heard them. I assume this was put in to immerse you into the game, but instead it will definitely annoy most gamers. On the whole the sound of Close Combat just isn’t up to par.
Close Combat: first to Fight is what it is, a decent but not great twist on the standard first person shooter. It looks ok, it plays ok, its sound is mediocre and the challenge is just… annoying and challenging. There will be some that love this game, but for most people, its something to try and then move on.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Its challenging + Controls arent that bad (radial menu options help) |
6.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- Sound is mediocre - Gameplay glitches gets annoying a lot |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| I have a friend who was in the marines... I showed him this game. He wasnt impressed... that's not a good sign. | |
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Tags: Close Combat: First To Fight
Posted by Travis on May 11th, 2005 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
