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Friday, November 21, 2008 |
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Close Combat: Cross of Iron
By Knowledge @ 9:12 PM :: 3797 Views ::  :: PC
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The Close Combat series of games from Atomic Games were once published by Microsoft. The games were wildly popular especially during the launch of their second title, "Operation Market Garden"
Atomic Games followed up with the Russian Front, Normandy, and if my memory serves me right they also had a Battle of the Bulge title. All of which did fairly good for the developer, but as technology moved further and further into 3D RTS titles. The Close Combat series was looking a bit dated.
In 2005, Atomic Games was purchased by Destineer games. Destineer was working with Atomic Games on a new Close Combat title and opted to purchase the company at that time.
Unfortunately, when you go from a large publisher to a smaller publisher, news about your games being released is lessened, and I lost track of what happened to Atomic Games. I really enjoyed their RTS titles, and just figured they went on to something else or dissolved like most gaming companies.
Then, to my surprise, I found that their titles were available on Matrix Games website. www.matrixgames.com Apparantly Matrix licensed the rights to update the games and get them to work on modern hardware as well as add some features.
I installed the game by downloading it from their website and went through the install on Vista 64bit. Amazingly it worked just fine. I was expecting that the game might balk at my choice of OS but that was not to be. And I was able to boost the resolution to 1680x1050 without any issues.
The game engine itself looks the same, however. Same graphics, same sound effects, etc. But when you're dealing with strategy war games on the PC, this tends to be normal. Nobody has the budget to really increase the graphics and sounds when the market for such games is very limited.
Still, it was nice to sit down for some great Real Time Strategy action.
Cross of Iron is the first in the series of remakes. In this case, the Russian Front. Atomic Games was the first game developer that I could think of that put together a game about WWII that showed it from the Russian side of the war. Fighting Russian T-32 tanks against Tigers and Panthers was something unique many years ago, and still holds up today with few options on store shelves to provide you with that experience.
Close Combat differs from other RTS titles in that your men are subject to the psychological effects of war. Telling a rifle squad to attack a T-32 tank will have them ignoring your orders, fleeing, or surrendering to the enemy. Luckily, you have commanders that you can place near your troops to give them a backbone. Careful balance of your troops morale is just as important as their weapons. A team with good morale is more effective in combat because they won't freeze, run, or surrender to the enemy.
In addition, you can carry your team forward with you mission to mission. So that they gain experience. You can improve their weaponry as the dates click by. Start the war with a Panzer-III, and slowly improve to a Panzer-IV (If you call that an improvement), the Tiger, and even the Panzer. A full compliment of WWII machines are at your disposal from mortar cars, tank killers, and flame throwing tanks. You're limited by how well you keep your units from dying while accomplishing your missions, and the money you are given between rounds to buy units and improve the ones you currenly have.
Missions can often be slow. With the enemy setup in ambush positions to knock your troops out. Each round lasting 30 minutes, you can easily spend hours upon hours slowly maneuvering your men to positions to try and catch the enemy off guard. You'll wonder where the time has gone.
In addition you can play against a friend over the Internet. Unlike other RTS titles where you make a village and build endless units. Rounds are made up of how well you spend your cash and where you place your starting units. Each team tries to capture and hold objectives before the time runs out.
Overall, the games are fun, and well supported. The downside is that for an older game title the $40 price tag is a bit steep. You can purchase Company of Heroes and its expansion on Steam for less as a note of comparison. Matrix Games would be better served to lower the price to $19.99 which would seem like a better price for something this old.
However, the fact is, there aren't many games that are RTS WWII titles that cover the battles found on the russian front. So your WWII buff (Like yours truly) will throw down the cash to pick this game up.
It's fun, it's long, and it's complex yet easy to understand and play. On the bad side the graphics and sound are dated and the price is too high.
I give it a 7 out of 10 for a period strategy title.
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