Close Combat First To Fight is the latest game that is said to be based from a game engine used to train US Marines in the art of urban warfare; Even though the small print says that this particular version of the game is not endorsed by the US Marines. Basically we have a game that opts to utilise Marine tactics and puts the player into the leading role as you head off to war torn Beirut as the US forces first troops on the scene. While the idea sounds good, does the game actually deliver an experience that you would expect from such a title or is it simply yet another war game to appear on Xbox?

Gameplay:

Close Combat puts the player into the shoes of a Lance Corporal as he takes command of a 4 man fire team in some first person close combat situations within a war torn city, namely Beirut. Here players will witness some of the tactics supposedly used by Marines and perhaps some that are not. Starting out, players will notice that your team will automatically take up positions when moving along a road for example. This means that 2 marines will travel on one side of the road whilst you and another will travel along the opposite side. The theory being that using this formation means that your unit will have the maximum amount of view should any hostiles jump out from no-where.

When the situation changes then the fire team will automatically switch formation to continue this level of coverage so that a constant 360 degree field of view is available at all times, within reason. Whilst this sounds very practical and impressive, the reality is that the AI does not always offer this level of coverage, when in fact the situation may require it.

As commander of the unit you are also able to assign fire sectors or order a marine or marines to a specific location should you suspect an ambush or are moving into a new area. This is actually very useful although one shouldn’t break up the unit as that 360 degree cover is lost should one man be sent to scout ahead or ordered to take up a sniper position somewhere. I found with a little experimentation the results could be quite impressive, although again with the AI being inconsistent not always the case and somewhat random. Maybe this is how it should be as war shouldn’t be predictable, right?

Close Combat also features a psychological element to both enemy AI and that of your own troops whereby each marine has a morale and discipline rating. This is affected by things like getting shot at or wounded or whether as leader you make some questionable decisions such as ordering fire on innocent bystanders. To be honest I found this system to be a little weak and couldn’t really see how it was implemented into the game. A good example of this was when an area of enemies was getting killed left right and centre, until there was only one left. With a tap of a button I called out for him to surrender. Now I assume that given the fact that all his buddies had been killed and he was the last man standing that surrender was in fact his best option and perhaps the natural thing to do? Well not on this occasion as the hostile decided he was going to continue to fight regardless. The same applied to enemies that has been shot and were injured who decided to try and limp away rather than surrender or in some cases limp towards you! This simply made me feel that asking enemies to surrender was futile and that a well placed bullet to the head was always going to be the best option.

This also raised issues with my own fire team as they would get shot as well, whereby the reduced morale and discipline seemed to have little to no effect on their performance either. As commander of the unit I was able to use medical kits on individual marines and this in itself seemed to raise the morale of a marine, which is what you expect? Well I thought this aspect was very unrealistic and perhaps one that should have been omitted from the game as an edge is taken out of the situation if the seriously wounded can be revived to max health after using a few medical kits. Surely if you have been wounded and perhaps patched up a little your morale is going to decline still as the fear sets in?

Close Combat does offer some intense moments and with things like mortar, air and sniper support available can be quite fun despite some of the flaws. I think the worst flaw as far as the AI is concerned was the fact that the reaction time of your unit at times was extremely sluggish. Sometimes this would result in enemies being right on top of you before they got shot and even though I’ve never been in a real combat situation, I’m sure this is not advisable?

Graphics:

Where does one start; the graphics for the actual levels are quite good and offer plenty of detail and paths to take to complete objectives. Whilst the game is set within a city the levels themselves offer plenty of variety to keep interest. Where things begin to fall apart is the lack of variation with the enemies as pretty much each hostile looks like a clone of the one you just killed. Other problems occur with some of the “rag-doll” physics on offer where some weird animations happen at times. I think the biggest problems with the graphics are in the clipping department where your character will run through your fire team in close quarters and vice versa. The same can be said for the enemies as well, so when they are running towards you from a blind spot, will actually run through you like they were ghosts! This is sloppy programming and simply spells out that this game has been rushed for release. If you can ignore all of these issues, then yes, Close Combat looks ok.

Sound:

The sound is reasonably atmospheric an offers some newsreel type presentation at times between levels. This is rather cool and is voiced quite well. In the actual missions the voices are average and perhaps lacking in variety as your fire team will often mutter the same phrases over and over. The ambient sounds are actually very good and help create some decent levels of in game atmosphere. The music is pretty lacklustre in my opinion and is something that any gamer looking for as real an experience as they can get should turn off immediately; Since when do real marines have a full orchestra accompany them as they are about to perform room clearing manoeuvres?

Longevity:

Close Combat has a reasonable length single player campaign that offers plenty of tactical situations to battle through, although from my experience the game plays exactly the same each time you play in that, enemies will be in the same places. I guess the real replay value comes from learning from your mistakes and attempting to do the missions again and improve your rating that you are given at the end of each level. You can also mess around with trying different tactics which is welcome. There are also several levels of difficulty to play with and this in itself will offer more replay value for die hard players.

Close Combat also features split screen, system link and Xbox Live play so that the experience can be shared. This is actually pretty cool and to some a richer and more involving experience than that of the single player game. Either way its inclusion is very welcome and adds greatly to the replay value of this title.

Overall:

Close Combat is a great sounding game on paper but its delivery is not so good; as it is plagued with plenty of issues that could hamper your enjoyment of the game, depending on your disposition. I found it to be quite rewarding once I ignored the issues and inconsistencies but was left with the overall feeling of a rush job title. With a little more spit and polish this game could in fact rival games like Rainbow Six 3 or Ghost Recon, but as it stands will not in its current form. I suggest players should rent this first before a purchase to see if they can stand the errors or not.