Screenshot from Close Combat: Gateway to Caen Game group created by Anonymous User, additional games added to group by Rainer S (148898), firefang9212 (71542), Sciere (677195), jaXen (257901) and Jeanne (76362). In Close Combat it's totally the opposite, it depends on the gunner to make the shot count. RUSE though is more of a 'global' strategy, not focusing on little things. Those games focus on strategy overall, but Close Combat is more 'realistic,' there is the presence of the luck factor, like the gunner needs to make the shot count, bullets do. Fans of the Close Combat series will lap this game up, and it's a very worthy follow-up to it's popular predecessors. Strategists new to the series should definitely give Close Combat IV a try too - the extra realism makes for a very refreshing change from other RTS titles, although it has to be said it makes the game a lot more challenging. Mac os windows 10 theme.
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Close Combat
4.63 / 5 - 35 votes
Description of Close Combat Windows
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Games Domain's strategy/war editor Tim Chown says it all in his comprehensive review of this excellent start to Atomic Games' real-time squad combat series, set in World War II: 'The game runs best at 800x600 or above, where the strategic map view is also available. The main game screen is divided into an upper battlefield window and beneath that lie information windows; the info windows are very easy to read and scroll. The main battlefield has very good, though not drop-dead gorgeous, graphics representing woods, buildings, trees and hedgerows. Lots of hedgerows.
The snag is that your men are very hard to spot on the map, being (on the American side) green on green. Camouflage works wonders, but is a hindrance in the game. However, once your eyes adjust, you begin to cope - things also get easier if you use the option to remove trees above stump-height and remove dead/ incapacitated soldiers. Without the latter, you can easily, in the mists of battle, spend time trying to command the dead, which is a frustrating business.
The game includes a nice tutorial (the same as in the demo of the game); this shows some basic tactics and how to move your troops. I found that I soon used the keyboard shortcuts - much easier and well-appreciated. The shortcuts are easy to remember after a while - the basic Z-to-move, C-to-fire, V-for-smoke are the most commonly used. Herein lies one of Close Combat's 'weaknesses'. You, as commander, can see all your men, you know where they are, and command them at will. Morale effects may mean they won't obey, but you have a huge edge over the command ability of a leader in the field. This makes the game more of a Command and Conquer clone, yet the morale effects reduce this enough to give Close Combat its own very unique feel. And a very nice feel.
'Men Who Act Like Real Soldiers': This is the claim made on the box, and it's not far from the truth, or at least as close to it as I've seen in any other game. In game terms, it means that your men are human, they have human reactions to situations, and each and every soldier is accounted for and modelled separately. The basic attributes you see are health (eg. healthy, hurt, incapacitated, dead), mental condition (eg. stable, routed), and physical condition (eg. rested, winded). Underneath that the game tracks many more factors - experience, skill, morale, suppression, fatigue, leadership, observation (eg. shadows on the map are spotted but concealed troops) and more. Stats also track vehicle statuses. Each soldier can perform one of 30 or more actions at any one time. There's an amazing variety of actions.
The right-hand window reports events, and you can set a filter on different message types. Clicking on a message takes you to that unit, which is a nice feature. The whole system lets you track the progress of your men, to get favourites, to witness heroic deeds and see them rewarded with medals.
Close Combat is a very enjoyable game, moreso with the 1.0a patch applied (which for one thing speeds up scrolling appreciably). There are, however, some negative points to be made. The first is the lack of variety in units; while there are a number of vehicles included, you're not going to see the variety you see in the likes of Steel Panthers. There is no scenario editor or random battle generator, so you're stuck with the 35 or so scenarios in the game, which is a hindrance on replay value. This fact is emphasised more because much of the maps are similar; yes, there's rivers, roads, villages, etc, but an awful lot of the game is taken up fighting through hedgerows. As a means to educate you in the problems of warfare in Normandy in June/July of 1944 this does a good job, but it does get a little repetitive from a gameplay and fun perspective.
I like Close Combat, despite the various shortcomings. Some might call it a thinking man's Command and Conquer; there is enough variety and tension in the gameplay to keep you occupied for many many hours. There is a question mark over replay value, [but if] you have a Pentium running Windows 95 then Close Combat is a good showcase strategy game for your machine.'
Highly recommended!
Review By HOTUD
You can get more recent Close Combat games on Slitherine.com, or on their GOG Page.
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Comments and reviews
jose2019-08-100 point
impossible to play on emulator or VM machines even in DOSbox or direct to a real machine with the maximum requirements has issues.. :/
Joe Mama2017-03-18-1 point Windows version
Very good WWII combat simulation strategy game. Only problem is that it runs on a Win95-Win Vista platform but not under 7-10. I hope I can run it under a Windows XP virtual machine since I miss playing this game.
JOemamma2016-10-11-1 point
Does this work????
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Close Combat is a pausable real-time wargame series, heavily focused on historical accuracy and realistic soldier psychological profiles. Team management is crucial as every man in your teams matter. Close Combat: Gateway to Caen focuses on the largest, concentrated British offensive since the Normandy landings in an attempt to penetrate the German lines west of Caen and cross the Odon River to get the stalled advance moving again.
With Close Combat: Gateway to Caen you can play at the strategic and tactical level, putting yourself in the boots of both the generals and the platoon commanders. You can move or combine your battlegroups on the strategic level and decide the outcome of battles on the tactical level. You will command squads in close combat situations, using small arms, mortars, machine guns, armored cars, and tanks to triumph against the enemy. You command artillery and mortar barrages and even air strikes. You will get to know individual solders, platoons, battalions, and the larger brigades and battle groups which they comprise.
Players can experience the desperate situation of the outnumbered, but well-armed Panzergrenadiers, or the daunting offensive mission of the fully-supported British infantry advancing across the treacherous Odon Valley. At your command are Churchill, Cromwell, Firefly, Sherman, Stuart tanks and more. Panther, Tiger, Stug, and Mk.IV tanks will arrive to support German Panzergrenadiers as they try to hold the line against a concerted British attack.
The historic scope of Operation Epsom is captured in single battles, operations, and the grand campaign. The strategic battlefield offers over two dozen individual battlefields with over three dozen accurately portrayed German and British battle groups. British infantry regimental history is reflected in name among the various battalions. You can deploy your battalions as they actually fought in the struggle for the Odon. The game includes all new maps and a range of upgraded effects.
THE SETTING
With the success of the Allied landings at Normandy and their domination of air and sea, expectations were high that the momentum would continue on land. It was not to be so. Though initially surprised and overwhelmed, the German Army quickly recovered, mobilized, and, counterattacked. Field Marshal Rommel formed a capable defense in Normandy that made the Allied advance costly. Superior Allied artillery and air power failed to crack the German lines. Though the Norman City of Caen was originally a British D-Day objective, its capture would elude and frustrate Montgomery’s 21st Army for weeks to come. Operation Epsom was Field Marshall Montgomery’s first concentrated attempt to go around the city and the Odon River, and break through the strengthening German bulwark. The newly-arrived British VIII Corps, supported by 700 guns of the Royal Artillery made a go of it along a four-mile front between Rauray and Carpiquet. Defending that front was the infamous 12th SS Panzer Division. Though reduced by weeks of heavy fighting they remained a potent and experienced foe. The Germans had offensive plans too, but the British struck first, and the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, the last of Germany’s offensive reserves in Normandy, was instead committed to stopping the British breakthrough along the Odon. Can you, as Montgomery and his commanders, re-chart the course of the Normandy campaign and prevail against Germany’s SS Panzer divisions? Can you as the Germans, once again stop Montgomery, or eclipse history and push the British back entirely?