New Comer to Close Combat

So Matrix Games is having a sale at the moment, plus I have a coupon, so I decided to get one of the Close Combat games they have available. I'm leaning towards Last Stand - Arnheim, since I remember hearing that was one of the best.

Any comments about which game in the series is best for a new comer?

Here is a link to the titles they have:

http://www.matrixgames.com/store/?k...=&v=&t=&d=&a=3&pt=1&searchSubmit=Begin+Search

Also feel free to recommend other Matrix games that are fun. Only one I've played is Hannibal Rome and Carthage, which I loved, but it seems there really aren't any other games very similar to that one.

 

The best Matrix Game to get is Distant Worlds.

 

I very much enjoyed Gary Grigsby's War in the East so I recommend it.

As for Close Combat, you can take any but Cross of Iron, that one is shit.

Also an advice, when starting a new game ALWAYS choose time limit option.

 

Are these anything like the old Close Combat games by Atomic? I remember Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far being a classic. I spent many an hour on that one.

 

They are the same games, actually few of the new ones are pretty much remakes of the old ones, with extra features and remade campaign maps.

 

The best is Close Combat 2, A Bridge Too Far from 1997. It has the original assets that they reused 100s of times, very good voiceover and a very good campign structure with requisition points.
Close Combat 3 is also good, because it has the same system and assets.
Everything they did afterwards was shit, though CC5 is somewhat acceptable.

 

The original Close Combat 2 from 1997 is indeed the best Close Combat ever.



Out of the ones you can find in Matrix, the only one I really like is Cross of Iron, the remake of Close Combat 3. The campaigns' scope isn't as big, but I still love how you control a single company through the whole campaign, making you even more attached to your soldiers. It also has some enjoyable mods.

Though I still find a bit silly that they're selling a four years old remake of a seventeen years old game for 39€, even with this 50% discount.

 

It's quite insane that they've been literally remaking the same game for two decades and still haven't improved (in many ways actually declined) on the second one.

 

Close Combat 2 is the best but 3 is pretty poor due really shitty campaign.

 

You cannot go wrong with close combat 2 3 4 5. Each and every next game improves in a small way. 4-5 has the most replayability because the campaign map is not railroaded.
I've played them all and they are ALL equally good, personaly 4 is my favourite.

Don't bother with matrix remakes, just start with 2 and go your way to 5. If you just play campaigns you have weeks of playing.

 

I found it great at first, but then quickly lost interest. So it must be a bit of both.

 

2 is also the hardest, allies get mowed down by mg42's

 

Close Combat is shit.

Get Armored Brigade for free.

 

4 is my personal favorite, too.

From my point of view, 3 was straight up tank battles. Infantry was mostly useless and quickly mowed down by tanks.I blame shitty Russian villages for that.

5 was the opposite. Damn those hedges.

4 strikes a nice balance. Also, Panthers.

 

The campaign and operational levels in Close Combat 2 are just so great, including the integration of the narration and archival film footage. I've never seen that sort of thing done better. In fact, I've been waiting since 1997 for someone to steal the formula and adapt it to another game, but no one ever tries.

I tried to talk Battlefront into putting something like that into their recent Market Garden expansion to Combat Mission, but no dice.

 

ITT:
People who love shit AI, shit interface, shit pathfinding, shit spotting mechanics.

 

Why dont you go fuck yourself?