Reviewed: May 29, 2005
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney
Publisher
2K Games
Developer
Destineer
Released: April 18, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1-8
ESRB: Teen
7
7
7
7
7.0
System Requirements
Recommended System
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Close Combat: First to Fight follows in the recent mold of Ghost Recon/Rainbow 6 esque titles. Unlike those shooters, this game focuses more on realism and various tools of the military, such as calling in cobra gunships and other goodies. Interestingly enough, it is based on a training tool used by the United States Marine Corps, yet a large disclaimer at the bottom of the box says neither the Department of Defense or the Marines has endorsed, approved or authorized this sucker…. authentic huh?
Despite that discrepancy, think of this as America’s Army meets Swat 4. Also oddly enough, Destineer borrowed the Close Combat moniker, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite war game series, and was one of my first titles I bought when I had my original PC. Brace yourself for the system specs- a 166mhz Windows 95 behemoth that came with a free copy of Mechwarrior 2! The series combined some amazing top-down real-time strategy, sans annoying resource management (don’t get me started…), and modeled morale, material density, cover and a host of other really amazing features now standard. We shall see how First to Fight holds up this lofty tradition….
You begin your tour in Beirut, a city in the Middle Eastern city of Lebanon. Your Marine unit is tasked with keeping the peace on a UN sanctioned mission. Assuming command of your 4-man fire team, command your team through 6 levels, each divided into several checkpoints and sublevels, all of which should take between 10-12 hours to complete First to Fight.
Although if you are like me and mess up a bunch, the annoying checkpoint feature may be the reason you seek an honorable discharge from this maddening game. Why don’t more developers realize we have better things to do than replay things over and over? Big deal if I can save anytime I want; it’s more about the experience nowadays than the challenge in my opinion… Like other military shooters, you have some “destroy this, secure that” style of missions objectives, but most seem redundant after awhile.
First to Fight controls like most other FPS on the market, lean buttons, crouch, prone, run/walk-it’s all here folks. The easy to use command interface is a nice touch, and you should grasp it quickly. Your HUD (Heads up display) is a bit cluttered, with stance states, ammo/weapon, your squad indicators, radar/compass and lastly your command options for support.
While you control your lance corporal persona, the true tactical prowess of the game comes in the form of a command menu, akin to the one used in Swat 4 whereby a few simple mouse clicks brings up a radial menu. This superimpose menu can deploy your men, breach rooms and clear them, or even order in Cobra gunships for added carnage. Or as the Marine’s may put it- “fun.”
This system is pretty intuitive and user-friendly, although you may feel it is too simplified at times. I don’t just want my men to suppress; I want them to clear, bound and throw smoke grenades for a frontal assault, while screaming obscenities and war cries! Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any options for that-maybe in an expansion pack if we are so lucky…
A.I. in this game is interesting indeed. With the Close Combat title one would think this would some ultra-realistic Artificial Intelligence, from enemy and Marine alike. Unfortunately, it’s hit and miss here- much like my in game shooting was. A lot of times you will have to just do things yourself, from opening doors to taking out bad guys- the frustration is wide reaching. Your squad will even become momentarily petrified, like a deer in headlights, and not engage anything.
Although the Marines would surely disapprove, I wish they had a kick-soldier-in-tookus feature followed by the bellowing ” WAKE UP SOLDIER! Quit cuddling with your girl and shoot those SOB's!” The various enemy troops will also make a case for stricter enforcement of enlistment, sometimes they bob, sometimes they weave, but most times they just stand there like cardboard cutouts as you riddle them with bullets. If you don’t start plinking away at them, they will become very accurate, even in a pitch-dark area without night vision…yeah…right.
You will need all your bullets too. Last I checked they don’t wear body armor and I’m not shooting rubber pellets. One of my greatest pet peeves is unrealistic damage ratios in games; get real- it doesn’t take half a clip to take down someone. Even in America’s Army I thought they allowed too much of this and they claim complete authenticity. The best example of realistic damage is present in Operation Flashpoint and Ghost Recon/Rainbow Six.
Visually, there is nothing extremely high-powered here. The player models looked too “plastic” to me, especially in their somewhat funky movements, overall stiff and rigid at times. They do have lots of detail though, from gear to uniform insignia, but overall they had a strange lack of depth. The enemy models are worse, very bland and increasingly monotonous. A host of clipping issues also abounds here, even with their shadows crashing through walls or doors-not good.
The weapon effects won’t wow you either, especially the lackluster explosions, but the rifle fire in the darkened streets adds some interesting lighting effects to the battle.
Environmentally speaking, there is some great stuff here, Beirut is modeled well and authentically, broken down roads houses are littered with junky cars while the atmosphere of war is ripe in the air.
Sound is a mixed bag. Helicopters chatter across the skies, machine-guns pop in the distance and your own squad mates add to the chaos with their own firepower. Unfortunately, the lackluster voice effects sound ultra-dubbed in, and don’t sound like your actually saying it in the environment, thus you don’t hear your voice reverberating off the walls or anything. It’s almost too clear and loud when you issue orders.
Your team sounds a bit more realistic, but not by much, and even some of the weapon effects sound subdued. Your usual military musical score is present as well, great to march and drum up national pride, but not so great for a video game.
If single player does not intrigue you, perhaps multiplayer will help some. With the deluge of FPS games on the market though, and online focused ones like Unreal Tournament and BF 1942, the games that employ the “afterthought MP” really get trounced, and First to Fight is a prime example. You have your choice of death match and Co-op modes. The former is your standard elimination style game, while the latter has some merits worth mentioning. One player assumes team leader command and together you can play through all of the single player missions or campaign, a nice addition but sadly not enough to really save it. A mediocre multiplayer experience at best.
There is no word on upcoming expansions as of yet or a great deal of community support, this title may be overwhelmed in the mass-market of FPS shooters, so don’t look for much beyond the initial 10-12 hours of game play and the basic multiplayer levels.
While not the most polished title around, Close Combat: First to Fight should give you wannabe jarheads out there enough of a fight for a while, especially in the decent Co-Op mode. Too bad the lackluster AI, graphics and sound ultimately hold this game back in the second rate level of gaming, stick with more acclaimed games mentioned in this review, do your country and yourself more honor by checking those out.