Despite it's flaws, Close Combat: First to Fight is an intense gameplay experience that shouldn't be overlooked.
User Rating: 7.9 | Close Combat: First to Fight PC
Close Combat: First to Fight is a military-themed first-person shooter, and people around the gaming world might probably be saying "not another FPS, don't we already have enough?" Well, first off, Close Combat: First to Fight is, like I stated, a military-themed shooter, so you can expect something along the lines of America's Army or Full Spectrum Warrior, if you would count that. Like Full Spectrum Warrior before it, Close Combat: First to Fight makes the promise of giving gamers an authentic tactical experience as gamers step into the shoes of a United States Marine and guide a four-man fire team through harm’s way. Does it stay true to it's word, or is it a bold-faced lie? Instead of putting gamers into war-torn cities of present day like Iraq, Afghanistan, and whatnot, Close Combat: First to Fight puts gamers in a fictional scenario in the near-future taking place in Beirut, Lebanon. Their military forces have grown in number and are now pretty much taking over the whole area. Now the United States military will be stepping in, and as you may already know, it's now the United States' job to control the area and preserve peace. Close Combat: First to Fight's controls, will at first, be very frustrating and intimidating. With the keyboard, you got your usual FPS layout, but soon you'll notice there's much more you need to know about the keyboard and commands here is used. The first problem you'll most likely realize is the actual issue of commands. In order to issue any sort of help, like an air strike, you need to stand still, and be physically looking at an enemy before you can actually issue the commands. If you don't already know, this will definitely give your enemies the advantage, as now you're a wide open target, and that it's best to actually take cover, but be able to see the enemy while your taking cover, and THEN issue the command(s). That's as good as it can get, but really, once you get the hang of it, you can easily narrow down the command issues to a brief second or two. As for the single player campaign, Close Combat: First to Fight puts you and your four-man team to the test of completing 22 missions. Unlike some military shooters, Close Combat: First to Fight focuses much more on the tactical use of your team rather then running in, guns blazing and then ultimately getting killed. For controlling your team of Marines, you can give them several commands from a simple “go” order to an order to lay down suppressive fire on a specific piece of environment to cover you or another member of your team’s movement. The fire team responds realistically in some cases and subscribes to the Marine tactical set known as RTFA (Ready, Team, Fire, Assist). You must be careful about your fellow Marines, because each Marine has a different way of completing tasks, and since they have their own 'personality', it's best to find out what they're good at and put them out to complete an objective they are fond of. Each marine has different types of equipments that are outfitted in order to complete the objectives within the mission. You will play as a nameless team leader who is issued to command a four-man team through the war-torn city. The leader carries the classic M16-A4 with a grenade launcher attachment. The next is the SAW gunner (Squad Automatic Weapon, as they like to call it) and he can also dish out the pain whenever needed with his M249. The Rifleman speaks for himself, and he carries with him, also the M16-A4 (Google it). The Assistant Gunner guards the rear end of the group, and also carries ammunition and whatnot for the team. He'll also carry a M16-A4 to protect his own self. Enemies within Close Combat: First to Fight will obviously attack you and obviously take any risks and will do anything to get you killed. Your teammates A.I. will help you out on most occasions, but for the other part, you will have to put in some work to get rid of any enemy you encounter along the mission. Your teammates A.I., alone, will try their best to keep themselves alive and will also do whatever tasks necessary to kill off the enemy. It's nice just to spectate them to see what they do and what tactics they use, so you can learn from them if you wish. The enemy A.I., however, gives out more boneheaded mistakes than your teammates A.I., but it's really not by much, because they still provide a challenge, which is a good thing. The main deterrent in delivering an authentic experience is the enemy’s propensity to run directly at the team of Marines in a supposed attempt of seeking cover. For some reason, I find it happening only in indoor combat. Other mistakes with the enemy A.I. is that they sometimes fire at you, and then hide for cover, and then they don't appear again until the rest of the group is done with. This might carry on as good since you have one less man to worry about in a huge firefight, but it does become frustrating since you can't get rid of them all in one small battle. On the good side with the enemy A.I., they use a great tactic to try to get you killed - the ambush. They will use this tactic alot, whenever they are in groups. Even if you clear out a room full of enemies, this doesn't mean it's ACTUALLY cleared out. WIthin a brief second, more enemies will possibly pop out, and you'll ready for more. You need to pay attention to the setting around you, and make sure it's really clear that there are no enemies around before continuing your mission. After completing each mission, you'll be treated to a report, which basically tells you your 'grade', which ranges from 0-100, how many enemies you killed, and how many one hit kills you sequestrated. You and your team will also be handed out medals if you did a fine job during the mission (which is basically getting a high number of kills and the like). Now, we move on the multi-player that is stored within Close Combat: First to Fight. There are 3 multi-player modes to choose from: Fire Team Arena, Cooperative, and Modified Cooperative. Obviously, with the PC version, you are able to head online and battle it out right away. Fire Team Arena is simply another word for team deathmatch. You'll be able to join with 7 other players (8 total) and battle it out with other players within the classic team deathmatch scenario. Basically, it's havoc in this mode, since tactics are rarely used, and it turns out into a huge fragfest in a killed or be killed scenario. It's just simple - don't rely in tactics you learned in the single-player campaign. They could possibly help, but more of the time it's basically pointless since the fragging can be quick and deadly. As for the Cooperative and 'Modified Cooperative' modes, in essence, it's the same thing. Cooperative online is the only way to enjoy cooperative play on the PC, so it's a nice feature that is just downright fun. You'll be treated to the single-player campaign in a different view, which is obviously yhe view of cooperative mode, and you can get alot out of it. It's hard to get away without firing a single bullet, because your teammates will catch on quickly. Although if you keep it standard and provide some help to your teammates and also use tactics at times, you can get some great fun out of Cooperative play for a while. Close Combat: First to Fight should provide you with around 10-15 hours of the single-player campaign, although it'll definitely ascend with it's online multi-player and cooperative modes. Like always with other FPS's, there is really no reason to go through the single-player campaign again, unless you want some more fun out of it. Visually, Close Combat: First to Fight looks good, but it'll leave gamers figuring out what Destineer could of done right to upgrade it just a little more. You don't need a strong PC to play this game, because even on an mediocre PC, it can run well enough without any framerate issues. The environment background in Close Combat: First to Fight isn't all that bad, but then again, it also could of been improved. In some areas, you'll notice that the setting can really look dull, but if it doesn't matter to you, it shouldn't really affect the gameplay. Now many people have complained about this, and I, too, will want to complain. The lighting within this game isn't bad...it's terrible. Shadows of both your teammates and enemies are just simply way-off, and you'll sometimes be relying on the shadows a good amount of times. Like I said, shadows are the main problem. Just don't trust them too often, or you'll find yourself getting killed for simple mistakes. It kind of takes away the realisticness of the game. The only thing keeping Close Combat: First to Fight above average in the graphic's meter is it's soldier models. They look extremely well done, right down to the shoes. They move realistically, which is a huge plus, and it really seems the models had a lot of work put into them. The audio is quite silent throughout the game, except for the obvious gunshots and command yelling. Don't expect any Halo or Medal of Honor music while playing the game, although it would of been nice to interpose that in there. Other than that, everything within the audio category is great. It's always nice to be in some war-torn city and having the sound cranked up to hear the ambient noises, which is always stress reliving, for some reason. Again, Close Combat: First to Fight should give you around 10-15 hours of the single-player campaign, which will be fun the first time through. Once you have gotten the training, you can quickly head into the online modes that Close Combat: First to Fight offers. Fire Team Arena, as explained above, along with the rest of the modes, is pretty fun for a little while, but the real thing that should drag you in is the online cooperative play. It's fun, but it just becomes too easy after a while, and you'll be left wanting more afterwards. Close Combat: First to Fight is an enjoyable game for any gamer looking for another shooter. Sure, it has it's obvious dilemma's, but it shouldn't really stop you from enjoying the intense battles that are within. Here and there, you'll be treated to boneheaded A.I., but when the A.I. is at it's best, you'll find the most fun out of it. Despite it's flaws, Close Combat: First to Fight is an intense gameplay experience that shouldn't be overlooked.
