Don't worry if you had a hard time at first. Once you get the feel of it, Combat Mission Shock Force is a great game.
Cons: The environment looks bland, the game mechanics can be quite tricky (depends on the player)
To be honest, this is the first game in the Combat Mission series that I have played. The game is set in Syria where as usual, the U.S. is somehow involved in a conflict with that country. The gameplay focuses much on realism. This is what I am looking for in many RTS games. At last, the first RTS that I have played that really shows how infantry gets in a vehicle and how they get out. Aside from that, your infantry units reload, which is something you don't see on other RTS games, and also engage from a good distance just like in real war. You can also issue specific target locations for your units to fire. But they have a limited line of sight, so if the area is too far, you have to order your units to go to a distance, good enough to get a clear shot. The game uses a waypoint system. I never really liked it if it is used improperly on other RTS's but in Shock Force; they actually managed to put it into good use. The waypoint system made moving your units much easier, and allows you to freely tell them which way to go if you want to them to go to a specific location. This prevents them from heading into the wrong way where the enemies are. The waypoint system made attacks much easier too since you can all attack simultaneously with just a click of a button. Corpses also don't disappear in the game which is cool.
It sounds great and all, but you can't enjoy the game much without getting the feel of it. The controls can be quite hard to understand at first, and with the lack of a proper tutorial in the game, some people would simply just quit playing the game after 30 seconds. After reading some parts in the manual (included in the game) it was actually easy to understand after a while. Yes, the game really looks confusing at your first glance, but once you know what the buttons mean, the game is very easy to play and quite simple. But sadly, the environment somehow lacked the right polish. It looks bland, and could've used more props to make it look better.
Combat Mission Shock Force is a great game but remember, don't play the game if you are in a hurry and have no time to actually think well. The controls can be quite confusing without the proper knowledge but Combat Mission Shock Force offers a great sense of realism, and I would say that it can be a good war simulator.