kump

Posting again after a couple more games. I'm convinced, CM is the best WWII wargame put on a computer yet. Looks like my SP games are going to finally get a well needed rest. Tanks are lovely, even more so in CM. Always signifying power and strength, many players fixate on them as being the best thing on the battle field, including myself. Its the vehicles that capture my imagination. Infantry seems to be something thrown in to support the vehicles in a secondary role, sometimes not being of much import at all, more times than not thrown in as an after thought. My goodness, has CM done something right here or what? CM's treatment of infantry is refreshing and to my surprise, quite exciting! My first few games saw me replaying the movies of the tank duels over and over, loving the effects and detail. But during a vicious fire fight between apposing infantry, I found myself totally captivated and surprised. Watching the HMGs and mortars suppress at range, deadly pockets of death where cross fires were carefully planned out, and artillery lousing up a well laid infantry attack really all sets the blood boiling. And the king of the battle field, the almighty tank? Still wonderful, but even it fears the infantry as well it should. Now my tanks feel very threatened without friendly infantry scouting ahead. WWII combined arms tactics has finally been captured in a computer wargame. If CM2 comes out for the Eastern Front, my wargaming dreams have been fully answered. ------------------ Garry Kump

Being an avid wargamer, I immediately pre-ordered months ago. But normally never trying out demo's, I just couldn't resist. After three games with the demo I was left with the following impressions/concerns.... 1) RTS vs Turn based. Being a Steel Panthers fanatic, I found it hard to call CM a turn based game. More like an RTS that pauses every 60 seconds allowing commands only when paused, unlike most RTS games that allow only commands when un-paused. Did not immediately embrace the game system and think it the best thing ever. I hate RTS and love the turn based pace and control. However, what I saw and experienced in CM simply was astounding and really spoke highly of the game developers skill and dedication to the CM game project. I admire it. I just have to give it more time to see if the game system itself will grow on me. However, some things in CM got my eyes big and oval in regard to what may seem as oddities... 2) Target Priorities. In VoT, my pillboxes got fixated on infantry and an M4A3 manuevered to fire and destroy my pillboxes. What surprised me is that even after being fired on multiple times, the pillboxes continued firing at pinned down infantry. I know I can override the target, but it seems the AI should change to the target of greatest threat to itself. Not immediately, but after being fired on a couple of times, wouldn't the guys in the pillbox wonder who was hurling lethal rounds in their direction? Infantry would be a higher threat if they approached too closely, but the infantry in this case were at 400+ m range and suppressed by another supporting HMG, so don't know why the AI prioritized them so highly. 3) An M4A3 (75) did what?!? In VoT, I had the reinforcing Panther take a hull down position and try to take out a sherman or two. To my astonishment, and bad luck, the Panther lowered its gun and cha-ching.... it was taken out by a shot from an M4A3(75) on its front armor. This wasn't even the M4A3E8 that I actually feared. Wow, I was stupified. Not only because my Panther was taken out frontally by a single shot from an M4A3, but because the Sherman's were using HE rounds on infantry before my Panther made its appearance. How did the Sherman switch to AP so fast? Or did an HE round take me out (douptful)? Or did it hear me coming and quickly change to AP before I was actually seen? It left me scratching my head.... 4) Veteran vs Regular. Wow, a veteran unit in CM is just astounding compared to a Regular. In VoT, I was shocked at the stupendous and brave behavior of the veteran M4A3 over the Regular M4A3. This guy was always out in front, reacting so much more quickly, and showing itself easily worth more than three regular M4A3s. And there are better units than this in the full version! An elite AFV will have me quacking in my boots. Maybe the differences in AI for the morale levels are too extreme. Don't know, need more playing time. 5) Conclusion Even with a loathing for all things RTS, I very impressed with this product and will be spending a lot more time with it, learning its ins and outs and giving it time to grow on me. I'm really hoping it quickly replaces my all time favorite SP, which is getting a little long in the tooth...