M. Bates Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 During me Christmas shopping I have seen "Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far" on the shelves and in 'bargain bins' at £9.99. It first caught my attention because of the WW2 themed cover, but also because it is a dual CD. It has the PC and Mac versions of the game on the CD, and I own a Mac, and I think I am correct in saying that Close Combat 2 is the last CC game available on Mac. Is Close Combat 2 worth getting or is it a waste of money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Heidman Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 CC2 was the best of all the CC games, IMO. Jeff Heidman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wwb_99 Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 Definitely well worth it. My roomate actually lost an entire grade-point to CC2. . . WWB ------------------ Before battle, my digital soldiers turn to me and say, Ave, Caesar! Morituri te salutamus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zulu1 Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 M.Bates. If you can find it, look for the Close Combat Trilogy. Should be at around the same price. It has CC1 - old but still fun CC2 - best of the series CC3 - good with the RealRed upgrades, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Bates Posted December 28, 2000 Author Share Posted December 28, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>M.Bates. If you can find it, look for the Close Combat Trilogy. Should be at around the same price. It has CC1 - old but still fun CC2 - best of the series CC3 - good with the RealRed upgrades, etc.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Wouldn't work on my Mac tho! I think a copy of CC2 could be a good investment. I saw A Bridge Too Far on TV on Boxing Day, looks like an interesting situation there. Off topic, but is A Bridge Too Far on DVD anywhere in the world? I bought a ton of WW2 books over Xmas and Cornelius Ryan's book is among them, but I haven't got round to reading it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 Grab it! CC2 was better than CC1 and if you want to run CC3 or 4 on your Mac you'll have to buy Virtual PC or Soft Windows (I'm guessing but probably about GBP100 and then you buy the game). Its more a "point and click" frenzy than CM's issue orders then execute style but it gives you three nationalities and a campaign game and doesn't take up too much hard disk space. ------------------ Regards, Mark:-{) Anxiously awaiting the G4 PowerBook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compassion Posted December 28, 2000 Share Posted December 28, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by M. Bates: Off topic, but is A Bridge Too Far on DVD anywhere in the world? I bought a ton of WW2 books over Xmas and Cornelius Ryan's book is among them, but I haven't got round to reading it yet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It's available in Region 1 (North America) at the very least... Not feature packed, but a very good transfer. just checked Amazon UK and it's avaialble there too http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Z2YY/imdb-uk/202-3922056-2481400 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Bates Posted December 28, 2000 Author Share Posted December 28, 2000 Excellent news, the link showed a Region 2 version of the film (anamorphic as well). Looks like it is being released in a "classics range", must be why I never saw it. Just one quibble though: The US & Canada version is listed as being 176 minutes long, but the European disc is 168 minutes. Obscure question, but would anyone know if the R2 disc is shorter than the R1 disc, or is the discrepency in minutes because PAL runs at 25fps and NTSC is 30fps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 CC2 is truly excellent. It is from CC3 that things begin a gradual slide down for the CC series. When I first played this I was truly impressed and amazed. CM is better but if you are looking for more combat goodness, CC2 is a nice place to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 CC2 is a lot of fun, and I've spent many, many hours going 'Just one more game, then I'll go to bed...' (Same as Railroad Tycoon II and CM really) NTM ------------------ The difference between infantrymen and cavalrymen is that cavalrymen get to die faster, for we ride into battle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compassion Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by M. Bates: The US & Canada version is listed as being 176 minutes long, but the European disc is 168 minutes. Obscure question, but would anyone know if the R2 disc is shorter than the R1 disc, or is the discrepency in minutes because PAL runs at 25fps and NTSC is 30fps?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> it's not that the film is running faster in one verison or another. There are websites that tell how a 24fps film can be resown at 25 or 30fps... has to do with the way film gates work (or nowadays how digital transfer techniques work). What you are probably seeing is differences in the edit for the region. The US Laserdisk is listed at 178. Not sure what the differences are... Possibly credit crawl length? As for the British version being so much shorter... I wonder if there are some slightly longer scenes of the Americans for the US box office? Or does the English verison perhaps not have the prologue with the black and white combat footage with the Kate Ter Horst v/o? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Maybe the British version dispenses with the historically incorrect river assault by the Americans (Movie inlay says the bridge was really captured by the Grenadier Guards and the American assault just made good 'Box Office') NTM ------------------ The difference between infantrymen and cavalrymen is that cavalrymen get to die faster, for we ride into battle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scott Clinton Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Be sure to get the REALPARA mods for CC2. They make the game much, much more realistic as well as add a few missing units (and remove a few that should not be there IIRCC). ------------------ Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathman Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Trooper, as to your comment about the "historically incorrect river assualt by the americans", I am curious as to what you consider to be incorrect about it. As I can only get historical information from books and eyewitness accouts, I can assure you that the assualt did take place. From "It Never Snows in September - The German View of MARKET-GARDEN and The Battle of Arnhem, September 1944" by Robert Kershaw. "At 1500 an intensive bombardment by the 40 sherman tanks and 100 artillery barrels and aircraft focused German attention to a sector well to the west of the railway bridge, opposite the power station. Twenty-six canvas and woodend constructed assault boats were launched into the fast flowing river; they contained Major Julian A Cooks's 3rd Battalion of the 504 (US) Paarachute Infantry Regiment. The men within paddled frantically to reach the opposite bank. The Germans, observing from the northern bank, were taken completely by surprise." And later he goes on to say. "Before long a fierce response to this daring incursion had been thrown together. Some boats began to sink amid huge geysers spurting from the water." "Incredibly, almost half the boats reached the north bank, the survivors returning to pick up the second and subsequent waves. American paratroopers spilled ashore, exhausted, dizzy from the gyrations, some vomiting with the fear and tension of the frightening experience that they had just barely survived. Devoid of unit organisation and incensed, they closed with their tormentors. Many of the defenders were 15 year old teenagers, or 60 year old previous exemptions from service. They were totally unprepared to meet these enraged paratrooper veterans rushing at them. Having engaged in a slaughter while holding the upper hand, the outposts were now mercilessly extinguished, with no quarter asked or given." He then goes on to say how the local german commander began to send fighting patrols against the americans who now held the Waal dyke road and later enemy (british) tanks were noticed on th Nijmegen bridge. Bottom line: the river assualt did take place and secured the northern end of the bridge while the British made an armoured assualt across it. It was a cooridinated effort and to say that it was historically incorrect has no basis in fact, unless, of course, you get your history from movie inlays, which appears to be the case. The saddest chapter of this sacrifice made by the paratroopers is that the british tanks stopped after crossing the bridge. In the words of the 10 SS Panzer Division commander, Colonel Heinz Harmel, "Why did they not drive on to Elst instead of staying in Lent? At this instant there were no German armoured forces available to block Elst. It was a lost chance." According to the author, "The allies had certainly missed an opportunity. They might possibly have pushed a battle group into Arnhem itself." (BTW, the author is British and lives in Hampshire - my old stomping grounds) Revisionist history does a disservice to the veterans of engagements such as this one and serves no purpose. I highly recommend the book I have cited as it brings a different perspective to Cornelius Ryan's "A Bridge Too Far", and is certainly more authoritative than a movie inlay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compassion Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nathman: Trooper, as to your comment about the "historically incorrect river assualt by the americans", I am curious as to what you consider to be incorrect about it. As I can only get historical information from books and eyewitness accouts, I can assure you that the assualt did take place. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yeah it did. I think that Trooper read too much into the inlay. One of the inaccuracies was that the American assault that was ultimately sucessful looked like the only assault in the movie. According to the movie, everyone stood around with their thumbs up thier butts worried about how to take Nijmegen Bridge until Gavin came up with his plan to have Cook's battalion make a river crossing and assault the bridge. In reality, the plan was a little more complicated with a large scale battle taking place on the "allied" side of the highway bridge while the river crossing was taking places to dislodge the well dug in and armed German defenders on the southern side. The liner notes for the DVD mention the American crossing scene as being a-historical for that reason... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col Deadmarsh Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Bates, Get CC2. You'll be glad you did. It was by far the best CC game I ever played. I thought I wouldn't play it after getting CM but it turns out the two actually compliment each other quite well. When I want total realism in a turn-based game, I play CM. When I feel I need the rush of real time, I go online to the zone and play CC2. I don't think I'll ever quit playing it. When playing another human opponent online, the game is as addictive as any game could be. ------------------ Youth is wasted on the young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Could be the case.. I haven't read Ryan in a couple of years, and I just quoted the inlay on this occasion. NTM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 29, 2000 Share Posted December 29, 2000 Is there any way you can get PC mods for CC2 working on a Mac? ------------------ And if we abandon any platform, I can assure you it will not be the Macintosh. -Steve My website! A major source of Wild Bill scenarios! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen. Sosaboski Posted December 30, 2000 Share Posted December 30, 2000 Get it, M.Bates, it's what got me into this Polish Para craze, but make sure you get the RealPara mod, as mentioned before. The river assault incorrect? Tell that to a 504th vet who was there or any 82nd vet for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted December 30, 2000 Share Posted December 30, 2000 This might sound odd coming from us, but Bates... pick yourself up a copy of CC2. I really loved that one at the time, flaws and all. And for the bargin bin price you have in front of you, there is no question it is a good deal. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gen. Sosaboski Posted December 30, 2000 Share Posted December 30, 2000 Just watched "Bridge Too Far" on DVD tonight. Think I might actually break out the ol' CC2 disc tomorrow and play a little, but then pop CM back in for some September 44 scenarios. BTS, coming from you guys, CC2 must be THE best RTS game around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucero1148 Posted December 30, 2000 Share Posted December 30, 2000 The Trilogy CC series is a great bargain. Not as good as CM but enjoyable. You should also look into downloading the bug fixes for the different games. Virtual PC is the only way to play TrilogyCC games on a Mac. CC2 in the Trilogy set although labeled as a hybird pc/mac disk isn't and can only be installed to a pc. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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