Firefight

[JOGR]

Can one man make the wargame of your dreams?

This one got it all...

Although the player never knows quite what to expect from the random map generator, certain parameters are set in the campaign file to create wonderful ongoing campaigns that track the progress of WW2 between missions in the form of newspaper headlines. Due to the uncertainty of number, quality and makeup of enemy forces, and also due to the nature of the random maps, some battles are simply unwinnable (as in real warfare), and when in a campaign, it is always a difficult decision to concede the mission, pull back and keep your HQ unit alive to fight another day. Even in such cases, your performance is rated objectively in areas such as how much damage the enemy sustained and by how direly you may have been outnumbered.

The impressive tactical AI which governs the exact behaviour of every unit on the battlefield works brilliantly to simulate heroic behaviour well beyond the call of duty, as well as the natural behaviour of most men when placed under suppressing fire to become demoralised and/or panic (often leading to casualties or surrender). Infantry caught in artillery barrages especially will generally just hunker down and attempt to avoid injury from flying shrapnel, leading to entire platoons becoming unable to respond to orders, and placing the player in a situation where thinking on the run and good tactics can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

To be successful on a regular basis, the player will need to master combined arms tactics, make good use of cover and suppression fire, and apply overwhelming force on areas of enemy weakness. Flanking tactics are particularly effective. A tank or two driven into the flanks of enemy infantry formations that are otherwise occupied can sometimes turn the tide of a battle.

Environments include forests and farmlands of Europe, deserts of north Africa and jungles, farmlands and villages in South East Asia and China. As artillery strikes fall and rounds from tank cannons hit their mark, the ground becomes cratered and buildings are reduced to rubble. Knocked out vehicles burn and smoke, and the bodies of the fallen are strewn over the ground.

The random map generator is robust and produces some great maps as well as the occasional dud. This is only to be expected. A top feature is that maps can be generated from a specified numerical seed, allowing the player to replay a particular mission over or challenge a friend to do better from the exact same setup.

I couldn't more highly recommend Firefight to players of military strategy games. At $25 the game is a steal, and includes free upgrades of the game indefinitely.

... except 3D graphics

Firefight review 20 Apr 2007

[Guest]

I've owned Firefight for the last several years. The developer faithfully updates it. It is a superior game in general, and a truly fantastic game for the money. It is also heavily moddable.

I'd urge everybody to grab the demo and try it out.

(I should point out that the developer is a pretty good guy as well, who answers emails from lowly customers directly and is quite active in his games' forums.)

And no, I had nothing to do with this game's development.

Cheers,

Phil

[Michael Dorosh]

To all you newcomers...."Hi mom."

[JOGR]

Originally posted by Phillip Culliton:

I've owned Firefight for the last several years. The developer faithfully updates it. It is a superior game in general, and a truly fantastic game for the money. It is also heavily moddable.

I'd urge everybody to grab the demo and try it out.

(I should point out that the developer is a pretty good guy as well, who answers emails from lowly customers directly and is quite active in his games' forums.)

And no, I had nothing to do with this game's development.

Cheers,

Phil

This Sean O'Connor must be a freaking genius. Do you need to activate the games online? I'm seconds away from ordering both Firefight and Mother Of All Battles. Love these kind of intelligently designed games. BFC should hire him to make the TacAI for CMx2 WW2

[jomni]

Firefight is pretty nice.

[McIvan]

To be fair, (and I'm quite critical of the present state of CMSF) Firefight is the result of ten years of improvements and has mediocre graphics. It's an unfair comparison to a high graphics game that's been out a few days. Give CMSF ten years and see how good it is.

[ July 31, 2007, 08:40 PM: Message edited by: McIvan ]

[thewood]

Look at CM, 7 years of development and I think its far superior to Firfight (I have only played the free download).

[securityguard]

firefight is an ok game but it gets old pretty fast. I use to be enamored with for a brief period. If anything, it is better than close combat

[Guest]

Yes, I would hesitate to compare Firefight and CMSF.

Although, to be fair re: the graphics, this guy didn't even have an artist -- just himself.

By "superior" I was not referring to CMSF in any way, just as a game in general.

Firefight's TacAI *is* pretty darned good, especially because it is very generic, but then his maps are far less complex.

Just trying to be good to a game that's been very good to me.

Cheers,

Phil

[Battlefront.com]

Nothing against Firefight, but we have a strict rule here (since the Days of Old) to not allow discussions of other games unless it was somehow directly related to Forum's assigned product.

If you guys want to compare one to the other, I don't have a problem with that. Let's just keep in mind that if that isn't happening then the thread should be allowed to lapse or I'll close it up.

Nothing personal, just the way things are

Steve

[JOGR]

Wow the graphics are cute, and pretty good considering you can randomize an unlimited number of maps. Plenty of scenery variety as well. TacAI is superb!

This is how the CM series should have been designed IMO. OK it's not fair to compare 2D vs 3D but it is however comparable to TacOps.

My point is:

Design smart and don't focus too much on fancy 3D graphics. It's very unlike small dev teams to prioritize pretty graphics above gameplay quality.