Just finished Allied Campaign - thoughts so far...

[FinnN]

Well I just finished the Allied campaign on 'easy' which initially I found to be pretty hard, but by the end I was getting the hang of it - finishing the last mission on my first attempt.

Basically I think the game as it is now is pretty good, here's what I liked the most about it (in no particular order):

* Vehicle graphics - absolutely spot on.

* The terrain when you get really close to it - I love all the detail in the flowers, grass and so on, not too keen on zoomed out view.

* The fact that you really have to think about what's going on around you - even on 'easy' attacking something head on without taking into account results in a massacre. Learn to use terrain and cover and casualties drop considerably - which goes to show that neither is the lay of the land completely flat and open nor are the bushes and trees just for show!

* All the little animations - such as when a gun crew drags the gun around.

* I like the interface, pretty straightforward, some interesting options and I never felt as though it got in my way.

* I guess it's only a minor thing, but I like the graphics in the game screens where you choose which campaign, your units, etc as well as the briefing maps.

There were also a few things I didn't like, first the biggest one:

* Mission design - by the end of the campaign I could reach my objectives reasonably easily provided I took my time. Unfortunately every time you then get pounced by large numbers of tanks, which results in heavy casualties. Then your reinforcements arrive and you hammer the enemy tanks. Sometimes this is repeated several times. Ultimately this removes a lot of the satisfaction from doing well and results in a slog fest, which I personally find neither enjoyable nor realistic.

* The campaign - I guess this won't apply to the other campaigns, but the allied one had no feeling of progression. One mission you'd be all Americans, the next you'd be British, then American paratroopers, then British again, etc. I don't like 'win to progress' campaigns in any case, but I'd expect there to be some link between each mission for it to qualify as a campaign.

* Waypoints - you get used to not having them after a while but they really would make for a better game, several times I had squads of infantry take 'odd' routes (not always the quickest ones) directly into killing zones. If you're not distracted then you can stop them and micro-manage of course, but this isn't always the case and waypoints would eliminate this annoyance.

* Smoke - I'd like to see this added, I'm sure attacks in broad daylight would be accompanied by smoke.

* I'd like to see a move and halt order added - too often I move units to an area, then after a while they get impatient and run directly in trouble like headless chickens. Tanks and officers seem particularly prone to this. Again if you're alert you can prevent this. Once I was sneaking up on a flak halftrack with a bazooka and just as I was in range some drunk ran around in circles in front of me with a grenade - then we both got shot as he'd gotten the attention of the halftrack. Was quite funny at the time actually, but shouldn't have happened really.

* Clearer LOS. I think the basic idea is good, but sometimes the graphics don't represent what's going on. In one battle I'd moved two AT guns directly into bushes - not visible from any angle, and on hold fire/no movement. The moment the tanks came over the ridge they zeroed in on the guns and destroyed them both in one shot. If the graphics were representing LOS then it shouldn't have happened. In another instance I had an AT gun very visible hanging out of bush and it seemed to be perfectly hidden and wiped out several tanks without ever getting spotted. Overall I think an indication of how much cover you're in is a must.

In general I think the game is really good, let down by missions that seem to be aimed at people after strategy-lite that doesn't match up with the way that the game plays out. Once better missions come out I think it'll be a cracking game that I'd happily recommend to the people I used to play Combat Mission with (just as they stole me from Close Combat!).

Have fun

Finn

[HardRock]

Yeah I agree on the missions..and the you get wiped out..get reinf...wipe him out..rinse repeat. It loses the feel of immersion.

Things seem to die too fast too. I won a battle. Everything dead except 2 men and a tank crew from a tracked sherman. Lol..I exited the tank to finish off a couple inf..then took fire from 2 more so ran back to the tank to get them. Funny stuff.