Combat Mission: Shock Force – Marines: Review
How strange it is to see projects whose main goal is not "Enchanting money" On an industrial scale. Among us – among Russian developers – this is a more frequent phenomenon, just remember the same "Mor". And in the West it is not too accepted. As an example of an endangered species, you can call Battlefront.Com.
True, it cannot be said that in this case the authors suffer from excessive altruism. Combat Mission: Shock Force is sold, although its cost is not too high by the standards of large publishing houses. The point is completely different – in relation to end users, that is, to us. It is like the difference between Hollywood cinema and conceptual films of Italian directors. The first is removed for the sake of the public and remade under its inconsistent tastes. The latter reflect the thoughts of the authors exclusively, even if they sometimes coincide with the opinion of the majority. COMBAT MISSION does not suffer from excessive conceptuality and philosophy, but a feeling "Things for the author" The game leaves.
CMSF and an addition-module called Marines are together the simulator of the modern American (and not only) army. A very accurate simulator, albeit not covering all aspects of military crafts. Strategic planning is still the lot of distant headquarters rats, in the foreground – tactics, tactics and tactics again. We forget about the regime "all in a rubber frame and forward", We begin to calculate individual steps. Believe me, it may be interesting.
The Half-Life level engine (first part) draws soldiers and armored vehicles, desert dunes and houses similar to shoes for shoes. In the latter case, the quality of the graphics has nothing to do with it, this architecture is such. The rectangular plate on which fighting is conducted is calmly hanging on the world air, covered with a muddy texture "sky" And "distant expanses". At first, all this causes a feeling of deja vu and light horror. But then the game weighs surprisingly a little, but "brakes" There are simply no modern machines. Well, still. True, thousands of thousands are not visible here, and therefore such delights do not look too appropriate, any modern strategy processes at least a much more beautiful troops without any problems. The normal change of time and weather is also attributed to unnecessary things.
About the schedule, as well as about the luckymeslotscasino.co.uk sound, you quickly forget in the heat of the battle. There is simply no time for them. Events boil, but at the same time, for fans of Warcraft -rts, the local battles will look like a sluggish swing in one place. After a dozen minutes of the like "Communion", True, all your soldiers somehow suddenly turn out to be dead. The lack of sensible monitoring is unpleasantly surprised, in the case of managing several detachments, control, without proper dexterity, is lost very quickly. Who in the game industry decided that pop -up tips are not fashionable? Why this decision was picked up so quickly by the good half of Igrodelov? In general, without tutorials and reading the textbook in the game, do not even stick.
In general, it is the management that nerves the most. It is inconvenient, and at times makes it feel like a cripple, but one must think, another simply would not correspond to the impressive level of simulation. Although, when the initial bewilderment and first delights fall, it turns out that this level is not so prohibitively high. Yes, there are enough opportunities here, but the game will not allow you to get into the skin of solid Snayka, catch a couple of desert animals for dinner for soldiers or engage in serious partisan activities. There is no communication with civilians either – due to the lack of civilians. Either everyone has already been exterminated or scared, or they are simply invisible. What is curious, the invisibility hat is automatically selected from every grandfather with a berdanka who decided to go to the war path. So if several inappropriate personalities arise behind your detachment with "Kalashnikov" – Know I warned you. Follow the rear.
After you spend several hours in the game (unless, of course, you can withstand for so long), you finally formulate the most accurate description of CMSF: playing soldiers. Such a virtual analogue of a large package with plastic warriors that can be placed on the bed (the same rectangle soaring in the void), create a poor environment for them, call a friend and arrange a battle. For some, this battle will turn into many hours of torment, and someone will spend this time, getting true pleasure. The developers relate to the second, this can easily be understood by filling in patches – more new types of equipment, more cards, more opportunities. And the rest of the people is company Battlefront.Com Obviously do not worry. The most correct approach, I must say. By the way, a striking example is in COMBAT MISSION There is a game mode by e-mail. The same, long -forgotten by all "progressive" developers. And it cannot be said that he is not needed here.
It’s a shame, but artificial intelligence is not that bad, but simply slurred. Still, such games imply the presence of a living opponent. AI is often mistaken in a completely unacceptable way, very reliably emulating the unhealthy commander and problems with the transfer of orders to positions.
As for the module Marines – This is the module in the classical sense. It contains exclusively a set of exclusive units and maps, all other updates (both technological and content) are available in free patches. The module is dedicated to the Marine Corps, respectively, and scenarios in it are imprisoned for this kind of troops. Marines look in conflict much more profitable than ordinary infantry, but losses cannot be allowed when treating them. Because everyone is the weight of something more expensive than gold. Armory plutonium, for example. So for beginners in any case, it is worth first to win a couple of battles with a more traditional set, and only then rush to a new toy.
And the last: all the patches laid out on the developer’s page are required to install. Without them, strange bugs happen in the game, which are better to avoid for saving time and nerves – get ready to download more than three hundred megabytes of updates (to version 1.11).
CMSF is recommended for those who in childhood have not played a play for soldiers, as well as fans of military theory and modern militarian technologies. These two categories, moreover, are very often intersecting. Marines the same thing is exclusively for those who really like the original game.
Pros: good level of battle simulation with the participation of modern armies.
Cons: unsuccessfully implemented management;Bad graphics.