Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far

Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far is the highly anticipated sequel to Microsoft's 1996 game, Close Combat. In this latest installment, you're in the middle of a nasty squabble for control of five strategic bridges, in a scenario that is based on an actual World War II campaign called Operation Market Garden. As you battle from the Allied or Axis perspective, realistic tactical combat and dynamic battle flow challenge you to outthink your enemy in the war room and on the battlefield. A resource-allocation model strives to make things as true to life as possible, too, rationing your resources and making your soldiers behave physically and mentally just as real troops might, given the circumstances. In addition, a Battlemaker mode is included to answer those "What if…" scenario queries and assist in multiplayer operations.



The Close Combat games allow players to take control of troops, tanks, and light artillery at a squad and platoon level. This entry in the series is set during Operation Market-Garden, an ambitious but ultimately disastrous Allied attempt to blitz into the German heartland by way of a series of bridges. Players can command Allied or Axis forces in individual battles or in campaigns of varying lengths. Normally, each side will have ten to twenty units in each battle, with no more than six vehicles and a hundred or so troops. While the scale is much larger than a first-person shooter, it is still very much a tactical-level game.

Play is both challenging and exciting, and the game is well-balanced and fairly easy to control. In addition to the obvious "move and shoot" issues, players have to keep track of supply levels, troop morale, and the fitness of individual squads and vehicles for front-line combat. Graphics are a bit dated after this many years, and the battle sounds can get repetitive, but overall it's a lot of fun to play.

The game does have some flaws. If you interrupt a battle with a cease-fire (something that really happened during Operation Market-Garden), the game remembers roughly what terrain was held by each side, and sets the start locations appropriately when the fighting resumes. However, if you drive off your enemy and they counterattack later (which also happened frequently), each side starts in default locations. As a result, you're often forced to retake the same stone farmhouse or copse of trees four or five times during a campaign. This can get old in a hurry.

More importantly, the AI can be frustratingly stupid at times. Units will announce that they can't see an enemy when they should have clear line-of-sight (as evidenced by the incoming fire from that enemy), or stop moving ten meters short of the cover you told them to head for and just hang around soaking up bullets. With practice you can minimize these problems, but they are very annoying.

Also, some liberties have been taken in terms of realism. For example, your bazookas and PIATs can easily destroy German Tigers and Panthers at 100+ meters, when in reality those weapons were rarely lethal against front-line tanks at any range. This sort of thing is useful for keeping the game balanced, but it can interfere with suspension of disbelief if you're a history buff.

Despite the problems, Close Combat 2 is still a fine game, well-researched, mostly well-designed, and a lot of fun. Definitely worth a play if you're into historical battle games.

Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/14732318/CC2.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/32926981/CC2.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/32929066/CC2.part3.rar


Password:
neutrino

Installation info:
Just unrar and use 'CC2.REG' file. Enjoy!