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You are the first to fight - a marine on the front lines
of urban combat in Beirut. Lead a 4-man fire team that execute
authentic Marine tactics. Move aggressively, knowing your
team gives you 360-degree security and devastate your enemies
with precise air and mortal attacks. Experience a first-person
shooter so realistic, the Marines use it as a training tool...
The
above blurb for Close Combat: First to Kill comes from
the back of the box. This isn't the first time a game has
made a claim to being the training tool for real battle-ready
soldiers. Full
Spectrum Warrior
is based on a light infantry-training simulator designed by
Pandemic Studios for the U.S. Army as a tool to reinforce
army doctrine and squad tactics amongst troops. However, while
I can believe that Full Spectrum Warrior is based on
a simulator - I have my doubts about how authentic First
to Fight's claim is (more of that later).
The
first sticking point with this game was the fact that the
tutorial is a "watch and learn" affair. A video
is played, with voice-over, explaining some of the simple
commands at your disposal. I had several problems with this.
Firstly it is so much easier to go through a demo where you
have to practice the actions. And secondly, while this explained
how to heal your squad, it didn't point out how you heal yourself.
I had to read the instruction manual for that - something
no one should have to do (Who reads those things anyway?)
Joking aside, this isn't really a huge problem because the
first level is where you really start to learn the controls.
When
the main game started I was presently surprised. It looked
as though this game was going to be a cross between a first
person shooter (FPS) and the tactical affair that was offered
us in Full Spectrum Warrior. And it is... only not
as fantastic as it could have been.
Remember
that blurb: "Experience a first-person shooter so realistic,
the Marines use it as a training tool." Really? That
may very well explain the spate of friendly fire during the
recent war in Iraq. The AI of your team, and the enemy for
that matter, ranges from sh*t hot, to sh*t.
Your
team range from wiping out every enemy in the area before
you even get a chance to line one of them up in your sites,
to walking straight past a baddie and totally ignoring it
- unless it shoots at them, and then your boys start to act
all confused. Throw a grenade and watch your boys run for
cover... towards the grenade!
Your
squad can also, for some reason walk through doors and walls
and should you call your team back they will suddenly appear
in a split second even if they were a good 30 seconds walks
away.
The
enemy are no better. They'll either deliver a shot from 100
metres away and shoot the hair off the back of your neck,
or they'll stand there looking at you without firing a shot.
Only when you move a little closer do they start firing at
you.
If
you want to be lazy you can simply send your squad ahead of
you and watch as they let the enemy have it. And if any of
your boys start to loose their health rapidly, simply recall
that fighter and patch him up.
But,
taking all of the above into account, there is something about
this title that is damn addictive. It's certainly a game that
you will come back to time and time again. It's just a shame
that a little more effort wasn't put into polishing the finished
product before it was released. A little tweaking and this
could have been the best military game on the market. As it
is, First to Fight is an above average game which suffers
from poor presentation.
Pete
Boomer
Buy
this item online
We
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£29.99
(Amazon.co.uk)
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£37.99
(MVC.co.uk) |
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£33.99
(Gameseek.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
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