Customer Reviews

Close Combat: First to Fight

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As I write this review, I have not yet finished the game, but after smashing my controller in frustration, I knew it was time to write a review. Whenever I get so enmeshed in a game that I lose my temper and have to replay levels, I know I'm playing a worthwhile game. Close Combat is a challenging and well-done game. The enemies are smart and numerous. It takes real fore-thought to utilize your team effectively. Some of the environments really test your gaming skills (e.g. how do you turn a corner & take out a machine gun nest at the end of a narrow hallway?). Graphics are great and so are the controls. Definitely worth renting and/or buying for fans of FPS and war-oriented games.

This game is by far the best military game on the market and second is Battlefield. The enemy hides and peaks out and shoots unlike other military games when the enemy just runs at you, the AI is awesome. Controls are easy but it is hard to call for airstrikes and snipers because you have to have the crosshairs on the tank or person. And it is hard to call for suppressive fire and cover because the same reason with airstrikes and snipers. But it would be hard to call for that any other way. I agree with the man that previouly served in the military about this game and want to thank him for fighting for our Freedom. Awesome game, highly recommend buying this game.

Having spent a few years in the Corps and been involved in conflicts such as this ( served during the first Gulf War ), I advise anyone who like FPSG to get this one. I was hooked for sometimes up to 4 hours playing it.It brought back good and bad memories about what I had been through. Any of the previous geekoids who hated this game have spent too much time thinking other games resemble real-life. I say get out and experience life before passing judgement. This game was awesome in it's intensity, graphics and gameplay. Well worth the money. I am hoping for a sequel because I will be the first one in line.

I remember, hearing about this, so I rented it. I had heard comparisons to Full Spectrum Warrior, which was a lesson in positioning, while this was an FPS that .
If, it's made with the help of Marines, it has to be good. I only wish they put more work into the the graphics of the game in the early part, it looks, too motion-captured, and the voice of the Lance Corporal you play as gets annoying "GONZALEZ!, GONZALEZ!". BUT the moment you enter that urban environment, you get that feeling you could be hit from anywhere from rooves to back-alley corner and, you can. Other than the difficulty born from realistic tradition (Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six), clearing rooms is a blast! I played Star Wars Republic Commando, but those guys had personal shields like in HALO, and could be revived at any moment. But when your guys are stacking up to breach a room in Close Combat, you get that feeling like, I hope my guys make it and wipe every guy in the every enemy in the room off the face of this simulated Earth. Usually no-one is left alive in the room. And finally, it's a small detail, I'm happy I can jump into prone! Another memorable moment I remember making a guy drop his weapon, hands on his head, then, the sneaky creep pulls out a pistol. Realism baby, authentic realism.
You can tell MARINES were involved in this, even past it's faults. I have yet to beat this, as work, and other games I have yet to beat.

When I read the mixed reviews for this game I was a bit reluctant to try this game out ,so I rented it. First off I dont think this game is simular to Full Spectrum Warrior ,First To Fight is more of an arcade style First Person Command shooter.But I gotta say I loved this game.With the richly detailed graphics & the tough fighters that seem to hide in every corner.You are a squad leader with a 3 man team ,4 including you. The squad A.I. isnt to great they often would not be able to see a guy standing right in front of them ,But at other times they would be able to kill a sniper about 300 yards away.The good thing about this game is you can order each man individually to any position you want ,but the downside to your squad A.I. is alot of times they will turn and face directly into a wall or they will be completly oblivious to the enemy firing at them. But at other times they will be very good shots. You can also direct then to fire at a certain area ,by issuing a 'COVER' command and they will cover that exact spot,but unfortunatly they wont see an enemy thats even 5ft from that spot.Meaning that its not a wide cover area .I found it was better just to issue a general 'GO TOO'command then they would have a wider cover area.But it is good when you want them to cover a Doorway which is effective given that its a small opening.I think the developers shouldve spent a little more time on polishing up on the squad A.I. There's 4 difficulty settings Recruit,Marine,Gunny,Realistic. I beat the game on Marine 2 days, then On Gunny 3 days, Then I was about half way through Realistic mode before my return date was due on the rental. I didnt notice a big difference from the difficulty settings ,Its not a too hard of a game,but it does get very intense towards the middle of the game alot of fighters firing from all sides top & bottom.Realistic felt like a decent challenge,but not even close to HALO'S hardest setting Legendary mode.Sometimes by the time you get your squad lined up perfectly the firefight is almost over.Its not like Full Spectrum where they will line up on a corner easily .In First To Fight your given a gun also and you can at times take out 80% of the enemies or all if you choose. But towards the later stages it severely intense with tons of fighters coming at you from all sides and you need your squads help. You go into Beruit to defend from Syrian fighters. You have you take down,HVT,High Valued Targets ,ACE CARDS , sound familular,either alive or dead.There are different routes towards the later stages its not all Linear .There's usually two routes and there's alot of flanking opportunities. The fighters will also flank you on the harder difficulties. Its plays more like a arcade shooter not a semi-realistic training type game likeF.S.W. But it is very realistic with well designed streets and buildings .Its more of a free form shooter, you can be point man or 2nd,3rd,or 4th man which ever you choose.You have the ability to call in morter strikes on machine gun nests & truck bed mounted machine gunners. You can call airstrikes on tanks.You can also use the macine gun nests or truck bed mounted Machine gun or the tanks machine gun mount if you neutrulize them by not destroying them. Also you can call in sniper support to cover certain areas & they can be effective.You can pick up enemies dropped AK47'S ,The RPK ,and the Russian SVT sniper,& Russian RPG. I liked the RPK cause it has a huge clip of 75,but it doesnt show up until later in the game. The detail in this games graphics is realy good ,especialy when you get further in the game.But I do have an 'S' cable so keep that in mind.The gameplay could be a little smoother its a little herky jerky .They couldve made the sprint button better by letting you hold the left trigger.But instead you have to double tap forward on the left stick ,not click but double tap.Because it does feel a little un-naturaly slow when your walking , crouched, or prone postion.Although its always best to go slow instead of rushing in.Also when you kill an enemy ,instead of instantly dissapearing or lying there dead ,sometimes they would jiggle ,it sounds like footsteps ,it took me awhile to figure it out where the heck is that footseps sound is coming from, but its the games ragdoll physics engine that couldve been polished up alittle more in the games production.Adversly when new enemies spawn in you here footsteps too.The sound is pretty good and ambient,except for the footstep thing and the last level ,ace of spades boss ,there's an incesent buzz like sound .You can issue a frag & clear room or a clear no frag.There's no flash clears in this game, its 99% Assault. With a little more polish this couldve been a stellar game. Its not as smooth game controls as Ghost Recon ,but I think First To Fight is tougher & has better graphics.Its fun and I loved it ,even though my squad is a little dumb.The rich graphics and the tough enemies made it exciting ,but I dont know if this game would be good for the casual gamer, it might be to hard on the later stages. But it does start out almost too easy probably because there's no training levels ,they throw you right in ,but once I got familar with controls it was easy as pie. Most of the commands are simple one button anyway.Its more of an arcade style,with exception to the realistic difficulty, shooter based very loosly on MARINE type street to street, house to house fighting.Which I found from playing this game is very tough and deadly job.Just in the real world we dont have a restart button.Thanks to all who serve in the armed services.

This is a very intense First Person Shooter! I have played NovaLogic, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon; but FtF is at another level above these games. The AI is much much better, the graphics is great, and the game play is excellent. The action is very dramatic. The various missions are all urban but diverse. I liked the moving thru the sewer.

The terrorists AI is very good. They don't do too many stupid things. They use cars, etc for cover well.

I also like the ability to call in air strikes, mortar, and snipers. This helps out alot.

I miss having a map I can view and the ability to play selected "custom missions" like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. Also since you "lead" the team, you cannot plan out your mission in advance, rather you plan it as you go along.

There is a good system for restarting at various "checkpoints" if (when) you get killed.

I also miss having a pistol as a 2nd weapon.

One issue I had was my video card. I had an ATI 7000. The game loaded but would not start up. I replaced my card with an ATI 9600 and the game works great!

Overall it is great!

First of all i am 15 years old (16 in october) not 12,i just don't feel like registering right now.

When i first heard about "First to Fight" and saw the previews and screen-shots i was very exited,as i am an avid tactical shooter fan.

The ads and previews said it was a sqaud based shooter,with a new "phycology" AI (artificial inteligece) system in place to help your sqaud,and enemy OP-FORS act and react more realisticly to the chaos of war.

I thought cool, another ghost recon/rainbow six, one shot one kill,instant death,tactical kind of games.


NO.


The manual talks about setting up ambushes,use stealth,and breaking the ememy's will to fight.
But is (alost always)imposible to do these things because almost everthing is scripted.

For example:After pain-staikingly clearing out a road full of angry malitia-men,you move on to the target buiding father down the road only to cross an invisible line,triggering a mob of OP-FORS that swarm you from all directions leaving you to fight off the mob by yourself while your stu... uh i mean mentally challenged,team mates (ahem) just stand around and take pot shots like untrainded amnesia ridden fools who have never seen an m-16 in there lives.

Squad commands are almost imposible to coordinate because you have to be able to see an enemy to order supression fire from your team.And while you have your crosshair on the target's head why not just shoot,instead of asking one of you "elite" sqaud members to do it?

On the plus side the Sound is very good.Gun shots are loud and crisp,explotions sound cool,and the music is good.

The controls are decent,very playable and easy to use.
I you push the thumb-stick forward all the way you will walk at a slower pace that allows you to aim better(This is usefull for clearing streets)if you tap the thumbstick forward twice,your charecter will run fast with his gun down,and you will not be able to shoot.

The graphics are bland and empty,there is little imersion in the game.This is 2005,games should be looking better than this,Halo proved that in november of 2001.

Pros-

good physics
great sound design
decent story
cool intro
pick up and play controls
room takdowns are effective

Cons-

Horible AI
Bland graphics
No mission list
heavilly scripted
all-around,not fun


If you like medal of honor,or shadow ops,then you might want to give this game a rental and just play run and gun without your lame sqaud,for the rest of you i recommend that you steer clear of this one.

joseph-

I conquered this game for 3 months straight before owning it.It's a hard game to get into at first,but I just witnessed my friend playing for the first time and he was kicking ass.You can't move around and walk in the middle of alley and gangways.You constantly have to be crouched down walking steadly toward your target on your map that you have to follow.The game is used to train Marines in real life combat situations and I will say it's a realistic game.I worked my way from Recruit to Marine in 2 weeks.Kicking straight terrorist butt.

i never played a game so fun in my life and i play americas army call of duty cod united offense counterstrike and by far this is the best game if you dont have you must get it only one problem they dont sell it in stores anymore and it took me 6 monthes to get the game i finally ordered on here. Semper Fi

I really couldn't finish the game since it's so under the standards of the best current xbox games available, for instantce: any Ghost Recon game is far more realistic and fun than First to Fight. The graphics are so-so, but if you don't feel they're important to the enjoyment of a game, then you'll be ok. The control and movements of your character are not what one would expect from a war game, specially if they say is "as reallistic as it gets", first because you can't peek from corners, you can't get down all the way to the floor, and if my memory doesn't fail me, you can't jump. So, what kind of realism is this? Anyway, if you don't mind all the cons, you may find the game fun.