Development Info Close Combat: Panthers in the Fog

[Phelot]

P.S what you mean by BtF by the way?

Bridge Too Far, CC2. Did they use a different name in Europe for it?

 

[Burning Bridges]

No. What a dumb question of me

Though it was really "A Bridge Too Far"

 

[Burning Bridges]

First rate cover. The guy looks a bit like George Peppard with a mustache.

 

[commie]

Firefight gets great reviews, ask Trash who I think likes it very much. Unfortunately I couldn't get into it, it feels too primitive for my taste.

CC2 was the best because it had great athmosphere (of which the new shit has none, seriously what athmosphere do the remakes provide?), great balance, an excellent campaign system (which was abandoned with CC4), great historic accuracy, great production values (Microsoft) - think how the sound effects deteriorated with CC4. I don't think it has much better AI, but it was very challenging, the only CC where I would literally jerk off every time after I could knock out a tank.

It also had a great setting - parachute operations suit this engine very well. I always hoped they would make a Crete CC afterwards, don't know why they never did that, perhaps they didn't want the Nazis to win.

CC2 also had considerable difficulty. Again, this was provided by the campaign system which gave you only very scarce resources, and not the battlegroup nonsense they have now.

CC2 was the best indeed. The whole campaign setup where you were desperately either trying to take several bridges at once while driving a armored column forward or vice versa was great. I liked how in some battles, just maintaining a force intact and holding onto just enough to not be pushed off a bridge while waiting for eventual reinforcement was a goal in itself.You had to marshal your feeble forces and keep them alive long enough to hold up until the next drop and work from there. The to and fro was the most dynamic in that game.

 

[Trash]

Loved CC2 but also got very tired of constantly having to replay the same mindless slaughter on that map that has your opponent start out completely in the open when they try to attack it. Which the script/AI constantly did. Plus every single vehicle got stuck due to the shit pathfinding.

For me CC3 was the best and I absolutely loved the Cross of Iron remake. The GroBdeutchland mod for it actually provides the most challenging campaign CC knows. Unfortunately the last patch really messes up the game by making antitank arty practically invisible and invincible.

Which is actually part of a long and proud Matrix tradition of either not patching glaring problems or introducing lots of gamebreaking bugs when they do. Yay!

Anyway, if you're looking for that CC vibe. Firefight is fun if indeed very primitive. Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy is nice as well but as always lacks AI and thus relies on mission scripting. Achtung Panzer: Operation Star is awesome but can take ages and has a UI that takes time to learn. Nothing else ever came close.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I moved to Armored Brigade. I haven't looked back since it got terrain based on real heigh maps.

Yeah that doesn't look any better... The 8bit almost looks nicer.



I just wish they'd fix pathfinding. I love watching my tank spinning around the longest way possible to target a threat.

It's 16bit, not 8bit.

Also, I think they had a better mapmaker back then.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Apparently Close Combat remakes are one of the Matrix Games best sellers. It makes me sad that people still buy them after the Matrix Games track record with the series.

 

[Phelot]

For some reason the pic on page 1 says it's 8 bit.

 

[.Pixote.]

what is this a joke the left hand screen looks like fucking washed out garbage compared to the 'inferior' 8 bit image on the right

I just came in my pants, another Close Combat. I have to agree with TripJack, the graphics aren't a big leap forward, if anything I prefer the old 16 bit graphics, the contrast and definition seem stronger. I started with CC5 (Invasion Normandy) and then when onto C4 (The Battle of the Bulge), I never got a chance to play the earlier games.

People always hated the path finding of the tanks, but I just accepted that tanks broke down on every wall they attempted to move through, and used them in a more defensive manner. If the AI was perfect, and units behaved exactly as the player required, the game might not be as enjoyable. Having units flee, or being slaughtered through stupid behavior felt like a part of the game, but at the same time I've had small units slaughter entire groups, and it felt delicious. The AI felt fragile, but if you mirco-managed your units, you often won against the odds.

I haven't played the remakes, how did they turn out?