A
line of excellent
battle simulation computer games. Orignially put out by
Microsoft, but
SSI bought the rights for the
latest release. All games center around famous
European campaigns in
World War II:
- Close Combat: Allied push from Omaha beach to St. Lo.
- Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far: The disasterous allied campaign in the netherlands
- Close Combat III: The Russian Front: Selected battles throughout the war between Germany and the USSR.
- Close Combat IV: Battle of the Bulge
- Close Combat V: Invasion Normandy
Each version offers a higher level of
management than the previous one: In CC1, you had to fight with the equipement you were given, and had a fixed route. In CC4, you can choose your
battles and
supply lines as you wish.
All games stand out in the fact that the AI is excellent. Unlike in most real-time strategy games, your squads will actually behave like squads, your soldiers will cower and break when being shot at by a tank, and your machine-gun nests will wait a nice long time for the enemy to approach over open ground before opening fire and cutting them down.
Highly recommended. I bought CC1 when I was in grad school. Big mistake, since I played it every day for 3 months.
Ed. note - Close Combat V added above by mkb