Coming into this preview, I didn't know a thing about the new G.I. Combat franchise. I shouldn't use the word franchise though, since this is Freedom Games' first title and it's still in the works but from the little I could see, there are great things lying ahead for G.I. Combat and its developers. When I said I didn't know anything, I meant literally nothing about the game. It is supposed to be a strategy game based on WWII. That's a good description but it describes about a dozen other titles in the works for this holiday season and a few more dozen titles released so far this year. So let's backup to what I did manage to see during my brief tour of duty. To really understand G.I. Combat, let's cut to the chase and go over its dominant features. This is a real-time and purely real-time game; none of this pause and go pseudo stuff, time-phased turns or any other form of copout. Battles play out in real-time and you have to make decisions right from the get go. Its scope is purely on the tactical: you get statistics and control of a single company, subdivided into squads and further subdivided into individual soldiers. For example, the machine gun squad is not mistakenly bunched up with your rifle teams. There's meticulous detail and effort into getting the nomenclature and the period right. Each squad features a little blurb as to what equipment they're outfitted with and what they're most apt to do. With the tactical scope, there's a great emphasis by G.I. Combat on individual morale. Morale can literally make or break the results of a battle, not unlike what happens in war (or at least, what I learn of war by watching it on CNN and the History Channel). Finally, G.I. Combat is no slouch in the audio department. The word visceral only begins to describe the tiny modicum of a battle I witnessed, or more accurately, heard. So let's sum up: real-time strategy that has its roots in wargames, made very easy through excellent A.I. and polished tactical scope, copious amounts of attention on the background material and excellent audio to turn static battlegrounds into electrifying warfare. There was no other title that did this for me (a self-admitted amateur, when it comes to wargames) save for Close Combat. A quick jaunt to Freedom Games' website revealed that the team is mostly comprised of ex-Atomic and Talonsoft people; probably as close to a guaranteed dossier for success as you could ever get. And it also explains much of the authenticity, down to the German language commands. This inaugural title covers the Normandy campaign and by default, goes for a mainstream audience. The good news is: it has the goods to seriously break out of the wargame niche Close Combat found itself in. Firstly, it has a blistering fast engine that helps alleviate a lot of the problems attributed to a 2D birds-eye view game. Here, the camera system is dynamic enough that you can view the action from behind an anti-tank gun, all the way to a classic top down view. Even in the rough build I had, G.I. Combat never slowed down, mostly because it dumps out all the polygonal trees and keeps the fauna as static sprites. But the end result is, it works and it works very well in conveying the tenacity of war. Thanks to smart artificial intelligence, G.I. Combat's battles play out more like a scene from Saving Private Ryan than the traditional fodder-like action of Command and Conquer or Sudden Strike. Soldiers will automatically throw grenades and break apart when they're flushed. The general commands you give are fairly simple. In fact, they are downright elementary. You have three choices with regards to movement: assault, march and caution. The last option has your soldiers crawling on the ground to advance. There is a defend option that lets you set firing arcs and you can also use smoke to screen advances, as well as direct fire at certain targets. All this is governed by simple line-of-sight ranges. Fire a target behind a tree and you'll see a big red line preventing you to do that. Armor, mortars, machine guns, rifle teams and all other units follow these same principles. It's a completely intuitive interface lifted from the Close Combat series and constitutes as the piece de resistance because it makes what could be a very complex task reduced to something totally accessible. It minimizes micromanaging each soldier while letting you form some semblance of a plan on the fly. Some of the best gaming G.I. Combat has to offer is in this area, when none of the plans you had worked and you're forced to think on the spot to prevent a messy situation from becoming disastrous. There are people who complain that turning this type of game into real-time is a bad idea. If you're formulating plans on the fly, in real-time, they tend to be messier, less accurate. You lose soldiers and equipment needlessly because you clicked incorrectly or you clicked too late. But that's the reason why G.I. Combat has a chance in succeeding with people outside of the hardcore wargaming crowd. The inaccuracy helps make the game less intimidating. You no longer have to achieve perfect results to be considered a good player. Combined with its excellent sound effects, G.I. Combat is able to offer something that draws people into the game. That's something that cannot be said for most wargames where observing one is like observing a game of chess. It's a passive affair with much of the intensity happening in people's minds. Real time strategy titles, which almost shuttered the wargame genre, attack the senses. There are lots of graphics, units, action and sounds. G.I. Combat appears to have both and as we begin to approach a period where every second WWII title is but a clone of the last, it's good to see something meaty on gamers' plates coming this holiday season. To fans of Close Combat, this will immediately become familiar; trademark familiar even. Like a Michael Mann film or Oliver Stone screenplay, it's recognizable and to newcomers, it is a game that is wholly accessible. The camera system still needs a little work but this ought to be a trademark that more people should get to know. Questions or comments about the upcoming release of G.I. Combat for the PC? Talk to us! [ E-Mail Fwiffo ][ Comment in our Forums ]

Copyright (c) 1998-2009 ~ Game Over Online Incorporated ~ All Rights Reserved
Game Over Online Privacy Policy