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Xbox | Action | Close Combat: First to Fight

Boxart for Close Combat: First to Fight
Close Combat: First to Fight 21 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 5.0
  • SOUND: 5.0
  • CONTROL: 4.5
  • FUN FACTOR 4.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.5
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.9

Review: Close Combat: First to Fight

Review by FOUREYEDDRAGON | 04/21/2005 | 18:30:06 PM PST

The skills of the Marines aren't quite refined in Close Combat. Still, the game's a decent squad-based first-person shooter.

The Marines in the real world are a courageous and powerful bunch of soldiers. The Marines in Close Combat, however, are an undisciplined and ineffective bunch of grunts.

Maneuver Warfare
Close Combat is a semi-virtual tool that lets you experience urban combat in the eyes of a Marine Expeditionary Unit. The setting is present day Lebanon, and you're tasked to command a fire team of four Corp men to clear streets and buildings of terrorist threats. The basic cover-and-fire maneuver is the underlining theme in the game. Direct your group to take cover, lay down suppressing fire, and even clear rooms in the standard close-quarters take down maneuver. Additionally, you can call in support (mortar attacks, gunships, and snipers) if the situation gets too hairy. Guiding your troops is a simple task thanks to the intuitive control scheme. But the computer A.I. should be just as intuitive. Instead, your teammates at times don't respond to enemy fire and don't take cover when necessary. Enemies are just as brainless: They rush through doorways without even noticing you and your men, or run right past you unflinchingly as you're firing off rounds.

Full Spectrum Marine
Close Combat does have some merits. The levels are diverse enough to make each mission challenging without worrying about repetition. There's a good mix of indoor and outdoor locales, and each area is smartly populated with civilians and dangerous obstacles you'd expect in such a setting. This is also the first shooter where you have to actually compensate your sites when shooting toward higher elevations. Close Combat certainly takes a nod toward other squad-base first-person shooters like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon where urban warfare takes center stage. If only Close Combat was as refined as the real Marines it represents, then this would have been a great shooter. Still, it's worth a playthrough, especially if you're craving a real-world firefight in the city streets.


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