CCIII: The Russian Front

Reviews / previews

Review: CCIII: The Russian Front

It was one of the most destructive campaigns in the history of warfare. On June 22, 1941, the German army plunged into Soviet Russia in a surprise assault called Operation Barbarossa. It ignited a four-year conflict that traversed 3,000 miles to the gates of Moscow before ultimately rolling back to a final conquest of Berlin by the vengeful Red Army. Before the Soviet flag would wave over the Reichstag, more than 22 million people lost their lives, making the Russian Front deadlier in sheer numbers than even the Holocaust.

Microsofts acclaimed Close Combat series has thus far done a fine job of re-creating squad-level combat in an intense yet sophisticated real-time environment, and CCIII: The Russian Front is developer Atomic Games best job yet of providing a grippingand realisticreal-time combat game.

The core of Close Combat is preserved using a fine tactical engine that incorporates terrain, elevation, line of sight, structures, trenches, and all manner of battlefield elements. As with previous editions, CCIII features remarkable unit AI; it may be the games best asset. Troops behave in convincingly human fashion. When their leaders are close by, they can withstand punishing artillery bombardment. When they sense theyve been abandoned, they dont think twice about fleeing or surrendering. When they sense the enemy is cracking, they rally and counterattack to exploit the shift in momentum. When pinned down by enemy suppression fire, they duck their heads down, and you can almost hear them pray.

What Russian Front adds to the CC equation is an in-depth, involving campaign story that unfolds over the four years of the conflict, played from either side. The operations and campaign modes provide a continuity in that units destroyed or degraded in earlier battles must be refitted or retired. Troops that survive their firefights gain experience and become more valuable, giving you incentive to keep them alive longer and employ them as power pieces. As morale and experience grow and develop, the scope of your command grows from an initial platoon to the full company-level command of a fire brigade, adding teams, technologies, and (if youve been a watchful commander) new and improved tactics.

CCIII beautifully balances the visceral charge of combat with the cerebral demands of battlefield command. One second youre gritting your teeth as you oversee a machine-gun nest mowing down an enemy infantry advance, and the next second your attention has to turn to the new firing pattern for your mortar team. Unlike most RTS games, CCIII unfolds at a very lifelike pace. Its always tense but always manageable.

Sound tactics are rewarded. The Russian commander will learn the value of clever ambushes, well-orchestrated fighting retreats, and well-timed flanking counterattacks. The German commander will learn the value of suppressive artillery fire, screened infantry advance, and rapid encirclements with speedy tanks.

The final cherry atop this grognards dessert is a robust multiplayer feature that allows for painless setup over network, modem, or the Zone. As involving as the single-player campaigns are, theres nothing like routing a human opponent. Luckily, a simple but in-depth scenario editor allows you to play in every conceivable condition, from open summer plains to treacherous winter forests.

Strategy fans will find an embarrassment of riches in Close Combat III: The Russian Front. The campaign may have been hell on earth, but the game is heaven on the computer.-- Daniel Morris / GamePro