Combat Mission: Shock Force Available

ButcherOfNog

Battlefront.com has announced the release of its latest Combat Mission game employing the new CMx2 game engine, Combat Mission: Shock Force:

The long wait is over and the first Combat Mission game to be released in four years is now available! Featuring both our innovative turn-based WEGO system as well as all new Real-Time play, this modern tactical combat simulation is poised to raise the bar once more for computer wargames.

To download or order the game, visit BattleFront.com.

There is also a Combat Mission: Shock Force demo, which includes:

1. Two scenarios playable from either the US or Syrian side
2. All multiplayer modes are active (TCP-IP, PBEM, Hotseat)
3. You can access and play with the full Game Editor (save function is disabled)
4. The full 200+ page game manual (pdf format)

The demo is available from http://battlefront.com/products/cmsf/downloads.html

Downloading now, hope its been worth the wait!

Nog

Saint Ruth

And what did ya think of it??

ButcherOfNog

Well, first game i started didn't go too well, the vehicles etc look well modelled, but frame rate was poor, with no good reason as the rest of the graphics ain't up to much. I had thought the sparse graphics shown in pre-release screens were pre-release code, well, it wasn't.

For some reason they've changed the simple interface of the old games to something that I would need to read the manual on to understand.

So first thoughts, I'm underwhelmed. I'll give it another proper go after I've read the manual.

Sephiroth_dude

Is it hard too get into?i was looking for this in cork city on friday and could'nt find it

Manic Moran

I'll be surprised if you can get it in brick-and-mortar stores.

However, the general word to date is 'avoid'

For two reasons.
Firstly, there are serious graphics compatability issues. In theory 1.02 will fix it, but I remain skeptical.

The other is that apparently they've changed the scale of the game without changing the mechanisms. CM used to be one squad per unit, but apparently CMSF goes to the individual soldier/team level, and it just doesn't seem to 'work.'

The other problem is the choice of force: Stryker units are a little different in that they rely heavily on the force multiplying factors of recon and inter-vehicle awareness tools. In real life, the chances of a Stryker bumbling around a corner and into a T-55 would be extremely small, the tank would be detected miles away, and the appropriate assets (air, arty, Stryker AT) brought to deal with it. In the game, it's not unusual for a T-55 to appear on the game map 300m away, and blow away the lesser-armed and armoured Stryker.

I'll be getting my hands on it next week: A Co-worker bought it, can't get it to work, and is giving it to me.

NTM

LoLth

and... ?

is it worth looking for ? reviews have not exactly been shining which is a pity as I loved the first games (wasnt too thrilled on the desert ones mind, much preferred the second one).

Manic Moran

I've had a colleague's copy on my machine for the last two weeks or so. (Since he can't get it to work on his)

I can't recommend spending the money on it today. Partially because there's no guarantee it'll even work on your machine, partially because it's buggy, and partially because the game doesn't "work."

There is a lot of potential in it, and perhaps by the time it gets to 1.05 it would be worth it, but for now, keep your money. I'll say it's good for about 30 hours of play time in its current incarnation. Unacceptable.

NTM