Close Combat: Invasion Normandy review (PC)

While this might sound a lot like the original Close Combat - especially since the location is basically the same - the gameplay has been greatly improved since then and seems much more dynamic than it used to. Much of this is due to the vehicles and varied terrain, but it's also because the strategic component allows for choices that simply didn't exist in the previous linear campaigns. However, the flexibility of the campaigns is undermined by the fact that the strategic element is still rather primitive and doesn't allow for basic things like entering a map with forces coming from multiple directions or even having multiple battle groups per map. These types of additions to the strategic layer would have gone a long way toward improving the game.

Multiplayer Close Combat gives you the chance to fight a human commander instead of the computer, and it's here that the Close Combat series really comes into its own. The game plays smoothly and is quite stable even when both players are on 56K connections. In fact, the multiplayer mode is probably the best part of Close Combat: Invasion Normandy, and it helps make up for the fact that the computer opponent in the single-player mode tends to be passive and not particularly smart. Single-player scenarios often have the computer opponent needlessly exposing his troops or simply charging across open space in the face of murderous fire. The computer is much better on defense, but the troops still tend to be predictable and make little attempt to stay out of the line of fire or to flank you.

There are a few new twists to the game: Because it portrays an invasion, Invasion Normandy includes artillery support from naval vessels. There are also paratroops in the game that start behind enemy lines and have to link up with friendly troops before they run out of supplies. You'll also have the opportunity to make beach landings as in Saving Private Ryan. But these are minor additions and are no more than what you'd otherwise expect to find in a low-priced expansion pack.

Close Combat: Invasion Normandy isn't likely to surprise anyone. All the old elements remain, the graphics are basically unchanged, and while the venue may have moved, it still seems very familiar. Nevertheless, because Invasion Normandy incorporates the combined improvements of the previous games and shifts the emphasis back to the infantry - where it belongs - the latest in the Close Combat line seems like more than just a rehashed version of Close Combat: Battle of the Bulge. Granted, it doesn't seem like much more than that, so those players who expect a serious improvement in the new Close Combat game will be disappointed. But for those who haven't yet played a Close Combat game, or for veterans looking for new maps and scenarios for this outstanding series, then Close Combat: Invasion Normandy provides plenty of new challenges.