New combat mission screens

[hellfish6 7]

I know a lot of you guys are WWII buffs and some of you even play the Combat Mission series (PM me if you want to kick my butt in CMBO or CMBB) so I'm posting this news of new screenshots from the upcoming Combat Mission: Afrika Korps.

Take a gander over here: Battlefront.com

Edit: Sorry for making you horizontally scroll...

[TheRedBaron 0]

WOW it almost looks real nice

[Mister Frag 0]

Hellfish6, are those screens edited, or is there a dust script that is being used? If so, how much does it lag with that much stuff on the screen?

[DracoPaladore 0]

Hubba hubba! I love CM, but I would like to get my hands on Afrika Corp!

[hellfish6 7]

Those are all unedited screens. I don't know how it plays with all that stuff, as I only have the first two verions of the game: Beyond Overlord (West Front) and Barbarossa to Berlin (East Front). Those, I've had missions of battalion vs. battalion sized with no serious performance issues. If CMAK is anything like those games (and it should be - it uses almost the exact same game engine) those screens above should run fine on most any computer. It all depends on how many units are on the map and how big the map is. And the only time it really, really lags is when it's computing the turn (the game runs in turns where both players enter their orders, then it computes the orders and plays out the results real time - it's kinda cool, you have to see it to understand).

Try out the demos for CMBO and CMBB:

CMBB

CMBO

Note that CMBB is newer and looks a lot better. CMBO is almost 3-4 years old now, and the vehicles and terrain don't look so good, though the game engine is pretty much the same. You can download mods for the games too, BTW.

If anyone wants, I can take some screenshots and post pics of some games I've had on my 'puter, to give you an idea of graphical quality on a low-end system (905 K7, 382mb, Radeon 7500).

[Tex -USMC- 0]

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! Sweet! This is one of my favorite series

[hellfish6 7]

Here's a few screens of user-made mods (note - mods do not include new vehicles, as 99% of all vehicles in the war are already in the game, mods are only for sound and appearance) for CMBB - the East Front.

SdKfz 250/11

T-26M31

T-34M43

Panther A

[Badgerboy 0]

I do like the CM series. Nothing quite like the power of a King Tiger, unless you go the JagdTiger route. (And that thing is over kill! )

[DracoPaladore 0]

Can you get CM:BB at stores now like CM:BO?

*edit*

Nevermind. Just checked their forums and they said CMBB will be out in retail in North American Q4.

[drewb99 0]

drool drool drool

[ran 0]

http://www.battlefront.com/products/cmak/gallery/images/22.jpg

hmm , reminds me of a movie .....

-edit- yeah , got it , Sahara with Humphrey Bogart

[amp 0]

I've somehow managed to miss these Combat Mission games alltogether.

Am I to take it that they're somewhat similar to the Steel Panthers series, only in 3d? Since if they are I'll have to try them out when I have the time.

[hellfish6 7]

Yeah, I guess you can say that. But I never liked Steel Panthers much, but I really like Combat Mission.

[Bluesman 0]

I wonder if the infantry gfx will be improved a bit? That was allways CM:s weaker spot. GI Combat had some nice looking soldier graphics.

Also a pity you cant take advantage of new features in the older games.

Has there been any screens/info from CM2 yet? I havent followed their site for half a year.

Afrika Korps looks real nice and should be worth the purchase.

BM

[hellfish6 7]

No, nothing from the new CMX2 engine yet. Nobody even has an idea of what it's going to be capable of or what war/time period it's going to cover. Some say modern, some say Cold War, some say WWII again.

[Gollum1 0]

CM seems very nice, but I´ve never really gotten the hang of it, I´ve mainly been put off by a complicated interface (similiar to Close Combat but I just can´t be arsed to learn it) and clunky 3D models...actually, by the toylike visuals overall.

I prefer Close Combat 5. Now that´s REALISM, plus it works on most PCs.

[Bluesman 0]

It's hard to say anything on realism when it comes to a wargame(or a game like OFP too in fact). As far as I'm concerned it was allways about how well it tasked your brain and how much detail went into designing the actual battles. Realism is for real life .

As a wargame. CM is the best tactical wargame ever made, no competition at all (maybe Steel Panthers when it was new). It's the closest you come to playing Advanced Squad Leader (deluxe would be more appropriate).

Give the BTS forums a read and CM another shot Gollum. And you'll sway .

I liked the CC series too but I think it stopped being good after CC2. And I never saw it as a true hardcore wargame like SP or CM.

BM

[Gollum1 0]

Mmm...Seeing as how it´s recommended by you (great taste) and "Pelit" I guess I could give it a shot...but no promises!

[hellfish6 7]

Ditto with Close Combat. I liked them until #3 - when it just got a bit too "gamey" for me. The only reason I still have #3 is cos of the Vietnam mod someone did a long time ago (which I haven't been able to download since).

CM is definately worth trying out again.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

A Bridge too Far is classic

[Gollum1 0]

I just played through the demo mission and it´s good, but now I remember my personal gripes with it; it´s mainly the visuals and the nonexistent feeling of being there. The map is a piece of green slapped into the middle of a vast, brown space, with the "invisible walls" CLEARLY visible. That´s just plain ugly. A rifle squad is represented by *3* squeaky clean soldiers who move and look like some kind of "funny" tin soldiers, with round faces and very blocky models and weapons. I couldn´t care less if an MG42 mows them down.

If I "human wave" attack a position with 4 rifle squads it looks like 12 guys (representing the "HUMAN WAVE") half glide, half march to the position while taking heavy fire from immobile Germans. And I don´t know if my troops die unless I look at the squad´s status indicator or if the squad has 1 of 3 men missing. I don´t get a message if someone is hit and there are almost no corpses on the battlefield, maybe 1 guy facedown to represent 9 men dead.

The game is just so damn ugly, I might as well have bought a real game that you can play on a table. Close combat looks twice as good with its old 2D graphics.

I don´t think it´s a bad game, I just think Close Combat does it all just as well and looks a lot more believable.

Just my 2 cents, I can understand why you would think it´s great if you don´t care about the appearance much.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Gameplay is key. Graphics are simply bonus. This of course coming from a guy who loved Harpoon 1 and 2, Steel Beasts, and Combat Mission

[hellfish6 7]

Amen, brother.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

My absolute favorite scenario in Combat Mission is defending a position with a Falschirmjaeger company against heavy odds. Nothing like a heavily armed infantry company to take care of business

[Bluesman 0]

I understand. This game is not for everyone.

Though this is sort of funny. I recommended this to my former boss and he's the type who never plays any computer games(no time and no interest). When he saw CMBO he got totally hooked and couldn't let go. It was the depht of it that hooked him.

But primarly i would recommend it someone who previously enjoyed wargames like SL.

Btw gollum. Have you checked out some of the mods? They can enhance certain elements of the graphics alot. CMBB demo was quite weak and not the great game-seller that CMBO was.

BM