The First Shot
If you’re an avid gamer like us then you will have probably heard of if not played the original Combat Mission Shock Force, released in 2007 it quickly gained some very mixed reviews with many siting a clumsy interface as one of their real bugs.
Well now Battle Front along with Matrix Games have released Combat Mission Shock Force 2 where hypothetically you get to play out the conflict between Syria and NATO in a real-time simulation or by using a turn based system called WeGo where each player gets to plan out one minute of combat before watching it happen.
Gameplay
The game itself is straight forward to get up and running starting with a menu, from where you have a choice of options Battle, Quick Battle or full on Campaign, each of these will have their own missions that include set objectives needed for winning
when I started playing the game I found the user interface difficult to use where by the camera movement felt clunky, which was holding me back moving my units, “well that’s my excuse for soundly getting beaten the first few times I played” but after a while I have to say this became less of an issue.
Movement is by setting way points using the mouse with each unit having menus for specific tasks such as hunt or assault, and it’s here I have to say I had some difficulty getting used to the games interface, the camera movement felt clunky which slowed down how I moved units during contact phases, but after sometime playing this issues seamed to work its self out as I got a feel for the overall environment.
There is literally a huge range unit in this game ranging from artillery to snipers not to mention the drones you can call in make for some interesting scenarios
Units also have what’s known as soft factors that take in to account such things as Experience, Morale, Leadership, and other elements “nothing worse than seeing your solders panic in the heat of battle, mainly because they won’t do anything” but this really does add to the realism of the experience.
Combine the options to custom edit and go head to head with a friend either on lan or through the internet makes Combat Mission Shock Force 2 gameplay almost open ended.
Should you Buy This Game
My first thoughts on playing this game were no this is not for me, mainly down to the feel of the interface, but after some time playing I no longer noticed this problem which says more about my lack of patience than the games faults.
The graphics are nothing special but still offer some nice detail in the units, especially when you zoom in, however for me it is the strategy level of this game that really makes it a winner.
You can’t just go straight in to battle, without first choosing your resources wisely and understanding what kind of firepower your up against, otherwise you could end up like me after one scenario of sending my tanks forward without first scouting, I had the pleasure of watching them burn “the naivety of war”
Combat Mission Shock Force 2 also has three DLC’s for download at the following prices Marines €29.99, British Forces €29.99 and Nato €29.99 all of which can be bought as a bundle €97.96 including the base game, still on the expensive side if you ask me, but with some discounts i would put this game high on my shopping list
Final Words
As war games go this may not be the prettiest but for out and out strategy it packs a hell of a punch
Rating 8/10