Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy
World War 2 tactical wargaming at it’s accessible best
Back in 2000 Battlefront released Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord to critical acclaim. Two excellent games in the series (Barbarossa to Berlin and Afrika Korps) followed in 2002 and 2004 respectively. These games have generally been regarded as some of the best tactical World War II games ever released for their realism and attention to detail. And better yet they were all available for the Mac (as well as the PC)! But Battlefront took a break from the Mac for a while and started production on a new version of the game engine that powers their games, followed by the “Shock Force” series of games. I enjoyed the Combat Mission games, even if I wasn’t particularly good at playing them, so as a Mac user I was disappointed when Battlefront moved away from my beloved platform. But hope springs eternal as earlier this year Battlefront announced that they were working on a new Combat Mission game, called Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy (or CM: BN), and it would be available for the Mac! Back in May they released both the PC and Mac versions simultaneously. Battlefront graciously provided me with a review copy so I’d like to share my thoughts on this very unique tactical simulation that thankfully is quite accessible.
I’d first like to give a shout out to Phil Culliton, who is the person at Battlefront responsible for the Mac version of CM: BN. Aside from helping me get hooked up with a review copy he tested KeyStrokes with the Mac version of CM: BN before it was released to make sure that it would function. Thanks again Phil!
If you’re expecting something like Command and Conquer or Call of Duty you’re going to be disappointed because CM: BN is nothing like either of those games. In fact, it’s nothing like anything else out there, certainly on the Mac. It’s also quite difficult and unforgiving but in a good way. It’s both a real-time and turn-based tactical war simulation that covers the three months after the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.
CM: BN is heavily reliant on the mouse for controlling the game and for most physically disabled players that’s probably going to be a good thing. But there are keyboard equivalents to much of what you can do with a mouse if that’s your preference. But realistically there are certain keys on the keyboard you’re going to need access to if you intend to enjoy and excel at this game. Most of these keys are involved with controlling the game’s camera. The camera can be manipulated in a multitude of ways and plays a very important role in strategizing and viewing the action from the best possible vantage point for each situation. For me proper camera manipulation helps me to see mistakes that I make and learn from them. The number keys are all different preset zoom levels and I use those quite frequently in conjunction with the “lock camera” key to zoom in to specific units and the area on the map they reside at any given time. The arrow keys also work great for precise panning around a unit that you have the camera locked onto. You can also move around the battle map by clicking and dragging anywhere on the screen. The game also employs the technique known as “edge scrolling” which means when you move your mouse cursor close to the edges of your screen the camera will move in that direction. It can be a bit sensitive and a little bit of an issue if you use a head–operated mouse but with a little practice it isn’t that difficult to get accustomed to. Most of the modifier keys have their uses as well, such as shift–clicking to select more than one unit simultaneously if you want to give the same order to several at once. Issuing orders to units, which is most of what you’ll be doing, is handled by an easy–to–use mouse–based interface along the bottom portion of the screen.
I mentioned that KeyStrokes was tested for compatibility before the game was even released which was awesome! It turned out it worked well with CM: BN without any extra tweaking necessary. However there is one catch. Before launching CM: BN you have to put KeyStrokes into the little used (at least little used for me) “Game Mode” under the “Mode” menu. The default settings in this mode work fine. There is no windowed mode so if KeyStrokes is not in this mode then CM: BN will block it out and you won’t be able to use it. A very very minor inconvenience but certainly something you need to know if you intend to use KeyStrokes with this game. The same can be said for SwitchXS users. As usual I used LayoutKitchen to create my own custom KeyStrokes panel for this game (pictured below). As I alluded to above most of the keys you’ll need to use are for controlling the camera in various ways and my custom panel reflects that. But I added a few other useful keys. The “+Unit” and “-Unit” buttons are used for quickly cycling through all your available units without having to click around the map for them. The “Mag” button is a shortcut for using OS X’s built-in “Zoom” function. I’ve been adding this button to most of my custom KeyStrokes panels for awhile now for those situations where something is difficult to see, especially because I don’t sit particularly close to my screen. CM: BN does have its share of tiny text but you can take care of much of that problem by changing the game’s resolution to a lower setting. The Mag button takes care of any remaining issues for me. You can also use the default key combination, found in the Universal Access control panel, to do the same thing. Finally, the “Chrome” button you see in my custom panel is for quickly switching to my primary web browser Google Chrome. This affords me easy access to the Battlefront website forums while playing. Or perhaps if I just need to refer to the CM: BN PDF manual, which at first was pretty often. You can also switch out of the CM: BN application using the key combination Command–Tab.
You can play CM: BN as a “Quick Battle”, “Battle”, or “Campaign”. Selecting Battle sends you to a list of premade individual battle scenarios, some historical and some fictional, for you to play. If you choose to play one of the Campaigns you will play a series of linked battles separated into chapters. What’s interesting is in some instances casualties and equipment losses will carry over between linked battles. So you can’t just carelessly throw men into the grinder without any forethought because you’ll probably regret it in the next battle when you’re short on men and equipment. Every so often you may get replacements, or even earn them with a good performance, but just like in World War II there is no limitless supply of these things. You can choose Quick Battle to put together a custom battle for you to play with as little or as much help from the computer in choosing sides and conditions as you wish. Playing an entire campaign may be a bit overwhelming at first so I think it’s great that they have these individual battle and quick battle options. Plus the quick battle option offers an endless amount of possibilities!
Perhaps the coolest feature of the Combat Mission engine is how it allows you to play the game using two different methods – real-time or turn-based. The real-time method is much like what you’d expect from most real-time strategy games (Starcraft 2, Age of Empires, etc.) with one big exception. You can pause the action at any time to issue orders, review your troops, or just catch your breath! The turn-based method is called the “WeGo" system. Basically it allows you to issue orders to all your units for 60 seconds segments of the battle. So when you’re done issuing orders for your turn you hit the play button and watch how it all plays out for the next 60 seconds. Rinse and repeat over and over again until the battle is over (hopefully in your favor!) or time runs out. So, for example, if the battle is 30 minutes then you have 30 turns to meet the victory conditions, annihilate the enemy, or just get them to surrender. This works well when playing against human opponents using their play by e-mail option as well as their network play option. I actually like to use the WeGo system most of the time because it really allows me to sit back and think about every move I want to make, almost like playing a game of chess. You can also stack all sorts of various commands and actions for each unit so they do exactly what you want over the next 60 seconds and beyond. Perhaps the funnest part for me when using the WeGo mode is using the VCR–like controls at the end of each turn, in combination with all the camera controls, to go back and view the action of the just finished turn from different points on the map as well as different angles and vantage points. There’s nothing like watching one of my Shermans maneuver to the perfect position and score a flank hit on an unsuspecting Panzer tank!
The graphics in CM: BN are pretty decent but nothing spectacular. But there’s a lot here going on behind the scenes that makes this the most realistic simulation of World War II combat that I’ve ever seen. All the vehicles, weapons, uniforms, and soldiers are realistically rendered in 3-D. It’s pretty clear that a lot of research went into making sure everything looks and behaves exactly like it’s supposed to. But it’s the extremely sophisticated game engine (that they call Cx2) and artificial intelligence that really bring this game to life. Every bullet, mortar, artillery shell, soldier, etc. is tracked. So there’s a ton of number crunching going on behind the scenes that is responsible for the action that is seen between each turn (or in real-time if that’s your preference). So with this kind of complexity there’s lots of different strategies you can try and no battle is ever the same for each person. The artificial intelligence further adds to the realism. Soldiers will climb over fences when they encounter them, take cover when there’s incoming fire, and retreat when they’re being overwhelmed. This sophisticated artificial intelligence leads to all sorts of special and unexpected moments like when I watched the lone survivor of one of my Sherman tank crews leap from his burning tank only to take cover nearby, pull out his pistol, and return fire at the nearby Panzerschreck crew who were responsible for just taking out his tank! The artificial intelligence also tracks morale levels for each individual unit! If a unit is rattled, for example, they may take cover and ignore your commands until they recover their confidence. Fatigue is also tracked and thrown into the complicated computations that produce the realistic animated results you see on the screen. All this stuff makes it incredibly fun to watch how the action plays out based on the commands and decisions you’ve made. The excellent sound effects further add to the immersion. Realistic sounding explosions, bullets flying, and soldiers yelling out (both in German and American) are just some of the sound effects you’ll hear during each battle. It’s all there.
But one thing needs to be made clear – this is a very challenging game that will probably only appeal to somewhat of a niche audience. Namely those that are military history buffs and/or fans of tactical wargames. So if you’re not already familiar with World War II battle tactics then you’re going to learn about line of sight (LOS), the difference between cover and concealment, spotting, and the often used “fire and maneuver” tactic just to name a few. And since the theater of war here is Normandy France you’re going to have to get accustomed to dealing with the infamous "bocage" (aka hedgerows) that’s situated all over the Norman countryside. The included manual (available as a PDF for easy access) is nearly 200 pages long and will tell you everything you need to know about the game and battle tactics. There are “Basic Training” and “Combat Training” campaigns included in CM: BN that have corresponding sections in the manual for you to follow along with as you do them. These serve as excellent tutorials for the game and give you just enough information to start playing after completing them. That said, I still highly recommend reading the rest of the manual.
So I’ve really only scratched the surface with CM: BN. I haven’t mentioned the included scenario editor for building your own scenarios. There’s also the Battlefront forums, which have one of the best and most helpful player communities I’ve ever seen, and a huge repository of player–created mods and scenarios on Battlefront’s website that should extend the game’s life for quite some time. Although it’s challenging the game is an incredibly fun and immersive experience. More importantly it’s quite accessible. Not only because it works with KeyStrokes and SwitchXS but the ability to play it as a turn-based game or pause it whenever you want in real–time mode keeps it from being too fast to keep up with despite its complexity and amount of action. There’s a free demo available so you can get a taste for yourself. The full game is currently available from Battlefront’s website as both a digital download or physical DVD and from the Mac Game Store as a digital download. If you have any interest in these types of games I highly recommend you check this out!
Windows System Requirements:
Minimum:
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/Win7
- Processor: Pentium IV 1.8 GHz or equivalent speed AMD processor
- Video Card: GeForce 5200 or Radeon 9200 (32 Megabyte VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution) in OpenGL
- Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card
- System Memory: 256 Megabytes RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 3.5 Gigabyte
- Other Requirements: CD Drive (not needed for download version)
- The game does not work in a virtualized environment (virtual machine)
Suggested:
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/Win7
- Processor: Pentium IV 2.8 GHz or equivalent speed AMD processor or better
- Video Card: GeForce 6800 or Radeon x850 (256 Megabyte VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution) in OpenGL
- Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card
- System Memory: 1 Gigabyte or more RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 4 Gigabyte
- Other Requirements: CD Drive (not needed for download version, but recommended for backup)
- The game does not work in a virtualized environment (virtual machine)
Macintosh System Requirements:
Minimum:
- Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6
- Processor: Intel Core Due (2.2 MHz)
- Video Card: 256 MB RAM
- System Memory 2 GB RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 3.5 GB
- Other requirements: DVD drive (for hardcopy version only)
Suggested:
- Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6
- Processor: Intel Core Due (2.66 MHz) or better
- Video Card: 512 MB RAM
- System Memory 4 GB RAM
- Hard Drive Space: 3.5 GB
- Other requirements: DVD drive (for hardcopy version only)
Paul Natsch
RSS 2.0