Tag Archives: Battlefront
PC Game Review of Combat Mission: Fortress Italy
Reviewed by Boggit 1 November, 2012
Developed and Published by Battlefront.com
How does the latest Combat Mission game stack up? Charge on, intrepid readers!
Fortress Italy is the latest incarnation of the Combat Mission 2 Series developed and published by Battlefront.com. For those unfamiliar with the series, it is a 3-D real-time tactical squad-level wargame set in Sicily 1943 during World War II. For those familiar with Combat Mission Shock Force and Combat Mission Battle for Normandy, the gameplay is essentially similar, albeit that new features have been added to the game engine and front end and that the battlefield terrain now reflects an Italian setting as opposed to the Near East or France/North West Europe.
The game plays in either of two modes, pausable real-time, and WEGO, where a player plots his/her moves and then watches the moves play out in real-time, rather like watching a film. It’s actually a very nice option to have in the game since it holds appeal to those who like to plot and consider their moves and to those who like the excitement of immediate action and reaction from the moment time is running. It’s quite fun to play one battle in one mode and another in the other mode since although it is the same game, you do get a very different feel to the gameplay.
I had already cut my teeth on Combat Mission Shock Force and Combat Mission Battle for Normandy, so I felt right at home with Fortress Italy. If you’re not familiar with the gameplay then you’ll need to invest some time and effort to get to know the intricacies of the game system. It isn’t that the order system is not intuitive, but the game is quite unforgiving when the pixel bullets start flying and knowing the likely effect of your orders and how things take effect is at first as important as whatever tactical plan you have to achieve victory… (not that mine ever survive contact…).
