Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far

The game is a little slow but you really get the feeling those little guys are people. Managing there mental state as well as there health and ammo is all part of the game. Way back when I first played it this game made me cry. At the end of each battle you get a list of names and a few stats on soldiers killed, acts of bravery and such. You really do kind of get attached to the names as the campain goes along. One day I was not watching my left flank and before I knew it crumbled, quickly followed by the middle and right flank. Looking at the list of names with KIA and WIA next to it was just sad, especially knowing it was my fault they all died. Playign the game now. The graphics are a little blury and old school also the game play is quite slow (slower than I remembered) as your soldiers carefully make their way to where you want them but If you can look past those two things then you will like the game...........

I don't remember how I ended up with this game on my family's PC back in the late 1990s but it was an amazing tactical experience. Based on the book and film A Bridge Too Far and the actual events that inspired them, you must reverse history. The Allies tried to parachute in soldiers to capture bridges in the Netherlands ahead of their tanks advancing from Normandy in order to end the war earlier. The Germans surrounded and crushed many of the paratroopers and the operation was a failure. Your goal in the game is to win where the Allies failed historically. It's a brutal nigh impossible task. You will lose battles and win battles. But it can be done. You control units at the squad level. For the most part you can't control individual people, except for lone snipers and when a unit has lost all but one member, in which case that member is likely to be terrified or shell-shocked and less able to fight. They will flee the battle or hide behind cover too panicked to fight. You must use every unit to it's full potential to win. Depending on how well you do in earlier battles, you will received more or less reinforcements for later battles. If you succeed in securing a bridge, you will have armor support in battles leading up to the next bridge. Units have morale, ammunition and, if I remember correctly, exhaustion. They will hide and take cover when possible. Their morale is bolstered by nearby allies. One mortar shell could destroy a whole squad. Your squads might try to cross a street only to be mowed down by a machinegun you hadn't seen. Also, in many ways the Germans have superior equipment. They have access to tanks in battle after battle. Taking one down is a major accomplishment for your infantry. Many of their standard infantry have anti-tank weapons while only your specialized units do. By the end of many battles the cities of the Netherlands are in ruins while bodies litter the streets. This is a different kind of war game than what you have probably played.

I've tried to find a solution via google, but unfortunately it seems there have been no one found the solution for this issue. So far, this game is only playable in standalone battle maps.

I prefer Close Combat 2 to Close Combat 3 due to the strategic element of a single operation with multiple battles. Close Combat 2 represents inter-related battles from operation Market Garden during World War II. Fighting is real time with individual squads/guns/armored vehicles. Success or failure of each battle affects all other battles afterwards. A battle may occur later, earlier, or not at all. Fighting is real time with a few squads and single gun or vehicle units. This game is much simpler than the Combat Mission series and can be played in much less time. Most battles take about an hour or two where Combat Mission battles can take several hours and a single operation may take days. I would expect most people to prefer the Close Combat games because of the amount of time most people have on a day to day basis. The Combat Mission games are, however, turn based and you can save the game after every turn. In Close Combat, you must complete the battle to save. I like both games with each having pros and cons. Combat Mission allows you to put in the next minutes moves and firing solutions and then start the games which plays out the minute. Close Combat executes in real time with specific commands being given during gameplay. They both have a good number of units which can be played. In Close Combat you have more capability to determine which units will be in each battle and there is a campaign mode where you keep the same small number of units until they are destroyed or replaced. Combat Mission only lets you keep and reinforce units for a single operation.