Close Combat 2: A Bridge Too Far

This game has held up very well over the last 20 years. It's just as fun to play as it was when it first came out. That is, until you get to the mission results screen. You can look at all the pretty medals your men have earned, and then watch the game crash to desktop when you click on the proceed button. It used to happen occasionally, now it happens EVERY. SINGLE. MISSION. Both my German and Allied campaigns have come to a halt as I play the same mission over and over and over again and watch it crash every time. Naturally, you have to play through the entire mission to completion, as the game only saves after you exit the Mission Result page, not when the mission ends. So everything you did just evaporates and you have to do it all over again. At this point the game is unplayable. I've tried following the suggestions for making the game stable, nothing works, and I'm not a computer scientist. If I pay for a game, it should work. It shouldn't require arcane workarounds to suss it back to life. I understand it is an old game, but if it's for sale here and now it ought to work.

Really love the game, but 2 stars because the game keeps crashing. GOG - how difficult is it for you to sort this out?

Game does have some aged bits, but thankfully it's a example of something that has withstood the test of time and is actually better than the remake. -AI is vastly superior at pathfinding that the remake -Enemies do not make your soldiers cower after just 1 shot like in the remake -Units realistically run away. Just get this over the remake. The remake has ruined the AI.

I love CC series, but this is, in my opinion, the most balanced, dinamic and challenging of all the titles concerning player vs. engine game. The later ones are better for player vs. player. I explain: In the latest titles you can manage larger groups in bigger maps, but there is an AI issue: AI works in a very specific way: it tries to catch the victory locations, and moves directly to them, specially with its tanks. This way of fighting hasn't changed during the series and it is a desing that doesn't work well in big maps: their tanks get isolated in open terrain, their infantry is caught without support, and if you are smart you can kill them separately. Nothing of this happens in CC2, because that AI design was done for little to medium maps, that is to say, it was done for THIS game. Here, in the Dutch bocage, enemy tanks can't go fastly, so they always work together with infantry. That gives you the pain of your life. Get ready to plan, move, set killzones and tank traps with your scarce resources, specially if commanding allied airborne teams. My god, thats pure hell. If this game has some realism, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sorrow for the people that fought that grim war. Also, the problems with moving vehicles that you may find in later titles are already here, but due again to the size of the map they arent as bothersome. Interestingly, the game sets a division between infantry and support, so you can get only a limited number of heavy weapons. Far from feeling undersuited, it is very well balanced, and adds to the challenge. If your are in for loads of tanks, go for CCIII, the Russian Front, where armors rule the land since the very beginning. 9/10 made me a IIWW hooked, more than MoH spear head.

One of my favorite wargames as a child. My only gripe with it, know that I'm older and know more, is that the armor for the tanks don't seem to have realistic thickness values. Regardless, if you love or want another RTT (Real Time Tactical) strategy game, Close Combat 2-4 are amazing. If you can find Close Combat 5, thats a great addition too.