Combat Mission : Touch a PC strategy classic done justice on iOS

If like me you were totally phased by the lack of game and strategy in  Total War Battles - SEGA iOS app , and hanker for a real PC RTS classic that has been  enhanced by and not diminished by being released on a tablet then look no further than Combat Mission : Touch : 

This is from Battlefront.com themselves and is a simply spiffing display of how you can pack a real turn based WW2 strategy game with detail, vast battlefields and intense game play that has you caring for your band of Private Ryans or Shultzes ( Shultzen?) and an OUTSTANDING Full Metal Jacket Sergeant Hartman toned tutorial ... complete with requisite expletives ....and references to your ...

I love the replays, after the tense turn based placement of your units a real time battle ensues and you get to replay this from every angle , just like all those classic Ace Combat or Ridge Racer replays .... errh I mean just like Spielberg and Kaminski you are whizzing round the battlefield framing combat and replaying the action remaking your own version of  all those classic WW2 that influenced those two ... 

the retina display of the new iPad gives you a great sense of scale , you are are after all playing this game at a far higher res on a tablet than you first will have played the original PC release :On a a 2048 by 1536 display there is far more of the battlefield on display . 

before ........

and

after....

You are going to feel that artillery hitting your troops, then you are going to rewind and replay it from different angles before you brain kicks back in to gear and you order your troops to run ... or they start to run ...   troops are a hardy sort  lining up for battle and posing extremely well for my War game correspondent snaps ...( hit the power and home button) ...

 so a little of this is fine :

but too much and your troops start to loose morale and run.... away .. well it's not like Ripley is going to turn up and bust a co axle rescuing them now is it ....?

did I mention the tanks ....  

he shoots he scores....!

and now we bend it like Beckham ....

Talking about a game like this in such a trivial manner is doing it an injustice , for Combat Mission games are renowned for attention to detail and authenticity. That's what makes Combat Mission Touch such a departure from all the other RTS apps most of which are parodies, this is on the other hand is very real strategy as deep as the PC versions and with the added Retina resolution and touch features enhanced in many ways. 

It all comes together extremely well an example of an old classic enhanced by the developer using the tech we have now. There is also a great on line component  to the game, turn based on line RTS rocks as players of the old Xcom email game can tell you ( ask grand dad). 

On PC the Combat Mission series commands as much respect in the realm of strategy gaming as the Arma or Op Flashpoint series does in the military FPS genre. If you are a fan of WW2 strategy , check out the PC and iOS versions now.

And it is totally great to see a developer deliver a serious grown up version of their franchise as opposed to what Sega did with the Total War ios app , but give Creative Assembly a chance it usually takes them about a year to finally get code working so maybe .. we might have some real Total War some time soon ..maybe...

 

   

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X COM ENEMY UNKNOWN DEMO REVEALS KNOWN UNKNOWNS

One game series which can take months to play through , more time than many people today spend on MMOs is the  Gollop brothers classic X COM or UFO defense series.Released on PC and with excellent ( and now highly sought after ) PlayStation versions ( the old grey flip top your grand daddy had) 

Then X COM got popular and publishers, greedy , the Gollop brothers left their franchise the origins of  which you can trace all the way back to Rebel Star Raiders and Nebula on the ZX Spectrum. The suits wanted X COM FPS games, X COM space combat games, X COM email games, X COM Rainbow 6 games, the Gollops departed but not before leaving us with the gem that is X COM Apocalypse. 

The X Com series has always been a victim of its own potential, so various versions the UFO Afterlight/Shock/ trilogy ensued, coded well but lacking the magic and the menace of the original Gollop brothers games. 

That menace and cold hearted ruthlessness returns in Firaxis XCOM Enemy Unknown , you will feel fear as an unseen enemy stalks you turn after turn and your corporate, science, political and military decisions made during the course of this game may not qualify you to run a mega corporation, but could indeed come in handy if Aliens do land outside your window...indeed Daniel Jackson...

From the demo it is not possible to see if the new X COM manages to retain the vast play fields of X COM, Terror from the Deep with its literally Titanic maps  and Apocalypse with an entire city. This is Firaxis though, so here's hoping....

That Firaxis were chosen to revive the classic gameplay of the originals has proved an excellent strategic decision, the new X COM plays like the old classic, with the power of Bleszinski et als Unreal Engine 3 being used in a unique way to create a turn based stragetic epic with real time cgi with the pace and speed of FPS games. 

Every time your fragile Hoomans make a dash for cover, as long as they run and that run is displayed as prettily as Mr Phoenix and crews dashes in Gears , as long as they are running your heart starts beating faster and you hold your breath .. will they make it ... ? Will they run in to an unseen ambush and what kind of Mulder pleasing monstrosity will be eyeing them up or frying them up with it's brain curdling microwave ray... And then it hits you the green or purple nasty that just Jackson Pollocked your lovingly trained elite soldier, has something you need and you send more of your squad to their doom until you get hold of it ...he tasks you and you shall have him and his alien weaponry.  Yes In X COM you get to probe the Aliens ( or what's left of them) ... you abduct them ... Mulder would have a field day....no wonder E.T. went home...

Alien rendition, torture, inter species war, mad scientists , politics and running your own version of Haliburton and quoting Donald Rumsfeld.  it is all here all wrapped up in the turn based classic magic game play of X COM Enemy Unknown. All accessed from an awesome almost Wes Anderson cut out side view of your base....

All in all this is shaping up to be one of the finest games of the year, will it have the 200 hour play time of the old classics..? We will have to see 

The best deal to be had is on Steam with which you get Civilisation V free and of course try the demo out for yourself..

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Get XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN 25% off for £21.75

For those holding off till now , here is Firaxis` XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN for just £21.75 , registers on Steam and includes the pre order bonuses. To get it use the 25% off voucher code GMG25-EVFWS-4Z4ZN  as you check out at Green Man Gaming now ..

25% off Digital downloads* with this voucher code: GMG25-EVFWS-4Z4ZN

 

Simply copy the above voucher and paste into the 'Voucher code' box in the check out to get your discount

 

Offer ends Monday 8th October 2012 at 11.00UTC

I am off to see if this applies to Medal of Honor et al the other upcoming releases ...

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