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great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a great World War II simulator. There are definitely some bugs in this game and I would highly recommend going to the net for fixes. This Game has better computer intelligence than Close Combat 4 but human players are far superior. the other great advantages game has is the large community of programmers that have written additional scenarios for this game. You can do battle since Stalingrad, Africa, Berlin, etc. You need to purchase this game to be able to access the free extras but if you're into strategy games this is a great time waster.

I love this older strategy game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had this game in 2001, but lost the media to it. Recently, I began a new search for the software developers to see if they have continued the line of WWII strategy based games. I also, played Battle of the Bulge but was upset with the game play. I found Invasion Normandy interesting and very captive. Although, comparing the game with current graphics it doesn't hold any water to any new stuff. But because this game was a favorite of mine I have re-purchased the game with the hopes if continuing my love for WWII strategy based games. If you love older 16-bit graphics, but yet interesting game play I highly recommend Close Combat: Invasion Normandy.

A worthy successor to all others

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: July 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game has been rated poorly by some who see its new team selection option as "too easy." To the contrary, both the teams options and the "choose your own path to victory" campaign system. This game has a cleaner interface than all of the othe other Close Combat games combined. I would highly recommend it to those of you who are wondering whether or not to purchase a game in the series. Check out this one first.

Not For Action, But For Strategy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: October 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a game that you will probably find yourself playing many, many times, depending on whether or not your intentions for purchasing the game are for action or strategy.
Historically, I felt it did a great job of duplicating the scenarios of the real invasion of Normandy. Hedgerows were a major nuisance for the Allied forces and it was that way in Close Combat 5, as well. It makes it hard to put the tanks into some sort of effective use, without the help of supporting infantry. Sometimes the amount of troops allowed to fight in a battle were actually too large to be historically accurate, when considering the scattered drops of the U.S. airborne, and that made offensive moves in this game too easy, but it really didn't take away much from the game. In all honesty, it wouldn't have been much fun to lead an attack with only a group of men the size of a few squads.
Strangely enough, an entire division is lost if it's involved force, in a battle, loses every man. Although not the entire division participates in the battle, the entire division will no longer exist, as if the rest of it is disbanded.
Overall, the game was much fun for me. I was interested in learning more about Operation Overlord, and the involvement of the U.S. in World War 2, and found this game to be very helpful, although I could still tell which historical aspects were true, and which were inaccuracies due to the game itself.
I read a review that described that, in the beach landings, there weren't enough bullets whizzing in the air and that it basically seemed too tame. But this game focuses on Utah Beach, not Omaha. Utah WAS much tamer, and had much fewer casualties, so don't expect a slaughter. Besides that, the "Atlantic Wall" that the reviewer talked about being climbed was not the Atlantic Wall, but a simple sea wall. This game is much more realistic than you may have been led to believe. And, yes, sometimes the aim of the soldiers was horrible and humorous at the same time, but the cons are outweighed by the pros. Strategy is definitely the way to go in this game. Don't expect to win battles by charging the enemy head on.

close combat : normandy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: July 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I think that C.C.I.N is great unlike C.C. 1 & 2 This one has better graphics,experiance and fun! i would say anyone who liked C.C. the russian front would like this A+++++ 5 star class!

Ironically, the name shows where the game fails most.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 16 / 31
Date: January 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I loved the series when it debuted - primitive, yeah, but fun nonetheless. CC2 moved the series a step in the right direction - music to the ears of fans of the genre. Fast forward to Invasion Normandy, and it's honestly hard to see what's worth playing anymore.

Gameplay: terrible. For a series which prides itself heavily on AI, this game has little, if none. Units will often hold their fire, even if an inferior enemy unit is cleary charging right at them. Line-of-sight problems plague the entire game, with areas of identical elevation and free of obstacles sometimes being impossible to fire at - it's sometimes even impossible to fire at an elevated position, which is otherwise visible.

Another thing - unit worth and accuracy. Units such as snipers, mortar teams, etc. are basically useless. You would think a sniper could easily pick off a stationary target, not hidden behind cover, at a distance of 50 metres - not so. Mortars seem to land in random locations, and, even if it graphically appears as though it would have taken out a whole squad, they're left miraculously unharmed. There are many instances where I will have an enemy scout unit surrounded by an entire platoon, and, although the maximum distance will be 30 metres, the enemy will be on an area of no cover (i.e. middle of the road), the nearly one hundred bullets per second raining down on them will fail to hit - and this pathetic little squad will STILL manage to take out enemies while under massive suppression. Not only that, but AT squads are nearly useless as well, since they have a tendency to miss 99% of the time, and the 1% where the round would hit, it will instead land on the other side of the tank - which is physically impossible, since in reality, rockets go in straight lines, and this isn't duplicated properly. The tedious 20-metre engagements between whole platoons for 10 minutes is so ridiculous, I feel like I'm fighting on a battlefield full of Gomer Pyles.

Still, passing the game is incredibly simple, ... and, somehow, inferior German forces. I found it hilarious in the invasion scenarios that there wasn't even any gunfire raining down on the beach, and that the Atlantic Wall could easily be climbed by the average person - STRAIGHT OUT CLIMBED.

I'm getting pissed off at this game just thinking about it. The last thing I need is to play a game where everyone's aim is about as good as an extra in a Schwartzenegger movie...

Storm The Beach!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have always been a close combat fan since the series came out. The game is fun overall, but can get dragging at times. I do like how the game is focused more on the infantry, rahter than heavy armor. Sounds are great, graphics are great, game play is great, but my only complaint is that there is no zoom in button. I know other CC games had them and I don't know why this one shouldn't have one. But that is ok. The planning feature of the game is intersting too. You are in control of what forces you are sending in as back up. The game is fun, especially if you are a hard core CC fan. There isn't much of a huge improvement over any of the other CC games, but like I said it is still fun to play. I hope they come out with more theaters of combat in future installments.

Invasion Normandy returns to Close Combat's roots

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Close Combat: Invasion Normandy is probably the best recent title in the Close Combat series. It returns to Normandy, the battle ground for the first CC title. You are commanding either the US divsions invading at Utah Beach or the Germans trying to stop them. No Tommies in this one! Personally, I would have liked to have been able to control British troops as well. Invasion Normandy puts the emphasis back on infantry and returns the armor to its support role. For those of you who thought that The Russian Front had way too much armor in it, then you will be happy to know that in Invasion Normandy most of the missions have no more than two armored vehicles to each side. Of course at times there are more, but for the most part this is an infantry strategy game. In some of the battles between the airborne divisions there isn't any armor at all!

Game play is still pretty much same as compared to previous CC titles. During campaigns, you can now control your different battalions movements on the overall strategic map. This lets you move your battalions forward to take a new section of the Cotentin Peninsula and assign your mortar barrages, naval bombardments, and air strikes to battalions that you think will need them the most. It adds another dimension to the game and makes you think a little more. And sit back and enjoy the show when your naval bombardment comes from the 13in guns on a battle ship!!!

The graphics have been improved slightly since The Russian Front. I haven't played Battle of the Bulge, so I don't know how the graphics compare there. The AI is still...well the usual CC AI. The infantry AI has never been that all that bad. The armor AI has improved some in this game, but you still end up wondering, as you watch tank after tank get destroyed by some stupid blunder, if maybe the tank commanders aren't really Nazis at heart!

There are a few minor bugs in the program, but nothing catastrophic that I have seen. All in all this is a well rounded, real time strategy game, that is historically accurate and a whole lot of fun to play. This game ranks right up there with Age of Empires II as one of my favorite strategy games. It is definitely one of if not the best WWII strategy game out there right now. SSI made a smart move in aquiring the rights to the series as it fits right into the genre of games they produce.

The Best CC Game Yet!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is the best military strategy game ever. I had the demo and I must of played the same level 50 times. Then I finally saw it in a store then I bought. A really good buy for you strategy game enthusiasts. Go buy it today.

Good head to head, crappy single player

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

After paying two online Grand Campaigns with two very worthy opponents, I have come to respect this game for what it is - a fun H2H game, but it is not much more.

The graphics out of the box are cartoon cutouts that look like they belong on a kids television show. Tank and AT guns simply look like they were copy and pasted from a comic book, which is horribly ugly to look at when you have the gorgeous maps you play on. Fortunatly, this can be solved with graphics mods for the game that greatly help and make the vehicles and guns look as they should, realistic.

As for gameplay, it is safe to say that any experienced player will have no challenge at all on single player. The AI is atrocious, and no mod can help this. The only wayto get any enoyment whatsoever out of this game is to find a good, reliable opponent online, and play the grand campaign, that is where this game is fun.

WWII grogs like myself will love this game, however, being a serious gamer the bugs detract from the simple play this gives. Since Atomic went out of business, the CC community now has to rely on third party patches and fixes to an extremely buggy game out of the box. If the CC series had actually evolved from its first installment, to now its fifth, then Atomic games might actually still be in business. This is a cheap knock-off of CC4, which was the absolute worst in the series, but can be fun when you find a very good opponent to play who is honest. Why?

Reenforcement bug in GC - unlimited reinforcements for American player... In my first GC, I had to go up about three times the American armor is should have, which ruined the game. Fix this by keeping a paper chart with your opponent so as not to ruin the game, because there wont be any patch for this.

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