Combat Mission: Touch First Impressions

Submitted by peterb on Wed, 04/04/2012 - 17:43

Photo credit: battlefront.com

I had some time to kill on an airplane yesterday, and I killed some of it playing Combat Mission: Touch. I wanted to share some of my first impressions of the game here. I've only tried the single-player thus far, multiplayer will have to wait until some of our fine readers get the game and inflict some humiliating defeats on me.

For those of you unfamiliar with Combat Mission, it's a series of games similar in nature to the classic Close Combat games. Players command forces ranging from small platoons up to a battalion, including infantry of various flavors (including rifle squads, machine gun squads, mortar teams, and forward observers who can call in artillery support), as well as tanks and wheeled vehicles. The game has a rhythm that may be unfamiliar to many players: orders are entered a turn at a time, and then both sides execute their orders simultaneously. Each turn runs for 60 seconds, and then the game pauses and you have an opportunity to change your units' orders.

At first glance the game is similar to its desktop cousin, Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy, but is somewhat simplified (or, if you want to put a positive spin on it, streamlined). The most obvious change - apart from somewhat reduced graphical flash - is the abstraction of command and control in the game. In the desktop versions of Combat Mission, you have command teams on the field who exert influence on nearby troops. Troops who are within the command radius of a commander are (slightly) braver and react faster. Squads that are "out of command" are a bit more fragile. I haven't seen a command team in Combat Mission: Touch, yet, so I presume they don't exist. The number of squads involved in any one battle seems overall somewhat smaller as well, but since one of my complaints about Combat Mission desktop is that my tiny simian brain is too easily overwhelmed by trying to manage 120 different squads, this isn't much of a drawback for me.

The core mechanics of giving orders work great, and in fact I prefer it to its desktop relative: touch a troop to bring up a menu with a few options (move, target, hunt for enemies, hit the dirt, and so on). Issue as many orders as you like, tap the "go!" button, and a minute of simulated mayhem combat commences. The game comes with 7 scenarios - which for $4.99 is a pretty good deal, since it offers quite a bit of replayability - and more will be released soon for in-app purchase.

On the whole, I like it! If you like wargames, for the price of a big Starbucks coffee you're in the game. Everyone should buy it.

There are, however, a couple of things I don't like. None of them ruin the game, but they're worth calling out in the interests of fair play.

The touch integration is functional, but a bit...disconnected. While I don't want to hazard a guess about implementation, this definitely feels to me like a game that is operating under some translation layer rather than being written to native iOS standards. To give two examples: the "pinch" gestures to zoom in and out on the battlefield are the exact reverse from what I'd expect them to be; and the zooming lags behind the gesture noticeably, in a way that iOS apps typically don't. One hopes that this is something they will improve in future patches (and indeed, a 1.1 patch is apparently already on the way, which bodes well). I get the sense that a lot of PC developers that are dipping their toes into the iPad market are, perhaps understandably, hedging their bets and using some sort of intermediate SDK. All I can say to these guys is: you need to play some of the best native games. Play with them, and see how they feel. If your game doesn't feel as good, then ask yourself what you can do to make it better. It's not a problem at all (in my opinion) if developers make games using an intermediate SDK; but it is a problem if they do that and their customers notice.

The game also suffers from the same problem that every other Combat Mission game has: "Here's a list of scenarios. Pick one. Have a nice day!" For me, a little bit of narrative sugar goes a long, long way. To make the obvious comparison with Battle Academy, I've sort of always wanted the Combat Mission games to have some sort of simple campaign that introduces the various troops and operations to me a few at a time, adding in greater complexity and scale over time. Combat Mission Battle for Normandy doesn't have this, and neither does Combat Mission: Touch. So it goes.

The great strength of the game (its free-form camera that lets you zoom around the battlefield looking at anything from any perspective) is also a weakness: there's no real concept of a 'significant event' in the playback. So if I'm staring at a tank during the playback, but halfway across the field my infantry is massacred and destroyed, the only way I can find out about it is to notice that that unit is gone and run the playback again. If I could wave a magic wand and demand a feature - other than smoother panning and zooming - I'd want some sort of "cinematic camera" mode where the game shows me things that it thinks are important.

Combat Mission: Touch by Battlefront. $4.99 and available on the App Store. We live in glorious times.

Comments

Grrrunt's picture

Grrrunt

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 23:36

Here's my real early feedback/thoughts & what I would like to see happen, feel so far & I will update as I play thru the scenarios, if it helps.

OK 1st off I LOVE IT already. THANKS CC! Yes if u are a gamer, wargamer buy it. It's a blast to play, and has a lot of legs for hours of gaming. Thought is needed before charging ahead I felt, tactics will work better than charging & forget WIA or KIA's! But then in war all plans to to crap when the firing starts I guess.

Got this game for my ipad2 yesterday. Playing (still) the beach scenario...couple of pillboxes overlooking empty barren beach...sorted my forces into groups of where I thought might be a good area to assault, but as there is very little room apart from a straight up the guts approach with some cover ( think) in the undulating folds in the beach terrain. I right flank & found I couldn't move up slopes...so in the end facing pillbox defense head-on...Ok...while playing I noticed or could hear first shells landing...somewhere...so I 360' around/pluas playback (very cool) & saw a lot of arty shells falling short behind my men (!) (amazing looking/sounding explosions too,very well done) Why a barrage?? No ships at sea...I dunno I didn't order it...and it was damn close to my men. Miles from jerry. Ok up the beach we went, few KIA's on the way, so exposed...edgy feel to this game u DON'T want to lose men...I noticed when I zoomed out (birds eye view) the infantry looked like they were facing back to the beach & looked very odd from a distance (flamingos come to mind) so their facing wasn't good for morale either! The look & facing backwards can take away from the whole mood, realism & feel set by the scenario/Game? Please sort out sprites.

The beach was very barren as all beaches are/were then. No obstacles. Any chance of some shell holes & some smoke rising in distance from Allied arty or bombing...or just drifting thru the battle area from time to time, some of the builds in ruins perhaps something like that add to the atmosphere the odd passing fighter shadow with sound maybe...The guns in the distance firing etc are great for atmosphere & I thought helped a huge amount setting the period represented. Gives the feel your little part of the battle is just a small part of something bigger.

The pillboxes. There must be a million pics of German pillboxes and what they looked like, be great if they looked like the WW2 ones in this game, I would like to just see the twinkle from the slit when the defenders are firing & tracer, which there is is excellent, than the jerrys defending inside when u get closer- maybe u see them if u go inside the pillbox when u take it out? I thought the tank that I received as a reinforcement, looked great, closer though & it split in the middle-u could see thru it, not sure what that is maybe memory & it appeared to float off ground. Nice sounds again with exhaust smoke COUGH! Infantry had no shadows & appear thin & flat untill u get close then they look fab!

The actual AI I can't say except it seemed to really want to hammer me what ever I came up with in tactics & my tank was taken out...to my surprise...damn cunning...which is how it should be. Hard as & full of chaos IMHO.

I took me some time to form a 'cunning plan' to get near the pillboxes to take them out, (well I spent time devising one & really enjoyed that) but even when the tank hit a pillbox the defenders fought on...nice...they must have been fanatical SS!

Camera moving & zooming was ok, could be a lot smoother & more responsive but everything worked, some fine tuning won't hurt but updates are coming so maybe then.

German defenders I thought could be in trenches instead of on grass/ground as with other weapons/weapons teams etc near & around - is this hard to implement I dunno?

*PLEASE NOTE: I LOVE this game & I'm so happy as a gamer of 30+ years (gawd!) Started out with 2mm...that's another story just thought I'd share what came to my head during my experience so far.

Grrrunt's picture

Grrrunt

Fri, 04/06/2012 - 15:14

Posted these first thoughts too over at CM.

This game has great potential! Not passed scenario#1 yet! Interesting tactical decisions to make.

Love the guns sounds in background/off in distance really adds to atmosphere.

Some feedback, not criticism these thoughts/observations are just a gamers needs/wants to make it even more brill...please:

1) Please change the running animation of troops they look knocked-kneed
2) As I posted above small sprites look odd and are facing backwards until u get closer.
3) When playing the Germans...change icons to grey not leave them as USA green I actually thought u couldn't play the Germans in scenario1 until I zoomed right in! (my mistake but it would help)
4) As before, add a bit of war damage to the terrain. Ruins & shell holes the old smouldering building or wreck if possible iPads I guess are limited perhaps?
5) *need a 'glue' feature so u can embed yourself to a tank or a unit & stay with them once battle commences
6) Not sure if it was German arty falling just behind my troops I take it was German?

I had a great moment when a lone rifleman (rest of his squad wiped out) ran, knock-kneed, but ran all the same into the face of the withering MG34 pillbox defense, bullets kicking up dirt everywhere (love this in the game) & he took out the pillbox...well his squad was ordered to...anyways when he arrived he kinda walked in the backdoor, a bit disappointing after such a heroic run...I was expecting him to throw a grenade but guess memory for more animated scenes on iPad would limit this. Great though to watch it on replay.

I've always wondered about Fog-Of-War in wargames whether on a table with miniature units or counters on a board, well not wondered but tried to instill more of it into the game. The guy on the ground, let alone the commander, won't ever see all or anything of what the hell is going on around him in a fight. There has been a few comments posted around about players not knowing what the hell was going on with the other units etc. I thought that was great! They maybe saw it different. I saw (later in the replay) what had happened to the unit I ordered to charge up the beach straight towards the Pillbox they all died. I thought they might lie down and crawl forward, no they didn't even crouch down they just ran full tilt to their deaths. My orders of course. While that scene was unfolding my lone rifleman made a run towards the pillbox & eventually took it out. Nice. My tank had fired one shot, as ordered, at the pillbox from the other side of the beach. Shot fell just in front of the pillbox.

After orders are given, for me, I stay with a unit & follow them. ( so need a *'glue' feature here so u can embed youself to a tank or a unit & stay with whichever u choose once battle commences) I don't watch the whole birds-eye view of the whole fight, just doesn't seem 'right' I like to learn after what happened on the left flank or the centre & how did that lone BAR guy get on sneaking up on the enemy?

Claytonious

Fri, 04/06/2012 - 18:58

That's a thoughtful and well written write-up; it was a good read so I'll definitely check back here more often!

I am one of the devs on the game. I think you'll really like the control and performance enhancements in the upcoming 1.1 patch. With respect to the controls, though, I disagree that they're backward. If you use, for example, the Maps app from Apple, or Google Earth, you will see that they are exactly the same. Am I misinterpreting something about what you mean?