Close Combat III: The Russian Front Demo

Realism in video games can sometimes be too annoying to be worth the trouble, but in some special cases, it can be the defining characteristic of the title. Hence, whenever a developer gets the mechanics right and manages to portray a very realistic depiction of the activity in question, the game quickly becomes a reference in the genre and inspires many others to follow in its footsteps.

Close Combat III: The Russian Front, as the name clearly states, is the third installment in the highly-successful strategy series and it aims to improve on almost every aspect over its predecessors. Fortunately, the promises were not in vain and the game manages to encompass almost everything one might want from a World War II wargame, including authentic battle scenarios, realistic conditions and a very intricate morale system that governs the AI.

Although the story itself is not exactly original and it is basically WWII on a loop yet again, this time around you are only in charge of a small group of units, rather than being the supreme commander that wins or loses the war due to his decisions. The battles themselves are at a much smaller scale, although they somehow seem to be much more intense as well, due to the fact that every unit counts.

The available missions put you through a variety of situations, including almost hopeless scenarios from which you have to get out victorious somehow. Thanks to the highly advanced AI, the ambushes are truly deadly and unexpected, unless you really pay attention to the environment and learn how to predict them accurately. On the other hand, you have the same option as well, which makes it that much more exciting to try out your wildest tactics and see what happens.

Visually, there might be some glitches and bugs that could hurt the experience, but nothing is too severe and, considering its age, the game can still be easily enjoyed even today. The environment may not be too detailed or too clear most of the time, but the units are nicely modeled and the battle effects are pretty neat, if you get the chance to admire them.

Finally, Close Combat III: The Russian Front truly does deliver on its promises, which means that you cannot go wrong by giving this game a try. Moreover, the level of realism you'll witness on the battlefield should leave you in awe, especially when you see soldiers running around scared after a tank starts assaulting their position from an unknown location.