Marines Reviewed by IGN and Dorosh

[KG_Jag]

IGN gives it a "passable" rating of 6.7:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/928/928511p1.html

"Closing Comments
Combat Mission: Shock Force left a lot to be desired and the Marines module (and the accompanying patch) definitely takes some steps in the right direction. The Marines are fun to play, and are modeled here with the accuracy and attention that we've come to expect from Battlefront. The mission variety is nearly as impressive and the game begins to become really enjoyable once the challenge level rises.

But we're still unclear about many of the mission triggers, and it seems that the game itself is equally confused. While a little uncertainty is part of the appeal of playing war, the arbitrary problems of the game design are more frustrating than fun. We're sure those elements, as well as the AI and pathfinding issues, will be fixed in a patch. Assuming that's fixed, we're still left questioning whether or not the basic interface is as convenient as it needs to be to make Combat Mission appealing to real-time strategy fans."


Perhaps even more interesting is the extensive gamer review by Michael Dorosh, who scored it 3.5:

http://rr.pc.ign.com/rrview/pc/comba...4256724/95128/

Some excerpts from his view of the game:

"...I think philosophically, attempting to take a really good turn-based platform and attempt to split it out into both a Real Time game AND a WEGO game simply turns it into a game that is mediocre at both. The lack of command delays, for example, is obvious in WEGO, meaning that a key element of command and control has been stripped away in order to accommodate real time play. And scenario sizes have been severely reduced in order to accommodate real time since you can't command a battalion or even a company flanking maneuver effectively in RT. Battlefront wants to have the best of both worlds and ends up mastering neither."

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"Absolute bottom line: BFC needs to decide if it wants to sell a game, or a sim. MARINES wants to please everyone. It's a time waster on a par with Rainbow Six - a fun platoon shooter that has explosions and tanks. But for anyone looking for a realistic depiction of modern warfare, you'll see too many people shooting through walls and occupying ground in the presence of the enemy to take it seriously. As a game, you'll wrestle with issues of user feedback too often to think of it in the same league as Firefight or simpler combat games. BFC tried to split the difference and expand its market. It failed. Pick a genre and go for it; "gim" is not a word for a very good reason."