Combat Mission Shock Force & Add Ons

[Bootie]

Combat Mission Shock Force, the electronic equivalent of Marmite. It is one of those games you tend to either love or hate. When it was first released, lets not beat around the bush... it was criticized from all quarters. It was a glitchy bug ridden mess. Old CMx1 players were disgusted they were getting dragged kicking and screaming into the realms of modern warfare. The BF forums were awash with bad feeling between the game developers and the paying public. Arguments ranged from 'why not carry on with CMx1 and base it on different theatres' to the classic 'shit man we are in a war in Afghanistan and Iraq and this is a little close to home'. On researching a little bit I find it hard to believe that CMSF has actually been out so long... when I read 'released in 2007' it made me sit up and go... bloody hell where did the last 4 years go!!??

Anyway.... the arguing continued and so did the steady stream of patches. I actually bought the original game upon release and it lasted on my HD for about a week.

As the patches came out peoples perceptions gradually changed so I installed it again around about patch 1.10. Again it didn't last very long on my HD and I cursed BF, Modern Warfare and everything associated with CMSF. I just found the whole game clunky with a dodgy user interface. Added to that I couldn't grasp how deadly the new game was compared to the old CMx1 in relation to your pixel truppen getting wiped out by an unseen enemy. The new 1:1 representation made losing each man a more harrowing experience. Whereas in CMx1 your 3 man platoon dropped to a 2 man platoon the new graphics showed US soldiers getting cut down like a field of wheat at harvest time.

Then the add-ons started arriving. First the US Marines, followed by Brit Forces and finally NATO forces. With each add on a new patch was released. People were actually starting to retract earlier comments about the game and say it was good. So.... out comes the dusty box from my cupboard and I install once again for the 3rd time. And believe it or not.. the game was playable!

I sit here today with the base game and all modules on my HD. The game is playable, the game is realistic (as far as Im aware), the graphics are amazing but for me there is just something missing in the enjoyability stakes. I cant put my finger on it there just appears to be something missing The feeling is similar to sitting watching an average comedy movie.... that you've seen before. The jokes weren't particularly funny the first time round and now your sitting through them again already knowing the punchlines. Another thing that rankles me is the terrain. It is so bloody boring. I know it is set in the desert but bloody hell every map looks pretty much the same with the location of the objective moved slightly.

Since the release of CMBN users should by now be aware of what the UI will be like... it hasn't changed a hell of a lot and the jump from CMx1 to CMSF to CMBN broke people into CMBN in my opinion. For those who skipped CMSF... well.... you've got an awful lot of catching up to do.

My official score for Combat Mission Shock Force and Add Ons is...