Let's Play Close Combat - Episode 1

Ring ring ring! Hello! Who may I ask is calling? It sounds like my old friend World War Two! I haven't heard from you in a while, how are you. Oh, I'm sorry, what's that? It's actually Close Combat? The hit strategy game from 1996 that spawned over a dozen sequels? Well, what a pleasant surprise!
Despite the box art, Close Combat has nothing to do with phones. It's a top-down strategy game that puts you in command of a company of soldiers in the immediate aftermath of the D-Day landings. You can play as the Americans or as the Germans, and either way, you're going to be facing serious challenges.
One of the key features of this game is that it models each one of your men's physical, emotional, and psychological state throughout your battles. They become less and less effective as combat strains their bodies and their minds. Sometimes, they will refuse to follow your orders; other times, they might break and run. You'll learn who you can rely on in a fight... and who might be better left behind the front lines.
I am playing this on an original Power Macintosh G3, and I'm playing it on the original CD-ROM disc that I had as a kid. The drive is loud. I know. The next time I play, I'll try to play it off of a disc image instead. But in the interest of authenticity, I'm keeping it for this first session.
Playlist: • Let's Play Close Combat
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Thank you for watching!

[@NTAD]

Nightmares of panzerschrecks in this game. RNG gods made then damn tank snipers. When my family got our first PC in 1996, it had the old Blockbuster 50 game trials disc included with it and the demo for Close Combat was on it. It only let you play Off The Beach but that was enough to hook me. When my grandma got me my own PC the next year, I made it a point to call around and track down the full version and ended up having to have my mom drive me miles to a hole-in-the-wall PC store that was the only place that had a copy. Feels good to still have that disc on my shelf. In a timeline overloaded with remasters and remakes this is one of the few games that I genuinely would throw money at for a remaster.

[@kushanblackrazor6614]

This and Steel Panthers solidified my interest in pushing armies of little men around on tabletops for years to come. It pretty much defined my Windows 95 experience.

[@serwetkowywritter1]

I always wished I could play this game as a kid!! Now I just might after almost 30 years thanks to your vid!

[@deknegt]

I missed the stream, but I am glad I am here for the VOD!

[@visage123456]

Thanks for the nostalgia kick! I only had the demo growing up and played it many times. I think it ran way to slow on our Performa, but I don't think I realized it at the time.

[@effingcontroller]

It runs a little faster than I remember on this G3 versus the one I had growing up. Maybe because it's a 266 mhz versus the 233 I had, or because it has 512 MB of RAM, or it could be the BlueSCSI I'm using. I wouldn't mind if it was just a touch slower, though not as slow as the lower speed setting. I'm impossible to please!

[@aslag94]

Ahhh, these early (pre-Battle of the Bulge) Close Combats have such a charm. Felt a tad more game-y in a good way. I spent dozens of hours on A Bridge Too Far on my childhood iMac.

[@risea.gainst2051]

Marathon enjoyer i see

[@kenndoggie1]

Here to watch it all ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@ssquirrel88]

Yes! Loved this game on old Mac Performa 550

[@effingcontroller]

How did it run on that machine? I can't remember if I could even run it on my Performa 475.

[@ssquirrel88]

@@effingcontroller I originally had a Performa 550, I had the "ram doubler" app installed I remember. It ran fine. I had CloseCombat 1 and CC2: A Bridge Too Far, Sim Moon, Civilization 1 and 3 and Star Wars Alliance. My sister took my 550 and I bought a Performa 6400/180 tower to replace it in 97.

[@PrivateLsd]

I second the nostalgia kick Effing! Used to play this on my pc as a kid, first the demo and then the full version later on when I got a pack containing the first 3 games on CD Rom. I wonder if you've played the latest entry in the franchise, "Close Combat: The Bloody First"

[@HighlyFlammableMan]

I am very excited to see you doing something new and that I haven't seen before! And I don't want to be that kind of person but it is not Bradley, but Browning for the automatic rifle.

[@effingcontroller]

Oh, thank you! Don't know how I got that mixed up.

[@cheetengho7876]

I wished you made more wargames play through and yes this is a de facto wargame. I cover other wargames on my blog as well called The Avid Wargamer.

[@sadiedeee]

I come for the Nazi jokes, I stay for the dating app puns.

[@G0thCrayon]

Oh my GODS! I had to stop the video for a moment, thinking "Oh, crap! Is my air conditioner having a meltdown?!" then I realize: oh, no... that's just his CD-Rom drive approaching lift-off speed. I do miss a great many things about gaming in the 90's/00's, buuuuut that is definitely not one of them.

[@nathanstrong4359]

god i loved this game

[@ThePilot4ever]

nice

[@polaxis842]

Yesss

[@pop78900]

Sabes si se encuentra en steam o como puego bajar un emulador para Windows 98

[@jasonvega9942]

This was my favorite of the cc series. Although i really liked cc2 the series became more and more stagnant. CC1 was ground breaking at the time. Americans used grazing fire in the hedgerows, something ive never seen before or since in any video game. Also the little soldier animations, crude by todays standards were superior to those of the rest of the series. Most notably when a soldier is killed they die in different ways as opposed to the forward somersault death of every soldier from cc2 on. In CC2 all riflemen in a squad fire simultaneously and its jarring whereas here there is a non uniformity of fire for indiividual troopers. Its too bad the devs ignored the fans on moving to a 3d engine. Once they got the military contract the series was done.

[@Christopher-N]

Unbearably loud CD-ROM? I'm rather nostalgic to single-speed caddy CD-ROM - the disc reading sounds were more audible, and higher in pitch. When I buy another desktop, I'd get the device that adds disk clicking sounds to modern SSD drives. Give me the whirls and clicks any day.

[@effingcontroller]

I'm glad somebody out there appreciates the finer things!