Close Combat – Panthers in the Fog

I recently attended the Matrix / Slitherine games press event, where I got to speak first hand with the developers behind the most successful strategy war game company, where we discussed all of their upcoming titles for release on everything from PlayStation 3, Xbox, PC, Mac and Android / Apple devices, lets start by taking a look at the next game in the Close Combat series, which will be coming to PC very soon.

Close Combat: Panthers in the Fog is the latest release in the critically acclaimed Close Combat series.  It details the desperate German counter-attack at Mortain, the last chance of the Wehrmacht to stave off defeat in Normandy.  Can you match the tenacity of the American defenders of Hill 314?  Or can you succeed where the Panzers failed, driving through to the sea and changing history?

Play single battles, linked operations, or even the Grand campaign simulating all six crucial days of fighting.  With 35 linked battlefields and historically accurate formations and units, strategic choices are as important as tactical prowess.  New features of long–range interdiction, strategic high ground and adverse weather conditions bring an insight into the challenges faced by those who commanded both sides in this pivotal WW2 battle.

For the Allies the Normandy landings of June were followed by two months of hard fighting in difficult terrain against a tenacious German defense.  But in late July the US Army’s Operation Cobra has finally created a decisive breach in the weakened German line.  Patton’s 3rd Army races through the opening along the western coast of France and into the clear, driving for the Brittany Ports.  Faced with the choice between retreat and last-ditch counter-attack, the Germans struggle to assemble a panzer force for one more charge.  Can the Germans move quickly enough to overcome a desperate situation, push through to Avranches on the French coast, and cut off Patton’s racing spearheads?  Or will the thinly stretched Americans troops screening Patton’s flank be able to hold out, regroup, and hold the vital lifeline open.

Features

• Over 50 historically accurate key units and 47 weapon types rendered in exact detail
• Campaign map with 35 unique regions to fight over.
• Command up to 21 squads at a time, and each squad can contain up to 10 men.
• Improved 32 bit graphics allowing smoother, more realistic maps, more varied trees and improved effects
• Refined front end and UI design making the game easier to play and updating the UI to more modern standards.
• Improved force selection more accurately reflects WW2 formations meaning formations cannot be re-customised every battle.  Losses and fatigue must be managed and platoons are historically balanced
• Enhanced multiplayer experience using Slitherine’s integrated lobby, match making systems and routing server, which mean it’s never been easier to find an opponent and just play!
• Improved High Level Gameplay brings the strategies of the battle to life with
• Animated maps showing the progress of attacks and troop movements with new clarity
• Holding high ground allows player’s to observe distant enemy troop movements.
• Choose whether to allocate your air and artillery as close support for your own troops, or to interdict distant enemy formations.
• Fog hides enemy formation