which close combat to start with?

[soontir fel]

is there much difference between them beyond the time/location they take place? which is best?

[tejszd]

COI is linear as you move battle to battle over across years on the Eastern Front so can upgrade the teams/weapons you can control in battle but can't change the outcome of the war. All the other versions, except for Modern tactics which just does single battles, have a strategic map and you move battle groups till you and the other side meet on map which then needs to be resolved.


WAR/TLD are very similar but TLD has more mods.

LSA added features compared to WAR/TLD and is a considered by many to be the best. There are some mods for LSA.

PitF and GtC added some features but were a step back from LSA as some features were removed. Having said that many like GtC as the map and vehicle graphics pixels per meter or size was increased.

[SumatranRatMonkey]

CC3/CoI is in my biased opinion the far most fun, because of how you keep playing the same force that you're able to build and manage from scratch. The "economy"/requisition point system is simple but it works really well. Plus I have a soft spot for the eastern front. Of course, the game is rather archaic in some ways, something that doesn't matter me as a long time player but might bother a new player.

The other dynamic CCs (e.g. CC4) suffer from doing too much in my opinion and I am moved around between commanding forces I don't care about. I don't mind having to defend Berlin in CC3 even if I won every operation as the Germans, because ultimately my unit is just a small one in a massive war, and surely I wouldn't have been able to turn the tide of the war anyway.

CoI as a release is somewhat bugged unfortunately (e.g. occasional crashes) but it's manageable.

[Demolaye]

Between Matrix, GOG and STEAM, I own 13 versions of CC, 11 playable versions and 2 others that no longer boot.
For my money the 2 I like the best -TO PLAY TODAY- are:
CC: PitF
CC: GtC
CC: LSA

I know they don't have a laser focus on just 1 combat team in a linearly campaign like CC3/COI. For me however they have something better; as you guide/ control/ babysit several combat teams over a strategic map. Casualties and force management still matter as you have only so many vehicles, guns and squads to swap into each combat team. As well the linear story of CC3/COI is replaced with a freedom of choice to try different operational moves on the larger map to try and affect the larger operation and the strategic goal overall - which you will never see in CC3/COI. Although I have a soft spot for the focus CC3/COI gives you it for me lacks replay-ability unless you have several human opponents who can/will switch sides and tactics. For replay-ability the newer campaigns hold my interest for multiple play-throughs that CC3/COI did not.

In a time machine enabled world, I so vividly remember my play-throughs of:
CC1 Operation Cobra, CC2: ABTF (Market Garden) and CC3/COI (Barbarossa and retreat to Belrin). There was a real sense of discovery and seeing a new genre develop. I really loved those games - but the only one that still holds my interest for a play through is CC2: ABTF that still runs great with a GOG download. Of the first 3, I consider it the best.

-CC 4: Battle of the Bulge - GOG version still play good, interface is a bit clunky even compared to CC2. (See Wacht am Rhein).
-CC5: Invasion: Normandy - GOG version is good same note as CC4.
-Close Combat: Modern Tactics - Junk! Yes you get 90s and early 2000s equipment and a barely updated engine, but you also get no campaign and no reason to ever play thrugh after trying a few battles.
-Close Combat: Wacht am Rhein - a CC4 Bulge remake using an what would euphemistically the CC6 engine.. Graphics and interface are updated, play better than 4 and available on Matrix, GOG and STEAM.
-Close Combat: The Longest Day - a CC5 DDay remake in the "CC6" engine. Same comments as WaR, available on Matrix, GOG and STEAM.
-Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem - a CC2 remake/update/redevelopment we might even call it the "CC 6.5 engine" as here is where the CC6 engine actually came to shine. Plays great, tweaks to the campaign makes it muck more playable from both sides even in Grand Campaign.

-Close Combat: Panthers in the Fog. Essentially the "CC7 engine" as it was the first CC to feature 32-bit graphics. Finally a new campaign with new mechanics - Operation Luttich. Plays great from either side. Multiplayer is fixed. Available on Matrix, GOG and STEAM.
-Close Combat: Gateway to Caen. Same engine as PitF. Another fresh new campaign set in Op Epsom. Plays great from either side. Multiplayer is fixed. Available on Matrix, GOG and STEAM.

Close Combat: The Bloody First. Newest engine, first with 3D graphics and ability to have 3D height mechanics always on. Campaign from Allied or Axis side in the Tunisian Campaign, Op Husky and Op Overlord. IMO Grand campaign only works from Allied side. This one has taken several steps forward BUT is still a work in progress and took a beating in the reviews as expectations were really high.

So where to start?
IMO the best games to play and learn about the series in this decade (no nostalgia glasses allowed) are:
CC: PitF
CC: LSA
CC: GTC
Some day CC: TBF will get there but not yet.