Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps

If you're a fan of the original, it's worth the price for support for non-4:3 resolutions and the mouse wheel zoom.

Soon after the recent release, I looked at the bundle of three modestly priced classics (that includes this game) and thought "why not" ? I've tried all three now, saving this one (the third) for last. It has so far been a humbling experience. Sure, the graphics are "old school" and might not win a modern beauty contest among war games. But simple chessmen aren't always gaudy, either, and this game (like chess) also seems to be a game of thought and skill. Actually planning, and taking careful account of the terrain and of the available and opposing weaponry, seems to be required to an extent that would not make me call this an arcade game, despite the relative simplicity of its nevertheless engaging graphics. All three games, including (certainly) this one, seem to me at present to offer an enormous amount of, uh, bang for the buck. Or engagement per penny spent. I consider this and the other two which apparently preceded it to be definite keepers and very lucky buys. And because of their variety, I'm glad I picked up all three. Unfortunately I'd probably have to live much longer than seems likely in order to fully exhaust their astonishingly large store of available scenarios.

Hit F2 in the main menu to enable WASD. Great implementation of this old gem with wide screen support and better camera controls, for an unbeatable price. A modern game with this much content would involve like 4 DLCs and be massively expensive. I also prefer the more abstract approach to terrain in the older games compared to modern Combat Mission, in which the terrain is modeled by area, but not down to each individual pixel of tree etc. Realism, chaos, failure... other than the ancient (though I think charming) graphics, all 3 games in the first trilogy hold up magnificently.

The last game in the original CM series, CM3: Afrika Korps. Focusing on a front thats not all that covered, welcome to North Africa (and Italy) where Germans and Italians fight against Allied forces ranging from the big boys like America and Britain to the minor Allied nations like the Australians, South Africans etc. Gameplay is the exact same as the previous titles, audio and controls are the same. There's some small graphical improvements but besides that its essentially the same game just on a different front. +Gameplay loop is still fun. Controls are easy, audio is good, if you know how to play the first two games before this which are Beyond Overlord and Barbarossa to Berlin then you know how to play Afrika Korps too. +As usual lots of units, lots of factions, lots of single missions. Surprisingly there's less campaings compared to the previous titles but I'll get to that in a bit. +Beyond Overlord was the beginning of the CM series which was good but it could definitely have been better. Second game, Barbarossa to Berlin, did make it better changing the battle UI a bit so you could have better idea about what your units had from weaponry to remaning ammo and the final game before the more modern versions, Afrika Korps, keeps doing what the 2nd game did. Its all good for me, I like the CM series, the only thing I'm surprised about is that there isn't a 4th game that takes place in the Pacific or something. As far as I know at least this is where the originals end. +The game keeps the battle UI improvement the second game did, just gives it a new coat of paint to suit the African Front a bit more which is wonderful, the major change I noticed from the previous games were some graphical improvements especially how much dust vehicles can kick up when they move. Suits the desert theme a lot, makes sense. -The only real complaint I have is the amount of campaings. They're not bad, they're fun to play through just like the 1st and 2nd games campaings were but the number of campaings have fallen quite a lot. Single missions are still the same, there's still tons of em which is good. This doesn't *really* matter that much I think whats here is good enough I'm just a lil surprised that previous games had like at least 2 pages of campaings so the sudden drop here is surprising. In the end, its good. Its really interesting to see how these older games eventually developed into their more modern counterparts. Beyond Overlord essentially becoming Battle for Normandy, Barbarossa to Berlin becoming Red Thunder and Afrika Korps becoming Fortress Italy. Its fun to see how it all originated. History aside, the games are genuinely fun. If you enjoy the CM games already then buying the originals makes sense, its more of the same gameplay loop. If you're new to the series and can cough up the money needed I'd say focus on the more modern iterations first rather then going for the original 3 games. If you're new but can't or don't want to cough up the necessary money or just not sure if you'll enjoy the gameplay loop then these original games are a good starting point. They're a cheap starting point where you can figure out if you like the gameplay loop without wasting too much money up front for it.

These CMx1 Combat Mission games might be older but they are still fantastic in their own way. For example, Afrika Korps offers a theater of war very few games cover. The game systems are amazing and while CMx2 titles are more detailed there is something to say about the older style of simulation with having more nations and units to play with. Great games, get them all!

This is one of my favorite games ever, and getting and back and running well in modern windows has allowed me to play again. The new features, when they work, are great - wide screen and hi res support is good. The addition of WASD camera movement would be great but unfortunately the key remapping blew away Area Target for vehicles, a major issue. Still playable with the old control layout, but WASD is not really working at the moment. (Devs, please fix :) )

realism — infantry, armor, and artillery all behave in historically accurate ways. Graphics are dated by modern standards, but the depth of tactics more than makes up for it. Not for casual RTS players, but if you love detailed strategy and WW2 history, this is a gem.

The CM1 games are great WEGO strategy games. Simpler than the CM2 sequels, but still very detailed and engaging. They still hold up, imo. I have great nostalgia for the crunchy low poly look. Also, the North African theater was never represented in CM2, so this makes this the most unique of original trilogy. SNEG has done a great job with the resolution/camera improvements. As I've stated in my CM:BtB review, there are currently some technical issues. I get a black screen with my multi-monitor setup when Alt-Tab'ing, only disabling my 3rd monitor alleviates this (playing on my laptop I do not have this issue). I also lose all in-game sound when disconnecting and reconnecting headphones. I'm sure SNEG will be able to fix these problems, or at least I hope so.

Great vintage game. Still very playable today despite the dated graphics. Excellent strategy game.

I've been playing these games for years which won't be reflected by Steam. This one has a ton of material from the Desert war but also has scenarios set in Italy and Crete. The focus is on realism. The WeGo system in these games is great. You have to plan ahead without knowing where the enemy is or what he has on the battlefield.