I approached Close Combat: First to Fight (CCFTF from now on) with both fervour and trepidation. The name 'Close Combat' was not new to me as I had been a massive fan of the revolutionary World War Two themed top-down real-time strategy (RTS) series that was first to use the name. It was a first of its kind, hard-core military strategy game without the turned-based hexagon map format. It boasted complex calculations for everything from bullet trajectories to psychology yet presented it in an intense real-time environment forcing the player to think on their feet (or arse if you're not the type to play games standing up).

This new addition to the Close Combat series is not a top-down RTS set in World War Two, but a Tactical First Person Shooter (TFPS) set in modern day Beirut. However curious the decision to retain the Close Combat name was, this new game is a different beast entirely. Promotional material for the game stated that in excess of 40 real life US Marines were used in the development of the game and developers had access to current military doctrine. This snippet of information led me to assume that CCFTF would be a mix of Rainbow Six 3 and Full Spectrum Warrior. After numerous delays, the bad point's just stand out more than the good and we're left with a pretty disappointing game.

Set in the very near future, CCFTF presents the gamer with six missions taking place in the Lebanese city of Beirut. U.S forces have been sent to the city to put an end to a rebel uprising and in a nice touch, events unfold through CNN style news broadcasts. You take control of a four-man USMC fire team as part of a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). This fire team consists of the familiar Team Leader (equipped with the extra firepower of a M203 Grenade Launcher), SAW Gunner (Squad Automatic Weapon ' F89 Minimi for us Australians), Assistant Gunner and Rifleman. The doctrine I touched on previously revolves around 'Ready-Team-Fire-Assist' tactics employed by four-man teams in the USMC. This is essentially ensuring 360 degree security in situations of high risk e.g. crossing an intersection, by automatically assigning areas of responsibility or arcs of fire to each member of the team. In theory, each member only needs to be concerned with their quadrant of responsibility as their buddies are covering their back and sides.

You can see this tactic in use by your A.I team mates throughout the game and tutorial movies but it tends to die in the arse when one of your team bites the big one and you have to make do with a team of three. Being keen to test the games claim to realism, I played through the missions on the highest difficulty level, the boldly named 'Simulation' setting. Unfortunately, even on this setting CCFTF will seem far from realistic for even the average civilian gamer.

The first reality-killer in CCFTF is the woeful AI of both enemy and friendly characters. The enemy soldiers will mindlessly advance towards you, occasionally taking cover behind a lamp pole or impervious car. You won't see them working together other than running around a corner in single-file as you fill them full of holes. You may however see them run straight at you or your team and then keep on going and it is not uncommon for the enemy soldiers to do all kinds of crazy stuff in close quarters. Ironically it appears that the AI is at its worse when engaged in close combat. You won't see the enemy in CCFTF try and out flank you like they do in Rainbow Six 3 or Halo 2. Instead, this situation is faked by previously locked doors suddenly springing open after you pass in the hope of catching you by surprise. Your own troops aren't immune to craziness either as they will regularly get themselves killed or just refuse to shoot at certain enemies, perhaps because they're too focussed on facing in the right direction at the next intersection.

You do however have some control over what your team members do as you can issue orders to them with taps of the D-pad followed by holding the A-button and choosing from a radial list of options. The game developer should have copied more controls from other games or given us the option of editing the controls ourselves as the default button mapping used in the game is less than ideal. For example, pulling the Left Trigger causes you to perform a melee attack with the butt of your rifle. I don't know about the USMC but if I ever got so close to an enemy that I couldn't fire my weapon and had to bludgeon them to death with the non-business end of my rifle, I would be very worried indeed. The Left Trigger would have been more logically mapped to a more likely action such as throwing grenades or issuing orders than to something you will virtually never do in the game. A game such as this needs to have a quick and effective order issuing system and CCFTF's is somewhat lacking.

Orders are context sensitive so if you are pointing at a door the available options will be related to opening the door and clearing the room. Additional to the standard 'move there' and 'cover that way' orders, you team can be ordered to perform a 'take-down'. A take-down is essentially an order to clear a room, performed either with or without a grenade being tossed in first. The way the game introduces this tactic with an in-game tutorial movie is pretty cool and quite effective, but even during this first showcase take-down the AI can fall to pieces. Instead of a fast methodical precise execution, expect to see your team run right up to enemy soldiers and at times right past them. The hardest thing about the 'Simulation' difficulty level, was preventing my team members from getting themselves killed due to bugs in the AI.

Whilst back on the topic of realism, it is important to note that even on the highest difficulty setting, CCFTF still has realism-killing additions. For starters, you carry with you medpacks that can heal any wound sustained on the battlefield if you can get to the injured party quickly enough. Additionally, your supply of medpacks can be replenished multiple times throughout any given mission by finding first-aid cabinets on the walls of buildings. Now in a game like Halo, medpacks were an essential part of gameplay and did not seem at all out of place but in a game claiming to be a simulation of real life, their inclusion is absurd. If the US Armed Services actually possessed these magical medical marvels, then their mortality rate in Iraq wouldn't be anywhere near as high as it is.

Another aspect that destroys the suspension of belief is the ability at specific points in the game to call-in support from snipers, mortar teams and gunships. Being part of a MAGTF, access to these elements is not unusual or unrealistic at all, but when you spot Sniper Joe Bulletproof standing in full silhouette on the roof of a building taking pot-shots at helpless enemy soldiers shouting 'Got him!' you have to take a step back and think 'That's just ridiculous!'

You may have seen screenshots of CCFTF and thought that the graphics were quite respectable, well seeing the game in action is quite a different story. Most animations are shoddy at best and some have been completely omitted. For example, there is no animation from climbing on and off of ladders, instead the character will just disappear and reappear in the new position and this really distracts from the games sense of realism. Additionally, character shadows do not conform to level geometry and frequently clip through objects. This severely limits the player's ability to judge an enemy's position relative to their shadow, which once again is pretty poor programming on a system as powerful as the Xbox.

Level design in CCFTF is perhaps one of the games best features. Each mission is split into manageable sub-levels and consist of a mixture of inside close quarters and treacherous outside city streets. Progress is saved at checkpoints and occasionally these can seem oddly placed resulting in a few frustrating moments. Enemies always spawn in the same locations and at the same times, so after a few plays you can predict what will happen next. Another annoying aspect of CCFTF is the presence of fake doors. Quite often when clearing buildings you will find doors that must just be painted on as you can't open or destroy them and curiously you are even unable to order your team to perform a room takedown on some of the functioning doors. Overall the levels look respectable and allow for limited manoeuvre away from a linear path, but a general lack of confidence in the ability of your team mates will affect the strategies that you employ.

One aspect of the original Close Combat series that has manifested itself in this new addition is the psychology model of friendly and enemy AI alike. Various triggers in the environment will affect the mental state of characters within the CCFTF world. This is a brilliant idea but seems a little haphazard in its implementation. Occasionally, effective use of fire, grenades and manoeuvre would result in enemies throwing down their arms and surrendering and some areas are quite heavy in civilians who react to your presence in the way you would expect by screaming and running away. Likewise, your team mates will be affected by changes in their health, the health of the rest of the team and the extent of the chaos on screen. Never fear however, as your trusty magical medpacks must contain some powerful drugs as they calm shaken soldiers instantly.

If you have three friends with a copy of the game, you can play through the entire campaign co-operatively or up to eight players can pit themselves against each other in a team-based deathmatch mode called Fire Team Arena. Multiplayer is by far the most rewarding aspect of CCFTF as you don't have to contend with you team mates doing crazy things and getting themselves killed'Unless of course your friends are not much smarter than the in-game AI. Gamers without Xbox Live are well catered for as there are options for 2-4 player splitscreen and System Link play for up to eight Xboxes.

The sound effects in CCFTF are adequate but not spectacular, making use of surround sound but to capitalising on it. The sound effects are not quite complex and intense enough to create any real tension whilst playing. The voice acting is very ordinary and quickly becomes irritating when your team mates constantly tell you how 'freaking quite' it is. Occasionally, the sound effects would lag producing an awkward delayed sound. This was present in both online and offline play. The music is sparse and typical of a modern military shooter, but is used to good effect during dramatic moments such as taking down rooms and calling in fire support.