This turn-based strategy game whips the field and sets a new benchmark for the genre. A must buy.

Combat Mission was advertised as a war game. I'm not saying it isn't, but the genre was never attractive to me because of the top-down, hex-based, move little icons around graphics and game play. Imagination is one thing; immersion is another. I plead guilty to being partial to immersion. For me, hex-based gaming is as flat on the immersion factor as it is on the screen. Then along came an itsy bitsy developer named Big Time Software with a game of heart-thumping immersion. If Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord is representative of what BTS is capable of then its name is indeed appropriate, because the big time is exactly where this company is headed.

If being a general in World War II was ever your secret fantasy, as it was mine, CM is sure to satisfy. The game contains an excellent tutorial, which makes it easy for newbies to jump in and strut their stuff like General Patton. You learn all of the essential keys and hotkeys and how to make initial adjustments to the amount of objects (e.g., density of trees/woods). You can even adjust the scale (size) of tanks and men. Scaling only makes the men and machinery easier to see; there is no effect on game play or physics.

The mission dictates which military units will be in conflict. Possible units include Canada, US Army, US Airborne, German Wehrmacht, France, Poland, Great Britain, German Waffen SS, German Airborne, German Mountain Troops, German People's Army, or Polish Airborne. Once you select your mission and unit, and decide whether you want to be the attacker or defender, you go to the battlefield and find yourself in the "setup phase." Your army is divided into a number of setup zones, which are rectangular areas differentiated by the color of the line that forms the rectangle. Any forces within a red setup zone, for example, can be relocated within that zone or moved to another red zone, but you can't move forces from one zone into a zone of a different color. Once the game starts you can issue additional orders to your forces and move them anywhere on the map.

The battlefield in CM is an experience not to be missed. The game allows you to move a camera anywhere from a top-down satellite view to the eye-level of a poodle. A very short-legged poodle. If you prefer, you can zoom up behind your soldiers as they advance courageously toward the enemy or hit the mud when mortar fire becomes too intense. You can see the effect of shells as they smash into the ground. Pieces of earth go flying and holes are everywhere. The game allows a setting in which the screen actually shakes (trembles is more like it) as shelling from mortars or tanks intensifies or comes close to your view. You can move the camera around a 360-degree axis, enabling a view that should disturb any general: watching a heavily shelled platoon of your soldiers panic and run away. I watched one soldier jump out of a tank that had taken heavy fire and flee in what had to be an Olympic qualifying time for the 200 meter sprint.

Like any authentic war game, you really need to know or learn military strategy and tactics to win a battle. Line of sight is critically important. If trees, buildings or other objects block your force's line of sight to their target, they won't fire, so you have to consider placement during the setup phase and movement during the game phase. You have to become familiar with the amount and characteristics of your force's ammo and the experience level of your men.

You also need to pay attention to the mental state of the men under your command, whether they are on foot or in a tank. I foolishly ordered two units of soldiers to charge across an open area into a machine gun nest, because that's what I've seen in the movies. My guys didn't get very far before being cut to pieces. Whoever wasn't killed fled in search of clean underwear and I couldn't prod them to come back and rejoin the battle. It is important, then, to monitor your troops' morale. And it is equally important to issue orders wisely. Make sure that your tanks and troops have a clear line of sight (fire) to a target. Troops should have cover available. Never send tanks into the woods, because they could get bogged down or trapped, becoming victims of a Molotov in a sock like the German tanks in the climatic battle in the movie "Saving Private Ryan." And don't forget to set up your forces for the always useful flanking maneuver.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Combat Mission is a tough opponent if you do anything foolish, which I've done frequently. The AI loves to hide its troops and pick off the hero wannabes on the other side. Then once they identify your position terrorize your remaining troops with unrelenting artillery and mortar fire. Employ stealth tactics to keep your guys hidden (out of their line of sight) until the enemy is right on top of them. Then hit 'em like Rambo. No, you can't have a guy spring out of the mud with a Special Forces Randall in his hand and a crazed look in his eyes, cutting throats and puncturing kidneys (maybe in CM 2.0), but you can shoot them. If your guys panic and duck into a building, the AI will sometimes send its troops into the building after them for close quarters battles that your already edgy boys will definitely lose. The leadership ability of your proxy commanders is important. A high leadership rating reduces the likelihood that the grunts will panic or suffer routing and increases the chances that a stealth tactic will be successful.

While the graphics in CM are not state-of-the-art they are good. Soldiers and tanks look authentically like soldiers and tanks, circa 1944. When equipment explodes, you see pieces fly. Blow up a tank and watch it burn. When soldiers fire rifles, you see tracers. When tanks fire their big guns, you see transparent smoke. Sound enhances the atmosphere of CM. Weapons fire is audible, from the crack of rifles to the thunderous boom of artillery. The combination of excellent sound and the wide variety of possible camera angles provides a "you are there" battlefield experience that cannot be matched by traditional war games.

Keep in mind that this is a turn-based game. Once you issue your orders, you wait a few seconds while the computer opponent does the same. Then you sit back and watch the battle. For you newbies this turn taking repeats itself for the pre-determined number of turns.

After gaining confidence in the tutorial I decided to try a full-blown battle. My choice was interestingly named "Ham and Jam." On June 5th, 1944, the day preceding Operation Overlord, British Major John Howard, commander of D Company, 6th Airborne Division, was ordered to take two bridges, over the Canal de Caen and the River Orne, that were critical to Allied plans for invasion the next day. To win, as Major Howard, I would have to secure both bridges and hold them even after German reinforcements arrive (unless, of course, I elected to be the Germans). The battle was set for thirty turns. After making quick work of a couple of German infantry squads that were behind my lines, the major challenge was taking out a machine gun nest and a pillbox between the two bridges.

I moved my mortarmen to strategic positions and let them make short work of the machine gun nest. The pillbox was a much stiffer test. While I sent my British rifle squads to surround it, German snipers from across the Pegasus Bridge had some of my guys pinned. Once I took out the snipers the German reinforcements appeared, and they were led by a couple of nasty Panzer tanks. As an airborne division, I didn't have any tanks. After a terrible struggle, I moved a squad with grenades to the pillbox so that they could go to work. They did, killing every one of the conscripts inside except the leader who emerged, blackened with soot, his hands in the air. To make a long story short, after 30 turns I had fought the German's to a draw. Some people will say that a draw is like kissing your sister. But I was proud of my first time achievement. I had taken and held both bridges, but lost one on the last three turns. The Panzers were too much to handle, because I'd lost five mortars and two others were empty. Rifle bullets aren't too effective against German tanks.

The "Ham and Jam" battle was typical of the kind of electrifying excitement, not to mention strategic challenge that awaits anyone who is willing to try this awesome war game. You hear the voices of leaders barking orders or encouraging their comrades to keep fighting. The Brits actually have English accents! You see forests burning from the shells of tanks and artillery. Some squads will become emboldened by success and advance like groups of miniature Audie Murphys. Others, terrorized by the hellish experience of war, flee or freeze, too panicked to do anything, including obeying your orders. Rifles sound like rifles. Machine guns sound the way you expect. The sound of distant shelling brought a tear to my eye in much the same way, as did the movie "Saving Private Ryan." Men were dying. Brave men. Good men. Gosh darn, I wanted to stand up and salute.

World War II has been referred to often by politicians, journalists and veterans of the former allied nations as the "Good War." From it's movie-like opening to the desperation of your final turn, Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord is the great game that brings it to you.

Reviewed by Walter Hurdle, PC Gameworld.