Close Combat: First to Fight Q&A Feature

First to Fight is an action-oriented, team-based 3D first-person shooter in which players lead a 4-man fire team of US Marines through the perils of modern urban combat. The game is set in a turbulent Beirut in the near-future, and tasks players to take control of the city when extremists take control.

Coming after the success of THQâ??s Full Spectrum Warrior, Close Combat: First to Fight has been created with the close involvement of the United States Marine Corps which plans to use First to Fight to train Marines. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Steve Charbonneau, PR Manager from Take2Games to find out more about the game.

TVG: Could you please give any of our readers who have not heard of Close Combat: First To Fight a quick rundown of the game and its storyline?

Yeah sure. First to Fight is a first-person shooter that makes you the leader of a US Marine fire team in the war-torn streets of a near future Beirut. Created with the help of more than 40 active-duty Marines fresh from combat in the Middle East, First to Fight gives you a fire team that executes authentic Marine tactics. As such, you always have 360-degree security when crossing intersections, ascending staircases, engaging the enemy, etc. It also lets you call in mortar attacks, Cobra gunship strikes, sniper teams and other Marine assets.

The action of the game takes place in Beirut in the year 2006. Several insurgent groups take control of the city after the Prime Minister leaves for emergency medical attention. NATO decides it is time for intervention, and they send in a multi-national force, including your unit, the 28th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable). Itâ??s up to you to stabilize the situation.

TVG: Have you included any Xbox LIVE features in the game? If so, what are they?

First to Fight supports both competitive and cooperative game play via Xbox Live, as well as split screen and system-link. Up to four human players can join together to play the game co-operatively, or up to eight players can form two teams playing against each other.

The game also supports a host of Live 3.0 features. Clans can group together (we call them Platoons) to track stats as a group. Individual and team performance will be tracked through action reports and posted to leaderboards. These boards will be posted to a persistent news crawler bar in the gameâ??s interface screens for all to see.

TVG: Will Close Combat: FTF contain the ability to use voice commands? If not, in what ways will we be able to command our squad?

There are no voice commands in First to Fight, but in multiplayer games, players can communicate with each other using the Xbox Live communicator.

Players issue most orders through a simple, quick-access radial menu. For those players who prefer not to use the headset in multiplayer games, the fire team leaderâ??s orders are displayed visually on each playerâ??s screen, so they always know exactly what they should be doing to support the team.

TVG: What scenarios can we expect to see in the game? What are your personal favourites?

All of First to Fightâ??s missions are military missions set in a densely packed urban environment. You wonâ??t be defusing bombs or rescuing hostages here. Instead, you fight on the front lines in one of the most powerful military forces in history. Youâ??ll fight against very capable opposing forces in the streets, warehouses, apartment buildings, stairwells, and many other locations within the city.

My favourite missions are the ones where you get to call on the power of the Marine Air Ground Task Force. In one mission, after leading my team through the sewers beneath Beirut, I popped up behind an enemy emplacement, ordered my SAW gunner and Assistant Gunner to flank the enemies, and then I called in a Cobra Gunship strike. Any insurgents not eliminated from the air strike were then easily picked off by either myself or my SAW gunner.

TVG: Will we see any offline multi-player in the form of co-op etc?

Yes, co-op will support up to four players via Live, split-screen, or system-link.

TVG: Have you had any problems during the development of Close Combat: First To Fight? If so, what have these been? How have you overcome these?

The trickiest parts have been developing our own engine from scratch for First to Fight, then filling this engine with many high-end features like volumetric shadows, normal maps, specularity, high-res textures, ragdoll physics, etc., and then deploying the game simultaneously on three platforms -- Xbox, PC, and Macintosh.

Thank-you very much for your time.