Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Combat Course throws you straight into the trenches of a no-nonsense boot camp simulator, testing your reflexes, timing, and strategic decision-making across five distinct levels. From the moment you lace up those virtual combat boots, you’ll find yourself scrambling over walls, sliding under barbed wire, and hurling grenades with purpose. Each successful maneuver nets you points, while the occasional misstep—like a mistimed jump or an errant grenade—will shave points off your score, keeping you on your toes and driving you to perfect every move.

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One of the standout features is the built-in recording system that allows you to capture each attempt in real time. After a run, you can review your performance frame by frame to identify exactly where you hesitated, clipped a wall, or made a poor grenade toss. This instant playback becomes an essential training tool, turning initial frustration into a satisfying learning loop: try, fail, review, improve, and ultimately master each section.

The five levels themselves offer increasing complexity and variety. The Physical Course (Level One) demands agile jumps, trench crawls, and speed; the Risk Course (Level Two) teaches you how to handle explosives under pressure; and the Combat Course (Level Three) shifts focus to close-quarters, hand-to-hand fighting. Level Four brings everything together in a marathon test of endurance, and Level Five’s custom “Cobra” course throws unpredictable challenges your way. This layered progression ensures you won’t be bored, and each stage builds on skills learned previously.

Graphics

Graphically, Combat Course channels the crisp, pixel-perfect aesthetic of late-’80s home computers. On platforms like the Atari ST and Amiga, the environments are drawn with clear, readable sprites and smooth animation, making it easy to judge distances for jumps and timing for grenade throws. While the visuals may not break new ground by modern standards, they deliver precisely what you need for a training-focused title—clarity over flash.

Each obstacle and enemy combatant is rendered with enough detail to distinguish it quickly in the heat of action. Walls, trenches, and barbed-wire sections pop against the backdrop, and the color palette shifts subtly between courses to give each level its own identity. The clean line work also helps when reviewing recorded replays, ensuring you can see exactly where you clipped a corner or tripped over an obstacle.

On the audio side, the Atari ST and Amiga versions feature digitized sound effects that add a satisfying weight to explosions and impact noises. While there’s no sweeping orchestral score or voice-acted drama, the crisp booms of dynamite and sharp crack of grenades emphasize the tension of the Risk Course and keep the atmosphere immersive. Together, the graphics and sound design create a cohesive, focused training experience.

Story

Combat Course doesn’t rely on a deep narrative or branching plot; instead, it embraces the straightforward premise of a grueling military boot camp. You are the trainee soldier, and your sole mission is to complete increasingly brutal obstacle courses to the best of your ability. This minimalist approach keeps the focus on gameplay mechanics and skill mastery rather than cutscenes or dialogue trees.

Despite its simplicity, there’s a certain motivational charm to the structure. The game treats each obstacle as a test of your soldierly mettle, and the constant tallying of points creates a sense of purpose. You become invested in the notion of earning that perfect run, and the satisfaction of seeing a high-score benchmark encourages repeated attempts. In that sense, the “story” is more of a personal journey—overcoming challenges, refining technique, and rising through the ranks of your own self-made boot camp.

The lack of a conventional narrative is actually a strength here. By eschewing lengthy cutscenes or convoluted plot twists, the game channels your adrenaline directly into each jump, grenade toss, and hand-to-hand strike. If you’re looking for an epic tale, you won’t find it—but if you want an authentic training simulator that rewards skill and perseverance, Combat Course nails the brief.

Overall Experience

Combat Course may not offer sprawling worlds or branching storylines, but it delivers on its promise of a rigorous, replayable training simulator. Replay value is further amplified by the included course construction set, which lets you design your own obstacle layouts and share them (where compatible). Custom courses inject fresh challenges long after you’ve mastered the built-in levels, ensuring the action never grows stale.

The combination of point-based evaluation, real-time recording, and level-construction tools makes Combat Course more than just a series of static challenges—it becomes a sandbox for self-improvement. Whether you’re tweaking your own dozen trials or revisiting the official courses to shave fractions of a second off your time, you’re constantly engaged with the game’s core systems of practice, feedback, and refinement.

For players who crave tight mechanics, clear objectives, and the thrill of incremental progress, Combat Course is an excellent pick. It may lack narrative depth, but what it gains in focused intensity and customization more than makes up for that. Lace up your boots, sharpen your reflexes, and prepare to sweat through five vigorous levels of boot camp madness—this simulator brings the training ground right into your living room.

Retro Replay Score

6.4/10