Frontlines: Fuel of War

"Not a run of the mill FPS - Extremely well executed 32+ player squad oriented multiplayer with an engrossing emphasis on tactical play and teamwork."

INTRODUCTION
Frontlines: Fuel of War is one of those rare games which transcend the forgivable yet noticeable failings of their component aspects to present themselves as truly amazing experiences; in this case, one that should not be missed if you have any interest at all in team-based first person multiplayer gaming. While not perfect, if you have a willingness to learn the advantages and drawbacks of playing a specific role on the battlefield, and if you can work together with other players as part of a unified force, what awaits you is in this reviewer's opinion an unprecedented example of what many have dreamed of since they first picked up a controller: large scale, open combat on enormous, tactical battlefields where decision making plays as much of a role as skill. When taken as a whole, the experience provided by the game is one that feels almost perfect. It is the "almost," however, which will give some pause, depending on who you are and what you want from your games.

VISUAL PRESENTATION AND GRAPHICS: 7.0
Frontlines won't win any awards for its visual presentation. This isn't because the visuals are poor by any means, but rather because they aren't up to today's rigorous "next gen" standards. In particular, the game suffers from noticeable aliasing, appreciable model pop-in, and grainy textures. Shadows are also mottled and blotchy. The draw distance is long, however the sheer size of maps and the distance you are allowed to travel means that you will still see a layer of fog on the distant horizon. All of that having been said, the amount of geometry in both single player and multiplayer maps is remarkably high, with countless nooks and crannies, minute details, and complex structures to get lost in. Character animations, particularly facial animations, more than get the job done even if they aren't the best you'll see today. What really saves the graphics from mediocrity though are the explosions, missile trails, weapons fire, and vehicle animations. From the realistic strafing and hovering of helicopters, to the relentless and obliterating spectacle of cluster bombs called in by players utilizing the air support role, to the distant glow of anti-air tracer fire streaking through the night sky, these aspects of the game's visuals will be a large part of what helps to convince you that you're fighting for your life on a believable battlefield, and more to the point, that other players are too.

AUDIO PRESENTATION: 9.5
Much like the game's overall appeal, the subtlety and immersive quality which garner its audio such a high approval rating is somewhat difficult to articulate or pinpoint, yet unmistakable and undeniable. You've heard it all before in reference to other games - "bullets whiz by your head," "the distant rumble of choppers closing in," "the roar of jets overhead," or "the bombastic thud of guided missiles." The difference is that in Frontlines you really do hear all these things, and they sound absolutely convincing in terms of their proximity, reality, and threat. When a jet passes overhead from behind the bush you lay prone in, hoping to remain unseen, you really hear a jet passing from behind you and emerging ahead of you. From miles away, you can hear choppers closing in, not merely getting louder, but becoming clearer and more detailed sonically as they approach. Sounds seemingly change with movement, velocity, direction, and more. A rocket exploding a few feet away will sound deafening and will be accompanied by the sound of debris being kicked up and falling back to the Earth all around you. One detonating against a hillside or target miles away, however, will result only in a distant and completely different thud. This degree of dynamic range and situational modulation is present in every sound you hear in the game, from gunfire, to vehicle motors, to the cries of your allies as they fall by the dozens all around you. The game sounds completely believable in a way that few - if any - other games can match. The game's music is somewhat more mundane and predictable, but it gets the job done. It may be the only thing preventing me from giving the game's audio presentation a perfect 10. That it only detracts 0.5 from the overall audio score merely indicates the high standard set by all other aspects of the game's sound.

GAMEPLAY: INTRODUCTION
This is, like any great game, where Frontlines really shines. It is also where the game's remaining flaws lay in wait for those who will be perturbed by them. Whether you will be one of those people is a matter of personal taste rather than objective fact, and so I will do my best to outline them and let players decide for themselves.

GAMEPLAY - SINGLE PLAYER: 7.5
The game's single player campaign is a mixed bag. On one hand, it employs what I consider to be impressive enemy AI capable of working cooperatively against you by taking side paths and navigating stairways and other obstacles to flank and outmaneuver you and your squad; it offers immersive action requiring you to effectively use cover both direct and oblique and rely on your squad's effectiveness when in a tight spot; and its levels are spacious and provide you with ample options with respect to path, where to take cover, what techniques to use, where and when to use special limited gear such as drones or vehicles, and other strategic considerations that go a long way toward giving you a sense of power and peril on the battlefield. On the other hand, it can become repetitive, and is all too brief. The game's eight missions can be completed in a single lengthy sitting. I finished the game, including two of its unlockable single player levels, in less than fifteen hours on the normal difficulty. I plan on playing through it again however, as its objective-based gameplay and tactical considerations should provide for some limited replay value in the form of tools and obstacles becoming available at different points in certain missions. Whether this will be enough to entice you to take another stroll through the campaign will depend on your own taste. All in all, single player is no by no means bad. In fact, I found it to be utterly immersive and engaging. What it lacks, in addition to length, is the sense of direction and narrative that games like Halo 3 offer. If the thought of simply fighting for your life in enormous, somewhat non-linear maps and being forced to use real tactics and cover sounds like your thing, then you should enjoy it while it lasts. I know I did, and probably will at least a few more times.

MULTIPLAYER: 9.0
This is where the game truly captured my heart, perhaps inextricably. Multiplayer in Frontlines: Fuel of War is a revelation for console owners. Up to 50 players can engage in truly epic battles on enormous maps where teamwork and the effective use of the game's different combat roles are essential to victory. The object of each match is to capture and hold objective points on large maps, each of which has a distinct character and strategy associated with it.

Each combat role in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses, requiring players to work with other specialists in order to fight effectively and survive. Furthermore, as you capture objective points and kill enemies, you gain experience which allows you to utilize your role's more advanced abilities, eventually culminating in a powerful capability with great implications for a given battle. Air Support specialists, for instance, have the ability to call in air strikes on targets, while EMP Techs are invisible to radar, and can deploy disruptive EMP beacons which prevent air strikes and stop vehicles or drones in their tracks.

Speaking of drones, these deserve special mention. Drone Tech allows the player to deploy a remote controlled robot, either aerial or ground-based, within a specific range of the player. They control this drone from its own perspective, and drone abilities range from simple detonations near targets, to gatling guns and rockets. Although a drone specialist should always have a squad member or other team mate nearby to cover them (since they can't see their surroundings while they control the drone,) this is by far one of the coolest and freshest feeling elements of the game.

I mentioned squads above. What is a squad? Each player has the ability to form one. Once created, squads can be made public or locked for personal use. Squad mates can communicate with one another via voice chat. Players may apply to join any public squad on their team. Squad leaders can invite any player on their team to join their squad, kick players from their squad, and issue orders to their squad members such as attack, defend, or regroup. The attack and defend orders allow the squad leader to point out specific locations to squad mates with an on screen icon which they can use to "paint" objectives, buildings, vehicles, or other items in need of defense, infiltration, capture, or destruction. The regroup command allows squad mates to easily see the location of their squad leader, in order to better facilitate regrouping after deaths and respawns.

Online play is smooth for many, with no appreciable lag or connection issues. However others have complained of difficult connections, lag, and other problems. Whether or not this is a personal network or distance issue, or a problem with the game's net code or server implementation cannot be independently ascertained by this reviewer. I have not personally encountered the problems some have reported despite many, many hours of play over the days in the wake of Frontlines' release. My experience has been smooth, problem-free, and enjoyable.

CONCLUSION:
In addition to all this, there is an intangible element that is not as easily summarized or quantified which earns Frontlines such a high score, however. It is something that occurs when you look around you and realize that a jet just shot down a helicopter, while nearby another chopper is firing a literal hell storm of rockets and chain gun bullets at a pair of tanks desperately guarding an objective point, while anti-air embattlements do their best to take our the incoming transports before they reach your team's runways. It happens when you see a building on the "Village" map get blown to smithereens, and you dive into a prone position behind what remains of its skeleton, hoping that your EMP Tech radar invisibility will keep you alive as enemy soldiers run by outside toward your team's front line. It is the moment when you forget you're in a game, and briefly find yourself on the front line of a battlefield, fighting for your life and the lives of your teammates. In real life, this would probably be a bad thing. But for a videogame to achieve this level of immersion is what developers strive for today, and in my personal opinion, Frontlines: Fuel of War succeeds beautifully.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/08

Game Release: Frontlines: Fuel of War (US, 02/25/08)