Frontlines: Fuel of War proves that publishers can sometimes sabotage their own effort by choosing the wrong level to demo. The game’s fast-paced action and its gripping, chillingly real storyline work so much better in the final product than they did in the Xbox Live demo. The odd thing about that is that the demo level is much more fun inside the game, which probably has something to do with context.
When Geek.com first looked at Frontlines, the game seemed like it was sadly going to fall into the realm of “just another Xbox 360 shooter.” In the Frontlines preview, we discussed how the game seemed like a censored version of Call of Duty 4, with mediocre controls, overly busy screens, and a clear political agenda. Appearances, as they say, can be deceiving.
Frontlines sets gamers in the not too distant future, where the Russians and Chinese gang up in the Alliance against the U.S. and some others in a Coalition, and they’re at war over the last remaining resources. You guessed it: oil. Told from the perspective of an Affiliated Press (no coincidence it’s still “AP”, I’m sure) reporter, the game’s narrative pulls players through battle scenes at pivotal points in what seems to be World War III. Although the game’s premise seems to be dripping with political viewpoints, it’s more of a mechanism than anything else. I suppose you could accuse the creators of being against the world’s dependence on oil, but given everything that’s been happening in the world, it’s more like reading the tea leaves than anything else.
The reporter’s story-telling is excellent, and–as someone who watches hours of cable news everyday–it’s actually thoroughly believable. There wasn’t really any point where the AP reporter said something that was out of character while delivering the news. This is a testament to how good it is, because even many pieces of fiction that have the word “news” in the title seem to drop the ball on this.
Graphically, the game makes excellent use of the Unreal engine–much better than I expected given the demo. Since there’s gunfire and armored vehicles so close to a bunch of oil, there’s always a bunch of stuff blowing up, and it’s a real treat for the eyes. Blood and kill effects seem much more realistic than they did in the demo. The one downside to this is that it’s not totally smooth. There are many times when your RPG connects with a tank and it takes an extra bit of loading before the thing actually blows up. I didn’t find it horribly distracting during gameplay, but I still hope it can be patched over Xbox Live.
Sound is extraordinary. Gunfire and explosions are excellent, of course, but I was also highly impressed with the score. It sounds like the best of Hollywood action movies, and some sections would feel right at home inside “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” or “National Treasure.”
Controls are not the standard Halo 3 controls, which many games seem to use, but it actually works really well. It did take a couple minutes to get used to swapping weapons by opening up your cache with the Y button and using the analog sticks to choose. Most of the time you can rely on the machine gun which is straight up with thumbstick, so you really don’t have to think to switch back to it. Besides that, you typically have enough time to take out other weapons, because you shouldn’t be close enough to a tank that you’ll need to get to that RPG instantly.
The game can be a challenge, depending on how you look at it. You do have a number of deployments, so you can take out the enemies, die, and come back with some of them already gone. But it’s pretty easy to be killed, too. All games seem to use the Halo 2-like refilling energy bar for health, and this game is no exception. Still, you can get sniped or blown up by an explosion from out of nowhere.
Gameplay is very open, and there seem to be a number of ways to achieve your objectives. You can easily switch between vehicular and ground combat, and you will.
Frontlines transitions from narrative to intense action and back seamlessly. The story grabs you by the throat and pulls you along, and then the game lets you act out the mission as a soldier. Even though the game exists in a possible future in which our soldiers may be fighting, the game doesn’t cause the same kind of emotional response that Call of Duty 4 did. I didn’t feel like this was too realistic; I just found it fun.
As good as Frontlines is, it’s not perfect. There are several in-game mechanics that are repeated over and over again, and this takes away from an otherwise creative effort. There are endless vehicles sections, which have you destroying wave after wave of tanks. It looks pretty good and it’s decently fun the first few times, but by the third wave it’s a bit much. Additionally, the way you get objectives is typically one of three ways–collecting data, capturing a territory, or arming and detonating explosives–and these scripted moments take you out of the glorious action for something we keep seeing over and over again. Also, the game can be finished in only about 4 hours on the easiest setting. This might encourage you to step it up and play on the higher settings, which I did, but that’s only if you’re in the habit of replaying games.
All told, Frontlines is a superb first person shooter, which surpassed even my pre-demo expectations. It’s a wonderfully exhilarating mix of combat and narrative, never preaching too much or devolving into a thick-headed FPS. It’s worth a rent for just about any shooter fan. Only buy it if you like replaying missions, because it is on the short side.
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