Yes, Frontlines looks like every other shooter you've ever played.
- Game: Frontlines: Fuels of War
- Developer: Kaos Studios
- Price: $59.99 (Buy it)
- Release Date: 2/25/2008
I remember when Frontlines was first announced; it was my most anticipated shooter (before COD4 existed in any form) and I have had high hopes for the game ever since. Sadly I can't really say many good things about the game. I can say that it has a lot of potential, but I wouldn't take that as much of a compliment.
The single-player experience was actually more enjoyable than I expected, though a few issues really took away from the experience. During a mission, while attacking a position and having a good shootout; I suddenly died from a huge explosion! How does this happen you ask? Well it seems that the game likes to sneak enemy tanks on your position magically from thin air. Maybe it's just me, but I don't really like having something that big sneak up behind me. I think in some states that's actually called rape, but I can't be sure. The AI isn't always that bright either; on a few occasions I found one of my teammates, as well as an enemy soldier, just standing near each other without shooting or doing anything. That was a very rare moment, but the times it did happen really took me out of the experience.
The game is average on the graphical side of the coin. I wouldn't call it a great looking game in the likes of COD4, but it can holds it's own with the competition. I would actually say that it looks extremely similar to the 2007 shooter Blacksite: Area 51. Even though the game looks good, I really hope that the Unreal engine is capable of more otherwise we may find ourselves in a market of shooters that not only play alike, but look alike as well. That's a whole other discussion on its own and I won't go into it here. The audio is what you'd expect, you hear bullets whizzing by and explosions all over the place; it's all well done and keeps you immersed in the game. Even though the single-player experience has it's flaws (and is a bit short), I still enjoyed myself and that's something I can't say about the multi-player.
The multi-player is a mess, both on a technically and design-wise. The game can supposedly handle up to 50 players on the 360, but I have trouble finding games with only 32 players. This is an issue because some maps are absolutely huge and unplayable with a small group of players. The maps are also a mixed bag; they range in size from small to massive and it gives the game a bit of a schizophrenic feeling. There is also an issue with hit detection (which may be related to lag)and this makes the whole experience frustrating. When I was playing as a sniper I couldn't seem to hit anything, though this didn't seem to be as big of a problem when fighting up close. I don’t know if they are going to fix these issues, but I can’t say I’ll care enough in a few months to come back.
I wanted to love this game, but after playing the game I can’t even say that I really even like it that much. It ends up just being an “ok” shooter and in a time where we already have plenty of decent shooters; we don’t need another "ok" shooter to add to the already over-populated genre.
