In this game, two opposing factions lock horns in combat: the Western Coalition with the United States and Europe against the Red Star Alliance comprising China and Russia. There is no prize for guessing who the good guys are.
The campaign comprises seven large maps in which you and your squad repel enemy forces by capturing, defending or blowing up facilities. You are placed in a large battlefield beset by enemies on all fronts, but unlike other war shooter games, Frontlines allow you to prioritize objectives, making it easy to immerse yourself in the intense action from the moment you begin. You can drive vehicles, fly aircraft, utilize a good variety of tactical tools, spy and shoot remotely using drones and even disable enemy vehicles with EMP generators. There are over 60 next generation weapons and vehicles, including jets, helicopters, APCs, tanks and others that can be deployed. Getting shot turns your vision bloody but only momentarily. Stay low, and your health will regenerate. With this automatic health regeneration feature, there isn't a need for a medic.
Your squad mates are completely controlled by artificial intelligence. Do expect some annoyances though such as squad mates who continually run in your line of fire, or who only know how to shoot copious amounts of ammunition at an enemy who has already taken cover, instead of switching to smarter tactics.
The Unreal engine which drives Frontlines produces some wonderful visuals coupled with realistic physics. The explosions are truly remarkable. Play on a PC with a good graphics card and sound system, and your ears will be treated to realistic battle audio and lively squad chatter. Frontlines also has glitches where you can get physically stuck to the floor, forcing you to redeploy. So it is more fun to play online with other “smarter†humans. This game can support up to sixty four players on PC via the internet or LAN.
The multiplayer mode injects more excitement into the game with weapon load-outs such as Sniper, Assault and Special Ops. There are also four specialized roles of Ground Support, Anti Aircraft, EMP Tech and Drone Tech, and these allow for lots of tactical experimentations such as getting your EMP Tech to jam enemy vehicles while your Anti-Vehicle expert blows all of them up, or using dones to draw enemy fire so that your sniper can pick them off from afar.
The shallow learning curve and varied tactics for Frontlines set it apart from other similar shooting games available in the marketplace, although this is not a game that will score a distinction. On a scale of 1 to 10, probably it will warrant a rating of 7.
Links
