Frontlines: Fuel of War Hands On

Single Player

Kaos Studios are no fools, however. Even if the single player campaign is great they know that it will be the multiplayer portion of Frontlines that will be the big draw. The game will have 32 player support for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions but PC players will have the full 64 player support experience. The main difference between Frontlines' multiplayer and Battlefield's is Frontlines' use of capturing objectives. In a normal Battlefield game capture points are all over the map and can be captured and held by a team at any time. In Frontline's case there are also capture points all over their maps but only two or so can be captured and held at any one time. For example if your team holds onto the two center capture points they can then advance to the next two points on the map and attempt to capture them while the other team attempts to defend. This idea of a moving "frontline" (get it?) is Kaos's attempt to make multiplayer games a bit more cohesive with less time just running around on the map.

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As with the Battlefield games there are a number of player classes you can choose from (Assault, Heavy Assault, Sniper, Anti-Vehicle, etc) and when you select one of these classes you get set up with a pre-determined set of weapons. Frontline doesn't lack in this area; shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers and more will be at your disposal. Vehicles from unarmed (but fast) jeeps to massive (but slow) tanks and even Apache style helicopters will also be available. Frontlines also has some cool near-future gadgets to play with. You can pilot unmanned air drones to give you and your team a heads up on the enemy. You can also pilot a ground wheeled drone that can take out vehicles if you pilot them under their carriage and detonate them. You can also pinpoint and call in air strikes which show fighter jets flying in to blow up whatever target you choose.

We played one two maps on the Xbox 360 along with one map on the PC versions. The first Xbox 360 map was a small 16 player map that was set in a forest style setting with some industrial structures. A larger 32 player Xbox 360 map was set in a rather dirty and oppressive oil field with massive oil puddles and pipes everywhere. The PC level we played was set in a bombed out urban downtown area with whole buildings smashed against each other. Kaos is using Epic's Unreal Engine 3 for Frontlines and the graphics and art style are looking first rate with the game having a grittiness that much of the Battlefield series lacks.

Frontlines: Fuel of War is entering an already crowded shooter genre but its timely setting, its new way of looking at vast outdoor battles and its cool weapons and gadgets already make it look different than the normal game of its type. THQ plans to release the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Frontlines in the first quarter of 2008; the PS3 version will be released sometime later in 2008. You can look for at least an Xbox 360 demo of Frontlines to be released sometime in the near future.