Taken from the pages of today’s headlines Frontlines: Fuel of War is an edgy and topical action game that sets new standards for the genre. Set in the near future, the world is facing a crisis of doomsday proportions due to the severe lack of energy and oil available. With chaos and utter collapse of cities and society everywhere, two factions have formed who battle one another for the last remaining energy resources on the planet.
Players take on the role of a soldier from the Western Coalition as they battle the Red Star Alliance which is comprised of Russia and China. As the game starts, players enter a battle in a desolate area which is one of the last remaining sources of oil, and as such, is hotly contested by both sides. Using mission objectives, players battle to various areas of the map to defeat enemy troops and obtain strategic objectives. Along the way, all manner of high end weapons and vehicles are available for use. I particularly enjoyed the flying drone unit, that when deployed, allowed me to fly it to a strategic point in the enemy’s defenses and detonate with spectacular results.
Here’s the game description from THQ themselves:
Frontlines: Fuel of War is an open-world First Person Shooter set in the next Great War. In a world ravaged by a global energy crisis, environmental decay, and economic depression, players assume the role of an elite soldier in the “Stray Dogs” strike force in the Western Coalition Army on an epic crusade against the Red Star Alliance to control the last of the world’s oil reserves in the Caspian. Frontlines: Fuel of War combines intensely cinematic, non-linear game play, with next generation firepower and a revolutionary frontline combat system to deliver the most thrilling and engaging FPS to date.
- Frontline Combat System – Combat in Frontlines: Fuel of War is focused and intense, in a system that inherently promotes teamwork by creating a unified front of war. In both single player and multiplayer, players join the forces on the frontline that result in focused combat and increased intensity while allowing player choice.
- Open World Environment – Through intensely cinematic, non-linear objectives, players assume the role of an elite soldier in the Stray Dogs Division. Based upon actual locations in Central Asia, the player enters an epic campaign featuring 7 theaters of war with a climactic ending. Players can create their own path to victory with non-linear mission objectives and destructible environments. The player chips away at the battle instead of standard die and redo system.
- Next Generation Firepower – Join the future of war with over 60 vehicles and weapons based off of real military designs of the near future. From futuristic tanks and jets to remote controlled drones and sentry guns, feel the adrenaline rush of utilizing next generation firepower on the battlefield.
- Customizable Soldier System – Character customization allows you to represent your play style through character choices, weapon load out and role specialization. Upgradeable character roles encourages experimentation, increases replay value and combined with the open world environment and teamwork, provide numerous combinations to achieve objectives.
- Advanced Team Play – Supports up to 32+ players on Console and 64+ players on PC via LAN or Internet for large scale wars online utilizing shared targeting systems to promote teamwork.
As the game unfolds, new weapons and vehicles become available such as helicopters and while objectives have to be achieved to progress, the game for the most part allows players to play the game in a non-linear style. The campaign portion of the game is fairly short as there are roughly eight campaigns for players to complete. Thankfully, the game has a highly enjoyable multiplayer mode that allows gamers to work with or against one another in campaigns. I really enjoyed the combat in a destroyed city, where my squad and I had to control strategic places on the map.
Being able to rush to a locale, defend it, or attack enemy units on foot or in a vehicle provided a nice compliment to the solo play portion of the game. Graphically the game is solid, and has some very smooth and highly detailed graphics that really help immerse players in the setting. The sound effects and voice acting in the game are solid as well, and really do a nice job of capturing the chaos of the action.
The game does have some issues though as aside from a large install of over 4 Gigs, the game had some annoying crashes and lockups at various times in both solo and multiplay mode. The real strength of the game is the multiplayer component and thanks to that, Frontlines: Fuel of War is an effective and enjoyable shooter that is ideal for fans of urban warfare as well as team based combat. I was thrilled at the variety of weapons and vehicles as well as the way the designers allowed me to craft my own strategies for success, rather than make me follow a narrow pathway which has become all too standard in many games of the genre.
Title: Frontlines: Fuel of War
Developer: KAOS Studios
Publisher: THQ Release
Date: March 8th, 2008
Genre: Shooter
Console: XBox 360
Rating: T (Blood, Language, Violence)
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