Frontlines: Fuels of War - Xbox 360 demo

[chopemon]

The game is a Battlefield 2 rip off but with worse art direction and a fully fledged single player campaign that sees you fighting against the dreaded communist might of the Chinese and Russias as you desperately struggle to secure the last few precious drops of oil.

The demo gives you part of a full mission to play. You get air lifted in with your generic bunch of squad mates and must take control of several control points round the map. This isn't just a multiplayer map with bots in, it is all story driven and there is a progression to it.

The combat is fine, not amazing but fine. The AI seems ok but again, isn't stand out.

There is a cool selection of drone weapons including little remote control cars with bombs in to little remote control helicopters with machine guns on.

That reads like the dullest preview ever so let's ramp it up a notch with what cool stuff you actually do.

The levels are totally open and no linear so at the start your boys rush forward and get stuck in a stae mate around the first control point. I snuck round the side and took out some snipers and a number of there troops hunkered down behind a barricade. I moved off and captured another point that drew the enemy to me which I took out all sneaky like and that allowed my boys to secure the first point which I then went back and captured.

That sold me the game. I really, really, REALLY enhoyed MOH: Airborne because of the non linear levels and this does a similar thing. It allows you to play the game how you want and to experiment with different strategies.

The other highlight was when I got a remote control car bomb and drove it under a tank that was pinning my men down and blew it up. The addition of the drones mixes it up a bit and allows some sneaky takedowns.

This game will get annihilated by Battlefield Bad Company so I hope it comes out before. I urge you to try the game as it could grab you despite not being a triple A title. Especially Team GRAWesome. I can imagine you guys will like it.

[capcom_suicide]

I tried this one yesterday, seemed OK up until the point it crashed my 360.

Be interested if anyone else has crashes.

I'll give it another go.

[chopemon]

No crashes for me.

There did seem to be a total failure of my controller when I got into a tank.

Or the tank controls sucked.

[PeteJ]

I've read some really negative things about this demo but I quite enjoyed it. The full game in multiplayer (32 players) should be excellent. Bad Company may steel its thunder, of course.

The combat doesn't engage that well however, it doesn't have much in the way of intensity. As Chopemon says though, the 'do anything' non-linear approach to the objectives is neat and the maps feels pretty large.

I can see the single player being a bit average as it lacks atmosphere (although the cutscene when you start the demo proper is quite neat), but there is so many toys to play with that multiplayer should be great. Shame the demo doesn't let you play it online.

[chopemon]

A few good mates in multiplayer should be good.

Do we know if the campaign has coop?

[mr_woo]

Tried this last night and I really enjoyed it quite a bit, especially after playing really dull demos like Blacksite. I liked the weapons and they sounded pretty meaty, loved some of the gadgets such as the small flying copter with missiles. Would agree the tank controls were pretty dodgy but if they can clean that up and give you more gadgets and things to mess with in the full game, I shall definitely be giving this a go.

[anephric]

I don't think they're doing themselves any favours sticking a demo up in this rough state - it's quite shockingly (one would hope) far from finished and is shonky as hell. Huge pop up and in, groggy framerate, poppy and seamy polygons, sticky scenery, dodgy controls...

[Uli]

apart from the huge technical problems of this demo i can't really see a point in this game. what's so special or innovative about it? have i missed something?

[PeteJ]

The people behind Kaos Studios made Desert Combat mod for Battlefield, then the staff were hired by Dice to work on Battlefield 2. These people worked on R&D and development for BF2 until they were suddenly 'let go' by EA, where they formed Kaos and started work on Frontlines.

I agree that FL doesn't do anything particularly new, but a new Battlefield style game is always welcome in my eyes...particularly when the people behind it helped on the best game in the genre so far.

[Uli]

thanks for the info Pete. i just don't think this game will stand a chance against other games of this genre, most of all the forthcoming BF: Bad Company. however, this demo doesn't do the game any favour.

[Shumpaloompa]

When it will be out? I dont want to waste money on this if the month next to Frontlines realese BF Bad COmpany comes out...

you know..

[Leon Retro]

For some reason this game feels very arcadey. The way the red ring surrounds the enemies is cool, and everything is vibrant and colourful.

The visuals lack some details, but everything is crisp, clear, and moves very smoothly.

I found the combat to be fun, fast paced, and taking control of the radio-controlled Helicopter was enjoyable.

I think it's a very nice, easy to play combat game. It's not doing anything exceptional, but it does have an appealing quality about it.

I'll probably buy the full game.

[Spatial]

Got around to trying the demo yesterday and I quite enjoyed it.

Lots of shooting, explosions and gadgets to play with and I like the idea that you can tackle objectives however you want.

As Chopemon said, I can imagine it would be pretty good in multiplayer with Team GRAWSOME on board so I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

[sofasurfer]

Finally got round to playing this last night and count me in as another buyer.

Although the controls don't feel as intuitive as the CoD series there was something really fun about the demo. being able to tackle objectives however you want is nice and those drones are great. Last night I cleared a big building with one of them. Great fun.

I didn't see too many technical problems with the game. maybe it's coming off of Mass Effect which has some of the worst glitches I have seen for a long time.

Now all I need is to find somebody selling it cheap.