s hardware and software technology increases, so does the popularity of large-scale, multiplayer-based shooters. Not too many years ago, the industry didn’t quite have the technology to fully facilitate these types of games, but innovations have made it possible for games like Frontlines: Fuel of War from THQ to flourish. We recently got a tour of the game from the man in charge himself, Frank DeLise, the general manager of Kaos Studios as well as some play time with the Xbox 360 version.
Like a lot of multiplayer shooters before it, Frontlines works on a point-to-point capture system. That’s pretty much where the similarities end, however. Frontlines is taking the risky step of applying this system to a single-player experience. A few titles have tried this in the past, but it always seems to end up being a boring version of multiplayer. With a real storyline, complete with narration, and special attention paid to AI, Frontlines is shaping up to have a positive single-player game—but don’t forget the 32-player multiplayer (up to 64 on the PC version).
One thing players will notice about Frontlines when they first fire up a single-player game is an actual cutscene with narration. In what some could call World War III, in 2024 the globe is divided because of an energy crisis. Two major factions form: the Western Coalition and the Red Star Faction. Because you will control many different types of troops in an army, the story is told through the eyes of a war reporter. Each cut-scene features awesome comic-book style images, great voicework and the sad but inspirational music you’ve come to expect from war movies. After each level, players will get another cut-scene clueing them in on what is happening in the story.
Drones play a huge part in the battle
Playing against bots in a game that’s basically bred for multiplayer can be a little bland. Fortunately, Kaos has quite a few tricks up their sleeves to remedy this and make the game intense. While the game does work on a point-capturing system, they have altered it a bit to make sure the game is as deep as possible. Only a few points along the current frontline can be captured, to prevent random widespread firefights. Instead, everyone is going for the same three points in a small area. Once those points have been captured, the frontline of the battle will be pushed forward or be taken back depending on whether the enemy starts kicking your butt. This can easily happen because of the close attention that is paid to the games AI. Enemies will flank, dodge and adapt.
The levels also play a huge part in creating the hectic battle environment. Each level is huge, and by huge, we mean HUGE. Running across an entire level on foot would take a long time. “If you can see it, you can get to I,.” states DeLise. “What we wanted to go after was something that gave the player complete choice.” This choice is handed to the players in many ways. Charging right in headfirst is always an option in war, but it’s always smart to create your own path. If there was, say, a wall in the way, you could load it up with some explosives and make a door. “One of the cool things about this is that you could take a whole mission as a silenced sniper, you can take a whole mission in a tank, or you can take a whole mission in a helicopter.”
Stepping into battle, players will be able to customize themselves before spawning, by mixing a soldier class and role. The soldier classes are for the most part classic, featuring everything from basic assault to the silent sniper, and there are 60 weapons and vehicles to play with and drive. It’s the new roles you will select that spice up the battle. There are four of the new roles: EMP tech, air support, ground support and drone tech. Each role will start with a basic support command, like the air support’s single airstrike. As the match progresses, you will level up and start unlocking more devastating moves. Roles can be switched in-game, but the new role will have to be leveled up from the beginning.
The action is never far away
Although Kaos Studios has taken great steps to make the single-player campaign in a game from the multiplayer-shooter genre the best it can be, a lot of players will probably find themselves going online. Frontlines will support up to 32 players with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and up to 64 players on the PC. One of the cool things that THQ is doing to support the title is make it the only console game to have dedicated servers for matches with 16-32 players on Xbox Live.
The actual experience of playing Frontlines is a hectic, noisy symphony of destruction. We wouldn’t expect any less. The sound of the game is a standout feature. Unlike nearly every multiplayer-shooter experience, there are no ambient explosions or rumbles in Frontlines. Every crackle, boom and scream is created by someone or something in the game. Even the logistics of sound have been noted. If an explosive device goes off in the distance, there will be an accurate sight-to-sound delay as if it had just happened here in the real world. To anyone who is rolling a surround-sound setup, this is your game. The booms actually made the room we were playing in shake just a little when we had the volume cranked.
While going through our hands-on time with the games, we noticed that everything was really falling into place. The game ran quite well, even when things started to go a little crazy on screen. The graphics looked great and some of the lighting effects are really cool. Flying helicopters was fun, smooth and instantly made us want to attempt stunts like flying under a bridge. The one thing that we did notice was the infantry controls were not quite as tight as we would want for a game that is completely reliant on them. But it’s also not something to worry about either as the studio still has almost three months until the February release (April for PS3).
The way things are shaping up, Frontlines: Fuel of War has a chance to stake a significant claim on the multiplayer shooter world. While games like Halo 3 cover the sci-fi realm and Call of Duty 4 plays out its small infantry skirmishes, there is a wide-open door for a game like this that offers enormous online battles using tanks, airplanes and whatever else you find on the battlefield.