It’s a Battlefield 2142 wannabe... kinda
Now I might just be getting cranky and old, perhaps even jaded, but lately I’m finding more and more that poor games are annoying me out of all proportion. This is somewhat disturbing as I find myself questioning whether it’s the early onset of Victor Meldrew-ness or if I’m just getting exasperated by a near-constant stream of flawed titles.The latest game to be strapped into the torture chair that is the HEXUS.gaming review rig is THQ’s Frontlines: Fuel of War which, in essence, is a Battlefield 2142 wannabe that, in unequal measure, improves in some areas but screamingly fails in others. And I suppose that it’s this uneven mixture of some good stuff and heaps of bad stuff that is winding me up the most.
But before we get into the real meat of the review, let’s just give you a quick rundown of the basic premise of the game.
Frontlines: Fuel of War is a near-future, team based, first person shooter set in a world fighting over the last oil reserves on the planet. The Russians have allied with China to form the Red Star Alliance whilst the US and Europe formed the Western Coalition… and now a conflict across a massive front has opened up as these two mega-powers fight for the dwindling oil reserves.
Click for larger imageIn the single player campaign you play the role of a soldier from the Western Coalition fighting various missions with your squad of team mates as you complete a variety of objectives, from retaking control points and destroying SAM sites through to demolishing tank depots or fighting armoured battles.
At your disposal you have a range of near-future weaponry and gadgets, much of which is an extrapolation of the equipment a modern army uses today. As well as the usual array of assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and grenades you can also use a bunch of remote controlled vehicles such as spy drones, mini-attack helicopters and even a mini-tank mounted with a hugely powerful chaingun.
