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Posted on: Feb 26, 2008
Frontlines: Fuel of War
WORDS BY: Cameron Lewis
The campaign is worth your time less for the hackneyed story — which oscillates between overwrought cautionary tale and mindless jingoism — and more for the fact that it effectively prepares you for the intensity of the massive, thrilling 50-player online battles that resolutely refuse to coddle amateurs. To become an effective Xbox Live tough guy, you’ll need to acquaint yourself with some occasionally finicky and inconsistent controls to enjoy the exhilarating firepower of humvees, battleships, and jets. You’ll also need to be intimately familiar with the six loadouts and four roles that define upgradable strengths.
Loadouts determine your primary weapon — ranging from rocket launcher to drum-fed shotgun — while roles throw goodies like repair torches and air strikes into your bag of tricks. Every spawn is an opportunity to try a new combination. This two-tiered system adds complexity, and the fact that Western Coalition goodies differ considerably from Red Star equivalents increases the already intoxicating variety.
Against other tanks, angle yourself for a fast escape after their turret swings around.
Better yet, a little creative thinking reveals inspired possibilities not possible in other games. Combine the special-ops loadout with the drone-tech role, and you can load your remote-controlled rolling mini-gun with enough C4 to take out a platoon. Plant an EMP tech’s lightning rod on a heavily trafficked flight path to disable stealthed choppers as they streak by, and you can slaughter the crew with a heavy assault rifle, then take off in your enemy’s hardware. Stack 25 players with this kind of insane flexibility on each team, and add in a first-class sound design that pulsates with satisfyingly beefy gunfire and explosions that’ll rattle any living room, and you’ll see how just eight maps and a sole objective-capturing mode can still command surprisingly rich flexibility and gripping situational diversity.
In single-player, you’ll have to control a vehicle’s path and targeting simultaneously. In multiplayer, the duties are split.
With so many meticulously constructed possibilities at play, it’s only natural to expect a steeper learning curve, and Frontlines could certainly have benefitted from having a Call of Duty 4–style graduation system. But it’s hard to complain about a lack of handholding when even death comes in so many inventive forms.
PREVON XBOX 360
- Rich and deep loadout, role, and redeployment systems.
- Killer graphics and multiplayer.
- Short campaign; quirky vehicle controls; only one online mode.
- Why are vehicle control schemes so variable?
Sat, 10/17/2009 - 19:31
Posted by wickland
I would rate this as one of my favorite multi-player games.
Tue, 12/30/2008 - 15:13
Posted by Legolas12280
Frontlines was an especially great game. Though the campaign was kind of cheesy drama. Its especially annoying to get spawn killed in multi-player. Doesn't have very destructible environments like Battlefield: Bad Company
Sun, 12/28/2008 - 19:20
Posted by Gamerboi666
the game is fun but the multiplayer it gets annoying when you respawn it should be like COD4 but its the way it is and i would recomend it especially to shooter loving gamers or like me who will probably love any game with LIVE
Fri, 08/22/2008 - 19:22
Posted by rustyreaper0
Gameinformer gives it a crappy rating because gameinformer sucks
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 23:26
Posted by MitchyD
After playing it, I`m enlightened to the score. I`m not convinced, but hey, to each his own!
-- http://www.nukoda.com --
Gamertag: MitchyD88
Tue, 03/18/2008 - 21:09
Posted by GMAN CLAN
I'm having trouble understanding how this game gets a 9.0 from you and then i see on IGN and in game infromer getting like a 7.5 or something like that. what is it that is so different between the 3 views?
--My Gamertag is GMAN CLAN. Check me out on xbox live!
Thu, 03/06/2008 - 12:07
Posted by wrathoftheninja
how come oxm gives this game a great rating but gameinformer gives this game a crappy rating?!?!?!
Sun, 03/02/2008 - 17:07
Posted by STeaMY MaRTiNi
This will probably ruffle a few feathers but... I just can't get my head around playing a shooter that isn't realistic. "Realistic" meaning mature-related content. I forgave GRAW and GRAW 2: but when I shoot someone, I want to see the character react to getting blown away in a realistic manner. This game is rated "T": how the hell can you have a realistic shooter that's rated "T"? Maybe I'm getting jaded (or spoiled) from the slew of recent great mature shooters.
Sun, 03/02/2008 - 10:12
Posted by BIGDADDY DJ Sr
I'm not a big gamer (like my son) but I'll aways try new shooter demos. There's alot of techie flashy screen info, for this old timer a longer learning curve neccessary. Overall, looks tempting, I will rent next before purchasing, my safe side.
Sun, 03/02/2008 - 09:23
Posted by saggin good
The game is a lot different from the demo. they showcased the wrong maps. once you get the game there are a lot of good maps. oh and how bout an early turningpoint review. Ive looked at ign but there rating arent like yours. oh and also army of two id like to see a review before i buy it? Thanks
Sat, 03/01/2008 - 12:27
Posted by Rapid-Transit
I support this game for one huge reason. I can't get Desert Combat out of my head and it's been years since i terroized people with the Apache helicopter. The developers behind this game were the PC world community modders of BF1942 that came together over the internet and developed a modern day combat game that stands up to anything we have today. So i admit to buying the game to support my homeboys who brought me so much joy back in the day. This is not COD4 but something totally different and just as exhilarating. There are shades of DC that I immediately recognize in the control schemes and the firepower of the heli. AWSOME!@ So I applaude the newest entry of a team whom I condider my heroes.
Rapid out
Fri, 02/29/2008 - 15:56
Posted by cenahk
y the hell does the comerchal look horable and the game is grate?
Thu, 02/28/2008 - 11:55
Posted by Art of PROGRESS
I picked up Front Lines on its relase date and even put it on reserved. I loved the demo and the game. But something strange started happening when i would try to join live on the game and demo matchs hosted by the Koas(the game) it stared:kicking me out in the middle of games,or game is closed ( when there is 8 of 32 palying) and finally i wouldnt even let me sign in at ALL!!!!. i got so mad i called THQ. the rep gave me a lame answer like "there are aware of the problem and are working on it. so keep trying". any one els having this problem?
Thu, 02/28/2008 - 06:58
Posted by DarthViking1
Wow a 9 huh? I had high hopes for this game and now can't wait to pick it up and get a better look at it (Anything you guys give a 8.5 and higher to I automatically buy, no questions asked!). I have to admit, when I first played the MP demo, I was on the Oil field and didn't see anyone. I was like, "Did every one quit when I entered the room? And them all of a sudden this helicopter came out of no where (And like a moron I run towards it!) and it blows my as* away! From there on in I kept playing and capturing bases and what not and well, 2.5 hours later I was like dam*, I really like this game! Im not sure yet if it will dethrone COD4 as my favorite MP game (That game is in my system like 95% of the time man!), but it still looks like it will be a great game to play with people.
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 18:40
Posted by dietcoke4fatty
the demos were bad, espeshely the multiplayer demo, there was no one to fight, the single player actually had some actionI thought it was pretty good
any wat I trust you OXM so ill giive the game a shot
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 16:57
Posted by iThomas
To the person who said there isn't voice chat in this game, there is. You simply have to create a squad on the fly and invite the people you want in your squad in order to talk to them. It's actually a clever way of incorporating voice chat when there's this many people playing at a given time.
I'm currently waiting for this to ship to me from Gamefly. I played both the singleplayer and multiplayer demo and had a blast with both. From what I played, I'm not suprised by a 9.0 score.
P.S. Speaking of clever ways to kill the enemy. What I did in the multiplayer demo was strap a ton of mines on my leg and run into crowded enemy occupied areas. If I got shot, BOOM! It also serves as a COD4ish perk called Martyrdom. Even if they don't shoot your mines, once you die, they explode. I've gotten many kills this way and it's quite funny.
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 16:43
Posted by Axe Argonian
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Condemned 2 deserve a score like that. Anyway,what was your score for DARK MESSIAH?
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 16:42
Posted by Axe Argonian
Sorry,but that demo was vomit-inducing trash. How can the real thing be any different from a recent demo?
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 15:32
Posted by Cybertuffguy
I am totally shocked by this score. Major cons to this game:
No Voice chat
No party capability
No radar of any sort considering the time this takes place.
Some maps it is very hard to see anyone. Without some sort of communication it is hard to get a strategy together.
This game was clearly rushed out to compete with COD4 and bombs at it. I really want to like this game but it needs fixes ASAP
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 12:05
Posted by ROBBMAC
OXM has been giving a lot of games rather high scores in relationship to my personal tastes. I won't hold that against them but their reviews haven't matched my impression of many games for the last few months. I very skeptical of anything that they score 90 or better.
I wasn't impressed by either demo as well but I will see if I can rent it myself and see how much has changed. Map size and player count aren't enough to make a game good for me and that seems to be the draw for a lot of fans of the game.
Anybody on here play the game and care to give your impression as well?
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 09:14
Posted by ArmoredCookie
Surprising high score. I really thought oxm would chew out this game, but apparently its worth it. i was gonna rent it sooner or later but after reading this maybe ill go with the sooner rather than the later.
Wed, 02/27/2008 - 08:53
Posted by Daze Of War
That is a pretty high score. Specially when the demos were not that good. I'll check this out at work and give the actual game a try. Just not sure if I'll buy it though.
Tue, 02/26/2008 - 23:34
Posted by MitchyD
Both demos for this game were an absolute joke. Shocking score - perhaps I will rent to be extra safe.
-- http://www.nukoda.com --
Gamertag: MitchyD88