Kaos Studios may be a fairly new developer, however the core members of the team actually worked on the much beloved Battlefield 1942 mod Desert Combat. It was therefore with some excitement I grabbed a copy of their first retail offering Frontlines: Fuel of War and fired it up in my 360.

The game is abit hit or miss depending on who you talk to, however one thing I am certain – most fans of the Battlefield series will find a lot here to like, and at the very worst, Frontlines offers a decent campaign with some great multiplayer fun that will tide fans of the genre over until Bad Company arrives in the summer.

In the single player portion of Frontlines, the player takes the side of soldiers in the Western Coalition army, fighting against the Red Star Coalition over energy resources in the Middle East. Multiplayer on the other hand let’s the player become a soldier on either side in the conflict, and allows the player to fight in epic 50 player battles.

Gameplay:

Single player in Frontlines provides a fairly decent gameplay experience, and is certainly not the throwaway campaign typical of most Battlefield style games. There are decent cutscenes and an interesting story that follows a Western Coalition squad through the eyes of an embedded reporter. While the single player campaign won’t give you a Call of Duty 4 or Gears of War experience, it’s still enjoyable with a story that will make you start to track rising world oil prices on a daily basis. With that said, multiplayer is where the game shines and is probably where the player will spend the vast majority of their time.

In multiplayer the game revolves around the “frontlines” game mechanic. Like Battlefield players are required to capture points on the map, however those points are defined by where the “Frontline” is. The frontline moves forward and back on the map opening up new points to capture whenever one side captures all points on the current frontline. This creates an interesting play dynamic as action is focused on the two or three capture points currently in play, and it prevents the typical “ring around the capture points” you normally get in capture the point style games. In multiplayer this also means that a team low on “tickets” (respawns) can still come back and win the game by pushing the frontline to the enemies last spawn point. Unfortunately the downside of the frontlines mechanic is that a team that has been pushed back to their last spawn point generally suffers spawn deaths as the winning side attempts to make the final capture.

Despite this one flaw, the gameplay is generally exciting, and is made even better by the “Squad” mechanic. In Frontlines, teams are able to squad up with up to 3 friends. Once in a squad, VOIP is allowed between the 4 members, meaning strategy and tactics becomes very important. The Squad Leader also acts as a mobile spawn point for all members of the squad, which serves both to keep the squad together (and working together), as well as forcing each side in multiplayer to ensure all threats are eliminated before moving onto a new capture point. Finally the squad leader has the ability to set waypoints for the team on the fly, which means even those players without mics will have some sort of visual guide as to where their squad is heading.



Soldiers in Frontlines are equipped with a variety of weaponry based on which class and special ability they choose. Classes include Assault, Sniper, Heavy Gunner, Rocket, and Special Ops. Special abilities include: Ground Support (ability to heal vehicles and set up turrets), Air Support (Air strikes), EMP (Disable vehicles and drones), and Drone Specialist (Send out remote vehicles armed with sensors, rockets, machine guns, etc). Together the class and special abilities allows the player to create a large variety of unique loadouts, with emphasis on specialization. I noticed that squads with a wide range of loadouts generally survive much longer. In one match I played a Rocket Launcher and relied on my team to cover me from enemy infantry while I took out enemy armour and air units with my rockets. Likewise my teammates would have been eaten alive by enemy vehicles if not for my rockets.

It is this unique reliance on your squad mates that makes the game so addicting. Those players that play as a team, will generally find they have much more success than those players that try to go it alone.

It’s also worth noting that Frontlines provides some of the best combined arms attacks I’ve seen in a FPS with carefully balanced classes allowing vehicles to be a threat while still allowing ground troops to play an important role.

Graphics:

The graphics in Frontlines I found to be a mixed bag. In multiplayer there is often a ton of things going on at once, and I have found there to be very little lag at all which is a good thing. It appears however that in order to allow all these things to go on, some concessions have been made in the graphics department. Things don’t appear as “sharp” and “crisp” as titles such as Call of Duty 4, however you’ll probably be having so much fun this will matter very little. The focus of the game is very much on massive combat, with maps that enforce this epic feel. Maps range from gigantic all the way down to small street level conflicts, but even the smallest of maps have tons of nooks and crannies to explore. If you see a crane towering into the sky, odds are you’re going to be able to climb that crane and snipe from it. Many of the map’s “set pieces” are not just there for show but play a big role in providing suppressive or sniper fire. Personally I think this is the big triumph of Frontlines … the game is not so much about looks as about providing a superior multiplayer experience. Despite somewhat lackluster graphics, there are still plenty of epic moments. On one map (Invasion) an entire team loads up on choppers and attempts an airborne attack on enemy ground capture points. There is something special about seeing the entire skyline filled with choppers as tracers race back and forth across the sky.

I should probably also mention that in single player the graphics appeared abit sharper similar to how the original Rainbow Six: Vegas had better-looking graphics in the single player as opposed to multiplayer.

Sound:

Personally I felt the sound in the game did the job properly and conveyed a decent sense of “I am in a big war right now”. While I feel that this has been done better in other FPS’s I’ve played, I certainly don’t think that Frontlines has failed in this area. Gunfire sounds right, sniper fire will make you jump as a bullet whizzes by, and armour explodes in a satisfying roar. Certainly those players with nice audio setups will enjoy the loud thumps of explosions and constant chatter of friendly and enemy fire.

Longevity:

I went into Frontlines expecting a throwaway single player campaign, something typical of Battlefield type games. Surprisingly the single player campaign is actually decent and will provide an enjoyable experience for those willing to slug it out. It’s no Rainbow Six single player campaign, but it does a decent job of providing some single player fun.

In the end, multiplayer is what this game is about, and will be where the vast majority of players spend their time. I suspect some players will even skip the single player campaign entirely, opting to enjoy the superior multiplayer experience that Frontlines offers.

Some players will “get” Frontlines and play it for months to come. Other players will play for a week and trade it in. The reason for this, I believe, is the massive emphasis on squad and teamplay. Most Xbox 360 FPS have very little teamplay involved, with players able to be a “jack of all trades”. The focus on class and ability specialization in Frontlines will appeal to those players that are looking for a deep team experience, it will also repel away those players that want to play as a lone super solider.

Overall:

As I’ve already mentioned, at best Frontlines will provide a game for clanners to play for months to come and at worst it’s a nice stopgap game while waiting for the next Battlefield game, Bad Company. My scores for Frontlines: Fuel of War is greatly influenced by my love for team-based shooters, be aware that your mileage may vary depending on your own personal preferences.

Kaos Studios has stated that they are committed to supporting the game for a long time to come through patches and DLC. Given their track record with Desert Combat, a free mod, Frontlines very likely has a good future ahead of it.

I recommend anyone with a remote interest in Battlefield type games at the very least give Frontlines: Fuel of War a rent to see if the game is for you. I suspect that some folks who have passed on the title will be very surprised to find a really deep and engaging game one that is some of the most multiplayer fun I’ve had on Live in awhile.