You're only getting this review from me because Mr. William Abner, one of our own Crispy reviewers, couldn't get the game to run on his computer. I can't thank Bill enough for upgrading to Windows Vista before me, because I've never been happier to take over for someone in a pinch than I've been while playing Frontlines: Fuel of War on a Windows XP machine with 2 GB of RAM and an 8800GT.

It's a shame that failures to install and server problems factor into a review of the game at all, because when Frontlines comes together, there's no better combined arms game of playing soldier available today. Combat occurs in 2024, when oil is running out and "What happens next?" is answered by a war over what's left. Solo play takes you from Turkmenistan to Moscow as a member of the Coalition battle group The Stray Dogs, in a campaign that seems all too plausible given today's current events. It's a surprising highlight of a game designed by a team comprised of the same people who made the multiplayer Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942.

What sets this campaign apart is the designers' willingness to let you take control of the progression through a map. You often have multiple objectives, much like you do when the game is played online. Capturing objectives opens up a second set of tasks in which again you choose your path to victory; along the way you are given the opportunity to get familiar with nearly every toy available in the multiplayer game. The artificial intelligence won't win awards, but it does one important thing very effectively -- it teaches you to keep your damn head down.

It's not a long campaign -- maybe 10 to 15 hours of play on one of three adjustable difficulties -- but it's very satisfying. The story unfolds with some entertaining twists, and all too often the embedded reporter who narrates lays a depressing reminder on you about our modern society and how it might crumble. You're just a nameless, faceless grunt fighting for what seems "right," but at the end of the day, who can really win a war like this one? That the game even makes you think about it a little bit is testament to its believable setting and strong execution.

Coalition and Red Star forces have a fairly standard array of guns available to them, but they're just the hammers you keep in the toolbox next to the more exotic bits and bobs. Kaos Studios has brilliantly separated the weapon kits from the odd job kits, making it so you can always pick your battlefield role separate from your weapon needs. The power of this choice cannot be overstated. If you want to snipe while setting up EMP defenses, you can do that. If you need to assault with a machine gun while potentially dropping air raids on people's heads, that's viable, too. It opens up the tactical options to players immensely, making people potentially useful at all tasks instead of just a single, specialized one. If enemy armor is a problem, spawn with a rocket launcher and start taking out tanks. It's inevitable that you will die, and when you do you can change your kit to suit the changing battlefield conditions. Best of all, no one has to be a medic.

In fact, there are no medics.

That simple fact changes the entire dynamic of the game in the best way, because everyone on your team is a tool for killing. When you're redding out, you can only hide to survive as your vision restores. Gameplay emphasis shifts from running and gunning to cover and stealth. It also means vehicles are of extra importance during assaults, because having a metal skin to protect you is crucial in hot fire zones -- and those vehicle assaults are where the game's aural punch plays a key role.

During a major assault, Frontlines sounds like you expect war to sound. We've all seen it on TV enough in the last 20 years to know the nuances of it, and this game gets it right. The audio sits at the right hand of the gameplay, chiding you while you duck your head in front of the screen when a tank lets loose right beside you. Play the game long enough, and sound even clues you in to what your opponent is carrying and from where he's shooting. You also come to dread the sound of drones. These radio-controlled devices -- cars, mini-helicopters and mini-tanks -- are not terribly hard to kill, but they show up when they are least welcome, and you know destroying them doesn't stop the guy on the other end who's driving them remotely. It's terribly entertaining to plant some C4 on that dude while he's busy with his toys, though.

Bringing everything together is the maps, which have a wonderful variety of locations, and that leads to a hugely varied amount of gameplay styles. Some feature house-to-house fighting where every corner is a potential deathtrap, while others are wide-open affairs on the oil fields. It's here that the game's title has significance, because the front lines move forward or backward with an ebb and flow that seems all at once believable in single-player and multiplayer gameplay. The only downside to the design is it's nearly impossible to reverse the crashing waves of invaders once you're backed into your last corner of the map.

Despite that problem, technical issues some people have had, and even a distinct lack of built-in voice chat, this game stands tall as one of the best multiplayer experiences available. It's definitely recommended that you tackle single-player before going online, because it points out the differences between this game and others like it. Once you achieve awareness of your body and its vulnerability in the game, you'll see the brilliance of Frontlines: Fuel of War and how it focuses everyone on the tactics of combat as they apply to pushing forward across a map with flowing precision. It makes you want to be at the forefront of victory.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game supplied by the publisher.