Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC)

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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.