Anyone tried the Frontlines demo on XBLM? Seems to be a decent game especially with the drones that you are able to control and driving a tank was fun, being hit actually sounded like a metal round was striking the tank body. Controls seem to be the major issue with a lot of recoil using the assault rifle but the rocket launcher was nice. Apparently this was an early build of the game and the community manager posted on Major Nelson's blog that some issues have been resolved in later builds so hopefully any issues will be sorted by release day.

When did it come up?

Was posted yesterday. 1.7GB.

Saw it but didn't download, the old 20 gig ain't got the free space it once had. When I fire up the elite, I might try it. Thanks for reminding me.

Yeah it looked ok, the aiming was a little "loose" but it looks like it might be a pretty good game.

I agree with the aiming but I was pretty impressed.

I've been waiting for this since it was announced back during the BF2 days. They were pretty ambitious and were supposed to have put a lot of work in to make it an excellent single and multi player game. It'll be interesting to see which game wins in a few months time, Battlefield: Bad Company or Frontlines. Now I only need my 360 to come back from the repair center.

Great presentation , good graphics , lousy control .

The drones are a great idea and will make for some great MP fun (no doubt) but they really need to work on the controls for just about every aspect of the game .

-- Jason

Hmmm...I never even heard of this game until last night when I was browsing through the demos. Downloaded it and had a good time with it.

I liked it quite a bit. A few points:

The story is pretty interesting and realistic. The opening cinematic with paintings was well done, and drew me in.
I thought they did a good job with the character models and weapons. Since it takes place in the "not too distant future" I thought they were just futuristic enough to be believable.
The drones were pretty cool.
Levels seem pretty open ended. There were lots of alleys to cover, as well as several different ways to approach. Enemies flanked and used the cover. You could also complete the objectives in any order depending on how you approached.
They need to polish up the controls. I'm not sure why I was having such a hard time controlling the C4 drone/car thing, then realized the controls are just like real remote controlled cars (the left stick does forward/back while the right stick does the left/right steering). I probably had more trouble because I've been playing HL2 where the left stick controls the vehicle and the right stick looks around.


Anyways, considering I've never heard of it, I was intrigued. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one.

I think Game Informer had mentioned that the MP for this game would support 32 players. Anyone know if thats true or are my signals crossed?

I enjyed the demo. A couple things that should be fixed is the impact of the weapons on the enemy, it just feels like your shooting air, and the weapon sounds on the tank were weak.

I think Game Informer had mentioned that the MP for this game would support 32 players. Anyone know if thats true or are my signals crossed?

That is what I hear too.

Loved the demo. Nice twist on controlling other things in the game (i.e. mini copters, remote control cars to blow up tanks, etc.) Was pretty fun.

I was expecting more from the demo. Weapon damage needs to be increased so I don't need to put 3/4 of a clip in an enemy's head to drop them. Overall it felt more arcade-like than it did realistic. I thought Frontlines would be able to give Bad Company a run for its money (based on previous trailers), but after the demo I don't think it stands a chance. Especially with Bad Company releasing first.

It's funny, the controls for the FPS part of the game need some work, as others mentioned, but the controls for the RC toys are fantastic. I was flying that RC copter inside buildings, shooting guys down like nobody's business.



Right now, BF2:BC is higher on my list than this game. The story looks a little better/humorous than Frontlines, which looks to be a "let's kick some ass, hoorah, USA USA" type of mentality.

It's funny, the controls for the FPS part of the game need some work, as others mentioned, but the controls for the RC toys are fantastic. I was flying that RC copter inside buildings, shooting guys down like nobody's business.


Damn, I must've missed the copter (assumed it wasn't in the demo). I'll have to play through again to find it.

I was expecting more from the demo. Weapon damage needs to be increased so I don't need to put 3/4 of a clip in an enemy's head to drop them.


I found that a single headshot dropped them most of the time, oddly enough.

MP demo is up with revised controls, anyone care to try it out? Not too keen on jumping in with the kids on Live.

MP demo is up with revised controls, anyone care to try it out? Not too keen on jumping in with the kids on Live.

It's actually very good. You don't have to listen to the kids ;)

Sort of feels like Battlefield with different setting and more options. I have played it on and off for a few days and I am going to pick this game up for sure.

It's actually very good. You don't have to listen to the kids ;)

Sort of feels like Battlefield with different setting and more options. I have played it on and off for a few days and I am going to pick this game up for sure.

Thanks for the reply, I think you can be accosted by "kids" if you play on a squad rather than going it alone. Being part of a squad is definitely fun. Anyone like to try this out?

i'll dl it and try it out tonight.
gt-TahoeCougar

Great game. I was put off by the single player but the multiplayer is big azz fun. The fact that it is 32 players is saweet, the drones are cool, destructible environments, great maps, weapons and class selections... nice, spawn points must be taken in order on the battlefield, squad set-up is a cool feature too. It looks like a lot of work and thought went into the whole multiplayer experience. The controls on the tank drone are a little wonky but other than that... Great stuff !!

i too enjoyed this alot.
huge maps. lotsa weapons. may be a sleeper hit.
feels like battlefield mp.
this may be awesome if they keep working on the controls.

haven't tried the mp but the sp was sloppy.

with Vegas 2 not far, I can't buy this but might rent or borrow to check out the 32p.

Decided to give the MP a try last night and actually ended up playing for 5 hours straight. Wow, what fun!

Reminds me a lot of Battlefield with the vehicles and such.

The soldier classes are a lot of fun especially the EMP one. Love shooting helicopters out of the sky with the EMP Tank Rocket thing.

The sound is great and makes you really get into it.

If they can fix the controls by the time this is released then it is a must buy for me.

I started playing the MP demo last night and needless to say that this is definitely a day one purchase for me. I don't see much hype for this game so I assume not many people know about it.

I was about to get warhawk for the PS3, but I was hesitant because I really don't like how the game looks. Frontlines seems to be like warkhawk, but with the look I like.

Like the above poster, I love to take out helicopters and vehicles with the EMPs and rocketlaunchers. You can do it from so far away that they don't even know what hit them.

I also love the sound. Usually war games have background sounds of boms being dropped, shots being fired, vehicles riding and flying, rockets being launched, but it is all fake. Well in this game everything is real. Every sound you hear in the background is actually happening.

The maps are also pretty big. I didn't noticed any slowdowns during lots of action. The graphics are also pretty decent. nothing spectacular, but pretty good for a game of this scale.

I'll echo what many are saying that the game is a ton of fun. It isn't perfect, so I'll start with the issues:
1. Driving the Humvee jeeps when you hit something, the game kind of skips, almost like there is some severe clipping
2. Frame rate could be better, but I'm just more jaded by Call of duty 4's excellence in this respect than anything
3. Graphics and colors seem a little washed out and flat. It was only a demo I understand this

Pro's:
1. Best explosions I have heard in a videogame ever. The sound of the gunships raining down fire from across a map has to be heard to be believed. The explosions themselves don't look the best, however
2. Absolutely HUGE towers to get up into to snipe from. The game is a huge sandbox and I've been waiting for massive towers like this to get up in
3. Vehicles hold a ton of people. The Humvees hold like 6 people I think. That puts a lot of emphasis on the TEAM aspect of a game. I really like that they have these kind of vehicles. This is my style of game
4. I haven't even used the drones yet, but I will later. That sounds fantastic
5. Ever watch the demo movie? There's like huge frickin robots walking around!! This could be epic and a true sleeper. I think I'll pick this game up

I think I'm going to pick this one up. My only concern was that there wouldn't be enough interest and enough online players, but that seems to be incorrect now. I'm a little scared of these sleeper titles. I bought Shadowrun day 1 based on the demo and had a few months of excellent gameplay. Shadowrun is one of my favorite xbox MP games of all time. However, there wasn't enough interest, it got a bad review, and then Halo 3 came out and no one ever came back. Plus, the developer essentially folded which meant no new maps ever. So, now I get a little concerned when a demo is good but not enough people actually get the game.

What I like:
1) 32 player multiplayer
2) the whole territory capture oriented / frontlines gameplay. I love objective games compared to deathmatch types.
3) the sound; I was so impressed the first time I got hit when inside a tank!
4) those sniper towers on oil field are awesome. I don't actually snipe from them, I play anti-vehicle from there and it seems to work really well. There doesn't seem to be anything more confusing to a tank then to be hit from above.

What I don't like (so much):
1) the graphics are a little weak IMO
2) gameplay is arcade, not realistic
3) takes too much damage to kill a human soldier (3-4 sniper shots??)
4) seems to be a ladder glitch. I've fallen to my death many times in the demo just trying to regularly dismount at the top of a tall ladder.

Definitely a rental, perhaps a purchase.

This game just got announced to have 50 multiplayer supported. It just moved from way off my radar to blinking red. downloading as i type. Let hope its not a lag fest.

yeah, I had heard of the 50 player frag fests a week ago. Frankly, I was confused when I was hearing 32 players on here...I thought you guys had heard of this awesomeness! Yeah, ladders can be stupid too with this game, I forgot to add that. I like the controls by the way. Run at RB works well and no fatigue either. You can just run and run which is vital in a game that is so huge. When is this coming out? If you guys are getting it, I'd probably buck up and pick it up too. We could form a huge squad and get this: we could probably all get in on the same team! Talk about sick...And if you haven't already, watch the included demo video with the huge robots and futuristic tanks. This game is going to do some really good and unique things that make me excited.
<---throws a bucket of cold water over head

Ok I'm back...sorry got a little worked up over here. But it is gonna rule!

edit: Holy S#%! Check out the airstrike capabilities of this game. There is so much to this game!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=o0KiITEDZY0&feature=related

comes out the 26th.
that video is incredible. the only thing i worry aboot is will there be so much going on and so many different options that it becomes confusing to know what buttons/weapons to use? hope that makes sense.
also, is anyone actually going to fight a ground war or is it just going to be airstrikes non-stop? warhawk actually balances this very well, and i hope this game does also. 50 person mp and all the weapons you could use could be incredible if done correctly.
i also figured out how to 1 shot kill with the sniper.
if everyone gets the game, i will also. would be some wicked servers.

i was using airstrikes and dropping cluster bombs on some fools yesterday... i dont think it's cheap and overpowered... all in all i havent found anything in game that is just too powerful, i dont know how they did it, but everything is pretty balanced.

you can run around on foot with a rocket launcher and ground support (turrets and stuff) and still be able to hang with tanks on the ground and choppers in the air.

the only thing that kinda sucks sometimes is when you get someone in a helicopter that is REALLY good, and can avoid a lot of rockets by dropping flares, it seems like by the time you reload his flares are ready again.... i've found that after you get a target lock, sometimes you can just hold it and they have to guess when to drop the flares, most of the time they'll drop them before you even fire, so if you fire you're good for a clean hit.

Well, during the demo I tired driving a tank and I liked it, but I loved doing ground combat. I usually took the rocketlauncher and the remote controlled vehicles and went hunting for objectives. So I'm pretty sure I'll be one of the ground people. The feeling I get when I take out a tank or a helicopter is pure joy.

The maps are huge so I don't think that 50 players will be chaotic to the point of frustration.

My birthday is the 23 so this will definitely be my birthday present if indeed comes out the 26. I saw Feb. 25 somewhere but I guess thats the shipping day or somehting.

I got some questions about this battlefield game you guys are talking about.

Is battlefield out yet? In what ways is it similar to Frontlines?

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/frontlinesfuelofwar/news.html?sid=6186162&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;story;6

Frontlines: Fuel of War Multiplayer Hands-On - Large-Scale Warfare
Forget 16 or 24 players. Frontlines: Fuel of War will let you battle with up to 49 other players.
By Jason Ocampo, GameSpot
Posted Feb 15, 2008 5:11 pm PT
Frontlines: Fuel of War may very well be the first Xbox 360 game that comes close to capturing the sheer madness and wild nature of the famed Battlefield games on the PC. That's because the matches in Frontlines can go all the way up to 50 players instead of being limited to just 16 or 24 players. We know this because we had a chance very recently to play in some multiplayer matches against the testers at THQ. We also have to report that we got a lot of kills, died a lot of times, and saw a lot of really cool things on the screen.

We played with the same version of the game that was sent to submission approval at Microsoft. Frontlines can have such a high player count because THQ will host dedicated servers for the game; most Xbox 360 games rely on one player to serve as the host. While the matches that we played had about 55 to 56 players at a time, we're told that THQ plans on capping the limit at 50 when the game launches. That's mainly due to testing and the fact that while the maps are big, they aren't that big.




Multiplayer matches in Frontlines can have more than three times the number of players than in most Xbox 360 games. That's a lot of chaos.
The game is set several decades in the future when a brutal war for dwindling resources erupts between the Western Coalition and the Red Star Alliance. The three battles that we waged let you play as a member of either faction, and you can form squads to work as a team to help your side prevail.

Considering that the developers at Kaos Studios previously worked on Battlefield 2 and the popular Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942, it's not surprising that Frontlines feels quite a bit like--surprise!--Battlefield. However, it benefits from the larger player counts in the server. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for the Xbox 360 never captured its cousin's sheer sense of wall-to-wall chaos, Battlefield 2, on the PC. However, Frontlines does capture that chaos because common sense dictates that the more people you have running around with assault rifles, rocket launchers, tanks, helicopters, and jets in a given area, the hairier the said area will be in battle. During the battle, we had all sorts of crazy things going on around us: helicopters exploded in midair and jets lawn darted into the ground right in front of us. Tanks and wheeled transports also careened around at high speed, with gunfire getting thick and heavy at times.

The action was almost a bit too heavy at times, though we were playing with slightly more players than that of the final population cap. And frankly, having to choose between empty battlefields versus battlefields with stuff going on everywhere, we'll choose the latter nine times out of 10.

The first map we played was called Invasion. It's a nighttime map where the Western Coalition has to conduct an air assault on a Red Star base. So the Westerners jump aboard their various futuristic helicopters and helicopter gunships to try to seize objectives, as well as blow up surface-to-air missile installations on the ground. The Red Star troopers have to stop them. This makes for a pretty intense battle with helicopters overhead, tanks and antiaircraft guns maneuvering on the ground, and small-unit battles for objective points.

Next, we played the Runabout map. It's an outdoor, daytime map set in a small valley where two bases oppose one another. We died quite a bit more on this map than we did on Invasion probably because both sides can open up on each other almost immediately. The Western Coalition doesn't have to helicopter in at the start of the match. The middle of the map consists of a killing zone, with long fields of fire letting snipers have fun, but machine gunners can just open up too.




Rocket launchers are your friend when helicopters roam the map.
The third and final map that we played was also the wildest. It's called Solar Farm, and it's a playground for aerial combat. There are jet fighters, as well as helicopter gunships galore on this one, and you can have fun engaging in some wild air-to-air battles. There's also plenty of action on the ground as the two sides battle for control of objective points. The geography on this map is really memorable, with giant solar collectors (they look like radio satellite dishes) providing bowls in the ground in which to fight. Our best moments occurred while serving as a gunner aboard a helicopter gunship. The chain gun is useful in air-to-air battles, as well as for mowing down opponents on the ground. Your lifespan can be measured in seconds, though. It seemed that helicopters and jets were blowing up constantly throughout the match.

Like we noted previously, these large-scale multiplayer battles come close to Battlefield 2's 64-player slugfests. The key difference is that the maps are not nearly as sprawling as they are in that PC game, but they're still big. Frontlines offers up some of the most frenzied online warfare that we've seen in a console game, which bodes well. It'll ship for the Xbox 360 and PC near the end of this month.

great post man. Now I'm even more excited.

Sounds great. I guess I need to download the demo...

Make sure you run a custom search for games. Then pick one of the KAOS servers. They are the most lag free.

After many hours of playing in the last couple of days, most weapons and classes are very well balanced.

Helicopters don't dominate since they are easily dispatched with an EMP missile and then a regular missile. Same with tanks. Hit them once with EMP and then twice with a regular.

Airstrikes are cool but most of the time you know when they're coming. You can hear the aircraft coming inbound to drop the rounds so you just start running.

The sound in the game is amazing. All the background noises are caused by actual gameplay happing on the map. Can't get any cooler than that.

I played the SP demo a month ago, and was NOT impressed... it definitely had some merit with the drones and advanced weaponry/vehichles, however the frame rate and control issues were pretty bad, and it had too much of that Tony Scott blown-out color palette going.

all the vehicles in the MP demo are impossible to control besides the helicopter. other than that, the game is pretty fun. i probably wont be buying it though.

When I was driving the tank it took me a bit to get used to the controls, but once I got the hang of it everything was a breeze.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this the first title to use dedicated servers in the 360. Also isn't this the first game on a console to be 50 players online?

I ask this because I've never heard of anything similar to this in a console. I know some PS3 titles have 32, but not 50.

BTW, there are 6 really nice videos explaining things about the game.

This was definitely under my radar, after the Single player demo. After messing around for the past week on the MP demo and hearing of 50 person games, I'm in. It definitely has a Battlefield feel to it. I like the classes and the add-ons. With sqaud capability, big maps, vehicles and a nice arrangement of weapons I'm in.

I played the SP demo a month ago, and was NOT impressed... it definitely had some merit with the drones and advanced weaponry/vehichles, however the frame rate and control issues were pretty bad, and it had too much of that Tony Scott blown-out color palette going.

The MP demo is a a better build than the SP.

Play on the dedicated KAOS servers and everything works really well.

I agree with the observations on the sound. Very well implemented surround, very useful during gameplay. Looks like a purchase for me.

I have been craving some BF2 like action. From videos I've watched and articles read I am pumped. Downloading demo as I type.

Selling desktop has given me BF2 withdrawls.

The demo was WAY too arcadey to me. I felt that BF2 was realistic, this game, it's just not. It felt clownish to me.

Awful.

played the mp demo for the better part of the day today... i'm loving it... lookin like a day one purchase for me, had four of us friends in a squad, taking both choppers and teaming up in tanks and stuff, just having a blast.

game will be really great with 50 people, dedicated servers, and some aiming and hit detection issues fixed.


i cant wait to fly around in a troop carrying helicopter with miniguns on both sides, or having dog fights in some fighter jets..... full version is gonna be fun.

I'd be nice if we could set up a game between us avs guys, but I think we don't have enough people yet.

I'd be nice if we could set up a game between us avs guys, but I think we don't have enough people yet.

ready when you guys are!

played the mp demo for the better part of the day today... i'm loving it... lookin like a day one purchase for me, had four of us friends in a squad, taking both choppers and teaming up in tanks and stuff, just having a blast.

game will be really great with 50 people, dedicated servers, and some aiming and hit detection issues fixed.


i cant wait to fly around in a troop carrying helicopter with miniguns on both sides, or having dog fights in some fighter jets..... full version is gonna be fun.

Sounds like you were able to invite your friends to a match. Can you explain how you did this, I couldnt find how to send invites. Thanks.

Another thing I really love about this game is that it actually encourages team work. No team work, no win.

Yesterday this guy invited me to join his squad. Our squad leader took the chopper, one guy took a tank, the other a heavy machine gun and I took the rocketlauncher. Our squad leader was telling us what was coming our way, where to go and providing air support. Following his directions we were capturing objectives and eliminating any ground activity we encounter. This all happen with people I had never payed before, Imagine what will happen when we play with our own friends.

One thing I noticed, and I believe someone mentioned before, was that when you lock on to any vehicle equipped with flares with your rocketlauncher, you should wait until they release the flares before firing.

I'll be playing tonight as well if anyone wants to join. I don't even know if thats possible in the demo.

Another thing I really love about this game is that it actually encourages team work. No team work, no win.

Yesterday this guy invited me to join his squad. Our squad leader took the chopper, one guy took a tank, the other a heavy machine gun and I took the rocketlauncher. Our squad leader was telling us what was coming our way, where to go and providing air support. Following his directions we were capturing objectives and eliminating any ground activity we encounter. This all happen with people I had never payed before, Imagine what will happen when we play with our own friends.

One thing I noticed, and I believe someone mentioned before, was that when you lock on to any vehicle equipped with flares with your rocketlauncher, you should wait until they release the flares before firing.

I'll be playing tonight as well if anyone wants to join. I don't even know if thats possible in the demo.


I think I still have you on my friends list, and would like to play. I jumped in a room for a few minutes last night. It was chaos....but I had a good time trying to figure out what was going on. Might've helped if I would've looked at the controls before jumping in :)

Anyways, I might have to go on a last-minute business trip tonight, but if not, I'll look for you.

EDIT: Just found out I will be traveling this afternoon, so I'll be running home to pack and then heading out for a few days. Maybe I can get in with you later.

Appears to be a love it or hate it type of game. I understand both sides, especially if you are used to cod 4. If you play the urban level in the game without the vehicles, you won't be too impressed unfortunately. It's the sheer amount of vehicles and ways to capture objectives / eliminate you enemy that makes this game shine. I applaud the effort personally. It must be some undertaking to make a game like this from the ground up. I respect that and will reward them with some business.

Sounds like you were able to invite your friends to a match. Can you explain how you did this, I couldnt find how to send invites. Thanks.

I don't know if you can send invites, but when you do a custom search the server name is displayed. So you can send a message to your friends like "see you on KAOS VA 3.6" and they'd just join the same server, then join up onto the same team (you are allowed to switch teams in-game).

you can send invites, you can also "join session in progress" from the dashboard friends menu.

anyone else have problems with kaos servers reporting that the session is no longer available, even if the server is there, perfect ping, and not full?

you can send invites, you can also "join session in progress" from the dashboard friends menu.

anyone else have problems with kaos servers reporting that the session is no longer available, even if the server is there, perfect ping, and not full?
Yes, I saw the same thing several times yesterday evening. No problems once I got in, but had the "session no longer available" come up a couple of times.

Is it possible to save your control settings between sessions? I always have to go back and set my looks to invert every time.

Yes, I saw the same thing several times yesterday evening. No problems once I got in, but had the "session no longer available" come up a couple of times.

Is it possible to save your control settings between sessions? I always have to go back and set my looks to invert every time.

i dont think its possible in the demo. which really bothers me! every round it resets, for me its the audio portion, i have the music at 5% and sfx at 30%, then i crank my stereo to even it out with my voice settings, once you get in a chopper in 1st person mode, you HAVE to do this, otherwise you wont here your voice coms.... but man is the sound great via headphones or 5.1!

i feel like i'm back in iraq, which isnt necessarily a good thing, but man is the sound spot on.

I played the SP demo a month ago, and was NOT impressed... it definitely had some merit with the drones and advanced weaponry/vehichles, however the frame rate and control issues were pretty bad, and it had too much of that Tony Scott blown-out color palette going.

I have to agree on the frame rate issue. Pretty bad for my taste

Great game. i have been palying COD4 since release and this is a nice change. i am an original BF series fan and this is alot beeter than the BF realeased on XBOX awhile back. I am anxious to see how this will compare to bad company. Either way i will own this the first day it is available.

Enjoyed the MP demo but couldnt help but keep on noticing how unpolished it felt. From frame rate to clipping to graphics. This one is iffy on my list.

wow, i wish i could figure out how to get the drones, airplanes, etc.
i finally captured some "zones" and finished in 2nd one game!!!!
are some of the kaos servers lagging for others? i am also not sure about the whole squad to talk thing.
but the game has a grand scale to it, and kaos should be applauded for at least trying to make a game this huge with this much going on.

wow, i wish i could figure out how to get the drones, airplanes, etc.
i finally captured some "zones" and finished in 2nd one game!!!!
are some of the kaos servers lagging for others? i am also not sure about the whole squad to talk thing.
but the game has a grand scale to it, and kaos should be applauded for at least trying to make a game this huge with this much going on.

Are you picking the role that has the drones as an option?

Enjoyed the MP demo but couldnt help but keep on noticing how unpolished it felt. From frame rate to clipping to graphics. This one is iffy on my list.

The demo is close to 4 months old. A lot of things should be fixed now.

They mentioned at the ForumPlanet that they improved the frame rate and overall graphics, including the clipping. As mentioned above, they've addressed a lot of issues since the demo.

Are you picking the role that has the drones as an option?

i have tried all of them, i think. i know i am doing something wrong, but i dont have time to learn on the fly with this game!

I think it has a lot of cool ideas, but in practice it wasn't very good. Controls were pretty bad and with the tanks if you're the only one in it and you switch to secondary weapons, then can't move the tank.

i have tried all of them, i think. i know i am doing something wrong, but i dont have time to learn on the fly with this game!

First you have to pick your weapon class. Then you have to pick the drone class. During the battle you will see the option to pick a drone when you change weapons (holding Y I believe). At the beginning you'll only be able to pick one drone, but the other two will be available shortly after.

I think it has a lot of cool ideas, but in practice it wasn't very good. Controls were pretty bad and with the tanks if you're the only one in it and you switch to secondary weapons, then can't move the tank.

Whether it is true or not, it has been said that the controls have been improved.

In the tank, the driver controls the main cannon as well as what I believe to be an armor piercing gun, very powerful against virtually everything. The secondary weapon is an anti-personnel machine gun so I would never switch to the secondary wepon, but you must have your reasons.

I did put in a lot more time with the demo. I am holding out to hear about the improvements before pushing forward with this. It certainly sounds fantastic and the premise and game structure are incredible. However, there are some issues with the demo that I'm hearing have been improved that are making this a "wait and see". I think if the frame rate isn't improved (and it must be very tough with a game of this magnitude) then it may get fried by reviewers. The controls are kind of sloppy and the hit detection is spotty. If it was released in its current state, in my mind the game will get like a 7.5 on gamespot. They will praise the game for its ambition, sound, and generally good execution, yet it will get downgraded by the above things and the clipping and graphic shortcomings. But I hold out real hope here that the game has been refined and improved because I got some money ready to go!

it's still a definite must buy just for the ambition of the game. i dont see much clipping or bad graphics. reminds me of graw2 in the graphics dept.
the one thing i hope they fix is the hit detection.

After playing cod4 this game just seems dated and corny to me. It's not smooth at all really. At least from just playing as a soldier it kinda sucks. The vehicles are cool though. The sniper rifle is retarded, how come the recoil just makes the rifle jump up and right and then it doesn't recenter.. I dunno, this game just kinda reminds me of something on ps2.. the graphics kinda blow.. I won't be buying.

Maybe if they make it so you can custom map all the buttons, then the controls would be better. And on that subject, what was the last game to allow 100% button choice, the Descent games on the original Playstation??

As for the tank, I was in the lighter tank that has the anti-missile system.

I thought the drone stuff was good, number of players would be cool, but the rest of it was very average at best.

I agree with most of what you guys are saying, and I'm really hoping that they address most of the complaints in the final version.

I just think it is just a bit unfair to compare a game of this magnitude to something like COD4, Halo or whatever other shooters that have come out. Keep in mind that In COD4 the maps are smaller, there are no vehicles, and there's not as much stuff going on all around you. A game like this with COD4 graphics would be pretty sweet, but It might not be possible this generation. I seriously think that the graphics are not that bad and I had lots of fun in the demo, which is what matters to me. I applaud the effort that Kaos has taken, as well as their interest on improving the game according to the feedback they've gotten.

You're right, it is unfair to compare it to Call of Duty 4. Totally different game.

It's not unfair to compare it to Battlefield 2 or Warhawk, however, and IMO it is not close to that. It's really not terrible, though, and if you only have a 360 and want a game like this it's worth checking out I guess.

I tried this demo and did not like it. The graphics look worse than Battlefield 1942, which came out in 2002. The weapon aiming is terrible. The environments are barren so foot soldiers are sitting ducks for aircraft and tanks.

I have high hopes for Battlefield: Bad Company, which comes out later this year...

I just saw two videos of two of the maps. They are called Solarfarm and the other one
Roundabout. They both look good but Solarfarm looks pretty good.

http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/823/823999/vids_1.html

The two at the bottom.

played a whole lot more the last couple of games. the MOST teamwork based game ever. awesome game

I just saw a battlefield 2 game for the 360. It was a greatest hit so it is pretty cheap. If anyone has played this game, how does it compare to Frontlines? Is like Frontlines or totally different?

looks(graphics wise)kinda the same. frontlines has more "stuff" to it.

played a whole lot more the last couple of games. the MOST teamwork based game ever. awesome game

We'll see about that. In the demo hardly anyone seems to be joining squads and thus communicating at all with each other. I'm hoping that's just because it's a demo, but we'll see. If people play it that way when it's 25 v 25 then it will just be chaos and not much fun at all for me.

We'll see about that. In the demo hardly anyone seems to be joining squads and thus communicating at all with each other. I'm hoping that's just because it's a demo, but we'll see. If people play it that way when it's 25 v 25 then it will just be chaos and not much fun at all for me.

yeah, i am not sure people understand how the squad works. even earlier in this thread someone mentioned lack of chat support.

also, i am getting "game no longer available" when i try to play. i hope they fix this problem with the regular servers. this has happened a bunch with the demo.

IGN review up now. They give it 7.6/10. I usually don't go for a lot of game <8.0 but I'm still going to rent it and check it out. I think everything will depend on whether people get this game and play it or not. If it has a large enough community it should be pretty good, but if it can do 25v25 and no one's on the game ever then it will be pointless. We'll see...

They point out a lot of stuff about the single player but not enough about the multiplayer. They also gave the sound a 7.5, but then again based in the single player.

I don't know whether 7.6/10 is good or bad because I usually don't read game reviews, but I'll get the game right after work.

IGN review up now. They give it 7.6/10. I usually don't go for a lot of game <8.0 but I'm still going to rent it and check it out. I think everything will depend on whether people get this game and play it or not. If it has a large enough community it should be pretty good, but if it can do 25v25 and no one's on the game ever then it will be pointless. We'll see...

Someone want to post it for those who are blocked?

Frontlines: Fuel of War Review
The bombshell of the spring season or a total misfire?
by Nate Ahearn

February 25, 2008 - I feel like I hear this all the time, but first-person shooters really are a dime a dozen these days, especially on Xbox 360 which is seen as the de facto "shooter console" in the eyes of many gamers. With so many similar products vying for the attention of the many Xbox devotees it certainly takes a special gaming experience to impress the masses. Call of Duty 4 was able to do it, BioShock certainly pulled it off, Halo 3 did it for a time and now it's Frontlines: Fuel of War trying to make its mark on Xbox 360 sales charts. It's a game rooted in present day headlines as the world is being torn apart by warring nations competing for the coveted oil that has been the bane of our existence here in reality for far too long. While the time frame for Fuel of War is set in the future, the issues that it tackles certainly hit home. Now the only question is if the gameplay can do the same.

Those who have played past Battlefield titles will feel right at home with Frontlines' core gameplay mechanic. Essentially the maps are riddled with predetermined capture points. As you steal them from the enemy you advance the frontline of the battle more and more until you eventually own the map. Some points require you to stand next to a satellite for a certain amount of time; others have you planting C4 to take down an enemy installation, but working through each of the missions never quite feels like an engrossing campaign. Instead, it feels too much like a series bot matches. Not to say that there isn't plenty of intense moments throughout the roughly 6-8 hour (three difficulty levels extend it a bit) set of missions, it just doesn't feel as natural as other games on the market.

The war that rages on throughout Frontlines is between the Western Coalition Army (United States and European Union) and the Red Star Alliance (Russia and China) with the bulk of the action happening throughout the Middle East. The cutscenes which bookend each mission are delivered from the perspective of an embedded journalist reporting on the war. While you don't have a defined squad with character names and specific personalities you still get to hear inspirational speeches and be a part of other moments of reasonably effective drama, but it never reaches the bar that has been set by others.

The real issue with the single-player gameplay isn't its storytelling, after all Frontlines isn't supposed to be a story-driven FPS, but instead the main problem is its lack of originality. If we had seen this game released a year ago we'd be singing a different tune as there are moments when you're repelling a massive enemy force across a monstrous battlefield that you can't help but define as "cool" but it doesn't separate itself enough from the shadow of the giants of our industry to cross the void from being a "good" to a "great" solo experience.

Luckily for Fuel of War the main attraction isn't its campaign. The real hook, the reason why there are going to be people playing Frontlines for quite some time, is its 50-player multiplayer. If you can manage to find 49 friends and have one hell of a connection at your disposal then there's the potential for one of the best experiences on Xbox Live. With planes, helicopters, tanks, and the myriad of drones and devices doing battle at one time on a few of the massive landscapes the action is undeniably fun and fast paced.

Frontlines also tacks on the ability to play a certain role for your team on top of the standard class selections of assault, special ops, and so on. You can be the guy who calls in air strikes to support the team or you can select to have command of EMP powers to disable enemy vehicles. Each role has three levels to it and each level has a different power. Play well and you'll be at your third level power in no time at all and that's when the strategic advantage of the leveling system really comes into view.

With all of the different roles, character classes, and vehicles that come together to make Frontlines it's a good thing that the control schemes for each are well crafted and fairly intuitive once you get the hang of things. The jets are easily the hardest to maneuver, but tanks and hummers are easy from the onset. Weapon selection is handled with a radial menu that only becomes a nuisance when you're carrying more than eight weapons which is a rare occurrence in single-player and it never happens online.

Though the multiplayer in Frontlines is clearly the star of the show it is not without a few flaws. First and foremost, there's only one game mode so you might tire of playing the same thing repeatedly. Then there's the fact that you can't run your own Xbox 360 as a dedicated server. Not a huge deal for most, but some will be disappointed. And while it's not exactly a flaw, it is worth noting the fact that you can't run your own 50 player Frontlines match, instead THQ will have its own set of dedicated servers to insure that things run as smoothly as possible.

As I've been saying throughout this review, the battles are massive in Frontlines. There's always a lot going on and there are several ways to approach different situations thanks to the list of weapons, vehicles and drones. All of this action does come at a pretty steep price, though. The visuals occasionally look flat out bad with draw in and texture pop in running rampant in a few scenes. Then there are the moments when the opposite is true; like when a rocket comes slamming into a stone barrier, shattering it and sending all of the debris right into your living room. The bottom line for the aesthetics of Frontlines is that they're the quintessential mixed bag (or as Jerry Seinfeld would say, it's a two-face).

The sound performs a bit better with nicely crafted themes and rock music that help to build the tension of a scene. And while the dialogue might not be of the highest quality, it's still effective nonetheless. It's clear that Kaos Studios was trying to go for the Hollywood-style high production values and they just barely come up short. Weapon effects perform as they should and deliver a good amount of punch where it's appropriate.


Closing Comments
Frontlines: Fuel of War is clearly deeply dependent on its gameplay to bring home the bacon. Its single-player performs well enough to get players to work their way through for the achievement points it’s the multiplayer that will hook some FPS fanatics. If you can forget about the fact that you’ve been playing this style game for years with the Battlefield franchise then Frontlines will hook you for some time with its gargantuan battles, but for most Fuel of War will likely be too generic to truly sink their teeth into.


7.5 Presentation
The tone of the campaign is conveyed well through the menu system and overall design of the user interface.

6.0 Graphics
Serious texture pop in and draw in on outdoor landscapes really hurt the overall look. Moments of cool destructibility bring it back up.

7.5 Sound
Respectable dialogue goes well with the music. It’s reaching for high production values but falls just short.

8.0 Gameplay
Single-player doesn’t quite live up to the intensity of the huge 50 player battles on Xbox Live.

7.5 Lasting Appeal
The single-player game is decent and short but the solid offering of maps and good online support will have some playing for quite awhile.

7.6
Good OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)



I believe this is all of it

Thanks.

For what is worth, at another forum someone posted links about numerous reviews about the game. Out of those reviews, this is the lowest score that the game has gotten. The other scores have been above 80% or 4/5. Now since I dont usually read reviews, I don't really know how credible these reviews are.

that's in the ballpark of my prediction. I thought a 7.9 and the review gives no credit to the outstanding sound effects and explosions this game has

I'll rent it as soon as I can. I have a love\hate relationship with the demo.

I LOVE the size of it and how you can go pretty much anywhere. The destructibility and the sound is wonderful. It also requires more teamwork since you have to focus on a larger battlefield strategy to actually win versus run and gun.

I HATE the somewhat limp graphic design, animation and a complete lack of connection to the character or the "weight" of the gun. By the weight, I mean that with something like COD4, you have a sense of the weight of your character and a sense of actually holding a virtual weapon in your hand. In Frontline, it feels haphazard, secondary and not as addictive as COD4.

The pitfall would be comparing this to COD4 since they are two different games. Consider me stuck in that pitfall.

The pitfall would be comparing this to COD4 since they are two different games. Consider me stuck in that pitfall.


Like it or not, COD 4 is the new benchmark for military games of any type. It is just so fun and well made that even a game that is totally different is going to draw comparisons simply because it is so good. After all, why play anything else? You have to look past the shortcomings of this game and focus on what it gives you: tons of vehicles and tons of people online. That's it. It will drive you crazy to make the comparisons, but that's what competition does. It drives up the quality of the games and as consumers we should be very pleased for that

I think the problem is not that FFOW falls short compared to CoD4 but it falls short compared to a lot of games, including games in its subgenre like Warhawk and Battlefield 2/2142.

I like CoD4 a lot but its not the be-all end-all. Is it even okay to say that on the internets nowadays?

COD4 doesn't have vehicles which are a huge part of this game, so I wouldn't compare them. Also COD4 sp is on rails while this game is more open. I'll at least rent it.

I like CoD4 a lot but its not the be-all end-all. Is it even okay to say that on the internets nowadays?

<---hisses at you

I played for a bit last night in a large game. I was really impressed overall with a few exceptions. It seemed really easy to get spawn camped for one, and the graphics are certainly uneven.

If Rainbow Six was not about to take up all of my online time I would buy this. Bad timing IMHO.

I like CoD4 a lot but its not the be-all end-all. Is it even okay to say that on the internets nowadays?

**bites him on the leg**

Wait for Rainbow Six 2. It will be out in a few weeks.

Got the full game today, brought it home for some sweet 50-player MP and.....XBOX LIVE IS DOWN! Dang...

really wanna pick this up... trying to free up some cash, still playing the demo.


are the kaos servers locked to full version only now? demo shows 0/32 on all the servers, but plenty of ppl are playing.

picked it up and it is awesome. it's the closest thing to warhawk on the 360.
good game!

I got the game, but haven't been able to play 25 vs. 25. The limit is always 32 players. How are you guys playing 50 player matches? A map like Solarfarm definitely needs the number. I was playing it and I just saw a few choppers and airplanes but I barely saw movement on the ground.

yeah that's weird. There is 1 50-person kaos server but all the rest are 32 right now. They were hyping 50-player MP on their dedicated servers but it doesn't seem to be a reality.

When I try doing a custom search, the max number of players is 32. It also says 32 players in the back of the box. Will they update the servers to handle 50 players or something?

Even though I couldn't joint any 50 player matches, I had a blast. I really liked using the anti-air vehicles. Those are very powerful and very effective. As I expected, Solarfarm is one of my favorite maps. Definitely worth my 60 bucks.

So for those of you who have the full version, how do the graphics and gameplay compare to the demo in SP and SP? How is the SP campaign?

jason,
i didnt even try the sp. the mp demo is what hooked me. the graphics arent bad considering all that is going on.

me needs this game! I'm willing to bet there are only going to be a few servers that will host the 50 player games. Maybe they don't want to overload the system or something? I'm liking initial feedback though

I am guessing that 50 player servers need to be hosted on a dedicated machine. Most of the serverws on the list are probably 360 owners hosting and playing at the same time.

I am guessing that 50 player servers need to be hosted on a dedicated machine. Most of the serverws on the list are probably 360 owners hosting and playing at the same time.
nope. the 32 servers and the 50 servers are thq only.
i thiunk the most you can host is 16, but that might not be correct.

Are you saying that the 50 player servers are not using a dedicated machine(im not talking about a dedicated 360)? I think we are saying the same thing, you just took my post wrong.

I've read 4 reviews of this game so far. A score of 8 out of 10 appears to be the average with some higher and some right at 8. Looks like a buy!

There are many Kaos dedicated servers, but most are 32 players. I've only seen a few that are 50 but haven't been able to join them. 360 owners can only host up to 16 players. I read that they will make more servers available as they are filled.

On a map like Solarfarm you get to see a lot of action with 32 players, 50 would be better of course. You will barely see anyone on that map with 16 players because is so big.

I've read 4 reviews of this game so far. A score of 8 out of 10 appears to be the average with some higher and some right at 8. Looks like a buy!

whiskey,
where did you read these? i have only seen ign(which was a "good" review) and gameinformer(okay review).

Someone at the xbox forums posted a list of reviews of the game. I would post them here but I can't do it from my phone. You might want to take a look at the xbox forums.

picked up the full version last night... had to check out a few of the mp maps and then i jumped into single player....

for the most part the mp seems the same as in the demo, but for me the SP is better now, but that may be because i'm more used to this style of game or something.... but it feels more intact now... and i feel the aiming and stuff has been fixed.

cool thing about this game is the points you have to capture, even in COD4 there are these points, but the bad thing about COD is that the points are invisible... if you dont hit a certain point, the endless waves of bad guys coming out of the closets keep coming.... in frontlines you feel like you accomplish something when you cap a point and your guys are able to hold it, making it YOUR station/spawn/etc

game is definitely lacking some polish, but COD4 is so damn good it's hard to hold any game to that same standard TODAY, hopefully in the future other games will give IW a run for their money, but for now frontlines is definitely worth a purchase.... the sense of openness in the game is great, in cod4 i always feel claustrophobic almost, and i know i'm on this rail.... frontlines, not so much.


anyone check out the night map (invasion maybe) where one side holds all the points with AA stations, and the other side has many choppers and has to invade the points, mostly in the dark? very cool.

it's also not as immersive or cinematic as COD, in COD4 i felt like i was watching a movie, great story telling and cut scenes... in frontlines i really just wanted to blow something up, or shoot someone, so i almost felt like skipping some of the cut scenes.

whiskey,
where did you read these? i have only seen ign(which was a "good" review) and gameinformer(okay review).

umm, I googled frontlines: fuel of war xbox 360 review (exactly) and got 3 or 4 reviews, plus the one already pasted on this forum. I think one was team xbox, one was videogamer.com or something. Just do the google and you'll see em

Picked mine up yesterday and played a bit of SP and MP. Playing on Normal difficulty so far, going to Hardcore when that is complete. SP controls are definitely better compared to demo so no problem getting kills. AI seems ok, havent found any glaring issues with the enemy AI being too dumb, seemed pretty clued in to my presence. Your allies also seem ok, appear to be useful in outdoor firefights, not so much in close combat where they wait for you to take the lead.

Tried MP and got caught up in the intensity, a few hours had passed before I knew it! Only able to get into unranked matches though. Played on Oil Field, SolarFarm and Roundabout. Plays just like the demo so if you enjoyed that its more of the same.

I will say graphically the game is ok, nothing spectacular like Gears but I didnt find anything to really complain about. The colour palatte seems a bit drap, maybe to better portray a war-torn environment. The vehicles however I think are really well done and you get a good sense of satisfaction when you take out a tank or helicopter. Cant complain about the sound though, incredible sound from my surround system, pans through the rears and hard explosions, really gets you into the game.

Overall I think the game is great, not for the graphics but the gameplay. I dont normally play a lot of MP but the possibilities provided by the vehicles and drones and having to coordinate as a team are what makes this game more fun for me.

See you on the Frontlines :D

Try metacritic.com for a summary of the reviews.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/frontlinesfuelofwar

For me

Pros: great sound, very BF2 like in its gameplay, big maps, vehicles, ability to form squads, requires teamwork to succeed, classes are unique. All in all very fun. Graphics are ok but not great. Point capture system really focuses the fight in an area.

Cons: voice only in squads?? overabundance of spawn camping due to known spawn points and (sometimes) lack of team play (you can spawn on your squad leader), takes too long to get bonus abilities - oftentimes I'd get it only to have the round end 30 seconds later. Kaos servers are hit and miss. Most servers are 16 player which seems light for the map size.

I actually like the squad voice thing. I think it is better for the team work. What the game needs is for the squad leaders to be able to comminicate with each other. They said they would add this in the near future, but who knowns when. It would be hard to comminicate properly if 50 or even 32 people are talking at the same time.

If this feature is indeed added, the game will be more organized. Specific squads could be assigned to take over specific points and so forth.

Another thing they should add is the ability to talk to people within vehicles. So even if they are not in your squad, you can comminicate with them if you are in the same vehicle.

This game had that surprisingly fun and good-looking feel to it from a SP point of view, eventually this one will find its way to my house (probably along with TimeShift, another not-bad FPS). But with Vegas 2 and GTAIV around the corner?

Yeah...this one will have to wait.

I like the concept of it so I gave the SP demo a try. I could see this game being fun but the controls were very sloppy. I wasn't really planning on touching it. Then Major Nelson had them in his podcast talking about the MP demo so I gave that a try. They tightened up the controls from what I could tell. I didn't like the street map but the oil field map is a lot of fun. I am still on the fence about this one. I will give it a rent before I buy it.

I played the multiplayer demo.

It played and sounded like an arcade game from 1989.

I thought it was terrible and will not be buying it.

I have two three friends from Xbox Live who bought it and totally regret it and are going to be trading it in ASAP.

If you enjoy it, that is great for you, but is too last-gen for me. If it were an original Xbox first gen title it "might" be OK, but no better.

To each his own.

So for those of you who have the full version, how do the graphics and gameplay compare to the demo in SP and SP? How is the SP campaign?


I played level one and two of the SP last night. Other than seeming like the levels are a tad short it was pretty good. I like the way the gun goes flying when you shoot someone and if you hit them in the head their helmet goes flying. Graphics seem better than MP but not by any large amout. Very little tearing here or there.

The best part is that you have many ways to move through the levels and many ways to complete objectives. In addition all the toys from MP are there. I ran out of rockets on the second level so I went looking around and found the remote control-car. Drove it under the tank that was impeding my progress and blew it up.

I think its going to be over too quickly to justify $60 (Only on level two but that only took 2 hours, perhaps the later ones take longer?) but considering online centric games like Shadowrun and Unreal shipped with training-bot matches only and Warhawk shipped with nothing its a welcome surprise that its a real game and not a bad one at that.

They need to patch the chat and soon. As mentioned earlier you cannot even talk to the guy who hops in the vehicle with you to help if he is not in your squad. I understand that having 32 players might be too much but there needs to be a change.

At the very least they need proximity chat. You need to be able to talk to guys near you. In addition to that they should break the battlefield up into zones of communication. If your squad is trying to hold off the enemy in an area you should be able to at least in theat area of the map call for backup.

I played level one and two of the SP last night. Other than seeming like the levels are a tad short it was pretty good. I like the way the gun goes flying when you shoot someone and if you hit them in the head their helmet goes flying. Graphics seem better than MP but not by any large amout. Very little tearing here or there.

The best part is that you have many ways to move through the levels and many ways to complete objectives. In addition all the toys from MP are there. I ran out of rockets on the second level so I went looking around and found the remote control-car. Drove it under the tank that was impeding my progress and blew it up.

I think its going to be over too quickly to justify $60 (Only on level two but that only took 2 hours, perhaps the later ones take longer?) but considering online centric games like Shadowrun and Unreal shipped with training-bot matches only and Warhawk shipped with nothing its a welcome surprise that its a real game and not a bad one at that.

What difficulty are you playing on? The first 2 levels took me more than 2 hours but I was looking around a lot. Tell us what you think of the end of level 3, I thought it was very intense.

What difficulty are you playing on? The first 2 levels took me more than 2 hours but I was looking around a lot. Tell us what you think of the end of level 3, I thought it was very intense.

On the "normal" level. I too am looking around. The freedom is quite a nnice change form what I have played recently, much more GRAW like.

Oh man the third level...


REALLY well designed finale! I think I had to retake the HQ and Motorpool 3X each.

just downloaded the MP demo...

wondering if this is a buy or not.

It seems very much like a "realistic" type of answer to the PS3's Warhawk..

I enjoy COD4, and GRAW2.. so would this be a reasonable purchase for me?

just downloaded the MP demo...

wondering if this is a buy or not.

It seems very much like a "realistic" type of answer to the PS3's Warhawk..

I enjoy COD4, and GRAW2.. so would this be a reasonable purchase for me?

It goes a lot farther than CoD4. You have house to house combat like CoD4 but then its so huge you have street to street combat. With Tanks, Jeeps, Helicopters... it certainly changes the dynamic. I would not exspect anyone who enjoys CoD4 to not enjoy Frontlines unless you want foot combat only.

GRAW2 is a totally different game than either CoD4 of Frontlines.

Details of an upcoming patch:

http://status.kaosstudios.com/?cat=7

A few things requested by users have been implemented so its a good idea to get on their forums and give your feedback. http://community.kaosstudios.com/

wow, they patched a lot of holes. Now, if they drop it to 40 bucks I'll buy it!