Joystiq hands-on: Frontlines: Fuel of War (360/PC/PS3)

At a recent San Francisco THQ-hosted event, I got some hands-on time with the Kaos Studios FPS, Frontlines: Fuel of War. The game, due this Fall, is based on the movement of the leading waves of troops; in multiplayer and single-player, moving the front line forward while securing checkpoints generally wins the battle.

This approach seems like an interesting direction, although it owes a lot to traditional checkpoint, squad-based FPS titles. Much of the gameplay still feels typical of the genre -- our map of choice was an oil refinery and its oh-so-many shades of brown -- but the controls seem responsive and fun. Frontlines: Fuel of War may not truly innovate -- at least this still-in-progress version didn't -- but it may still be a fun next step for team-based FPS games.

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While there's still time to update Frontline's graphic engine, the version I saw looked good, albeit typical of other 3D games. Some details, like smoke wafting up from fires and explosions, stood out among the browns and grays.

The game prides itself on options and customizations. The developers said that there would be 60 vehicle and weapon types; I quickly decided to hop in a tank instead of toil away on foot. 24 different character classes let players specify special abilities, like the option to pilot a remote drone or proficiency in counter-measure flares to block rocket attacks. I tried lugging a machine gun and stand that had to be positioned before ratcheting off quick, continuous shots. (A more mobile enemy killed me quickly.)

In these multiplayer matches, I was generally aware that we were trying to move the front line past the enemy by securing checkpoints, but I mostly let the other guys worry about that. Instead, I wandered off to climb smoke stack towers and admire the view. (Also, one of the developers tipped me off to it being a good sniping point.)

While I moved up the ladder slowly -- pretty much in-time with an actual ladder instead of a Prince of Persia-style videogame ladder -- and would have been an easy target on the climb, I made it to the top to survey the area. My character class let me take sniper shots from the great distance, but I also called in air strikes on enemy tanks. That was fun for a while, but I decided to exit with style, base-jumping off the tower.

After putting my virtual life in the hands of a developer who said this would work, I swung over the safety-rail and hit the jump key mid-air to open my parachute. I tumbled through the sky -- did my legs get hung up on the railing? -- but eventually evened out in the last seconds before gliding to the ground. I couldn't shoot from the 'chute, and that option isn't planned, but I thought that'd make a fun addition.

Although a detailed single-player campaign is being created, Frontlines emphasizes large, multiplayer battles. Remote game testers and Kaos employees joined us journalists in the skirmishes. Kaos could only commit to 32-player support in the shipping version, but that cap wasn't yet enabled; about 60 people fought in my game. Xbox 360 and PC versions are on the way, and cross-platform matches between the two are being investigated, but Kaos had no official plans there either.

The weapons, vehicles, and character classes aren't major genre innovations. Even the front-line concept may turn into a glorified checkpoint mechanism. But the in-progress version of Frontlines: Fuel of War held my interest; the game might mix all of these ideas together into an entertaining, evolutionary team FPS.