It would most likely be filled to the brim with revenge seeking arctic creatures who'd give new meaning to the words "global warming". Upon consulting with a sales rep, it would be remade as a shooter in an inconvenient future and called Front lines:fuel of war.
The premise of kaos studio's first pixelated creation, is that M. King Hubbert's peak oil theory has finally come to pass. The intro explains how 2008 blackouts, avian flu and gas lines that would make airline delays seemed rushed, lead up to a major conflict between the United States and...Russia. Russia ? Seriously, it seems like everyone from Activision, (Call of Duty 4), and Ubisoft, (Endwar), has just gotten lazy and thrown in the red menace as though it were Dynasty Warriors franchise and thus free to populate our television screen till our eye's bleed.
To be fair, they do throw in the Chinese as part of a combined enemy force known as the "Red Star Alliance". So in addition to fighting Russia we now have to fight a 1.5 billion Chinese ? Where ever shall Wal-Mart get its low priced goods now. Afghanistan ?
The demo starts you off fighting in the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan. An opening cinematic See's your fellow soldier complaining of Bio-fuels falling short, bread lines and one hell of pep talk from your squad leader. Tasked with clearing a village of Red Star troops and eventually a few tanks.
The controls take some getting used to but after my second run with the demo, they feel just as natural as Halo3 or Call of Duty 4. In a Ghost Recon like setup, you can make use of up to eight weapons, all affected by realistic handling and accuracy. Sniper rifles and rocket launchers reign supreme if your targets are more then fifty feet away, as your assault rifles recoil causes several rounds to fall short or zip past enemies. Enemy AI makes great use of cover but certain actions are obviously scripted to happen (only if you kill enemy A will enemy B come rushing down the staircase like a ruskie to vodka drinking contest). One of the coolest features about Front lines fuel of war, is the ability to assume the command of what can only be described as exploding RC cars with a mix of battle bots on steroids. While only using the exploding RC car-like robots in the demo, they proved powerful enough to take down a TANK. Who says big things don't come in small packages.
With an interesting although by no means unique storyline, Frontelines has us second guessing our need to take our SUV's out for a joy ride, killing the ever dependable bad guys (Russians), and ushering in 2008 with a realistic shooter set to take hold of the spot in our gaming hearts once reserved for Ghost recon and battlefield modern combat.
Al3x
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