I am *still* waiting for a 'BF2 killer' and have been very disappointed with the pretenders to the throne - like ARMA2 and OFP2 - that have got us all excited only to be big fat let downs. So when I saw that STEAM was doing a special sale on Frontlines: Fuel of War - just £3.75 - I naturally jumped at the chance to try yet another contender knowing that at that price I had little to loose...

F:FoW is a funny little concept, and my first impressions on playing it were that it was a mix of CoD:MW's action and GRAW's futuristic weaponry. The action takes place in the 'near future' - which, because this is a slightly older title, is perversely the 'near past' now! In it you get the chance to use an interesting variety of technology advanced weapons in a worldwide struggle to grab dwindling resources.

To cut to the chase, it didn't take me long to recognize that this game was flawed and just why it had the very low price tag. Graphically I found it wallowed like a hippo on a tight-rope and was left with the impression that it was far too over ambitious for it's development teams ability. Even with my deft Nvidia 8800 GTS I struggled to gain a reasonable frame rate in the single player mode and some missions - where there was a lot going on - were like wading through treacle.

Above: I have to admit that some of the maps - like this small town map - were actually quite nice and certainly there was plenty of shooting action in the single player missions. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to try out these maps in multiplayer mode as - frankly - nobody seems to be bothering to play this game online!

Additionally - and unlike GRAW - you did feel that some of the 'future weapons' were a little hokey and the game became more of a sci-fi shooter than a battlefield simulation. In fact 'simulation' is not a word that should be associated with this game at all, and if I had to categorize it I would have to put it in a box as BF2142 and Enemy Territor: Quake Wars. Or even better, if Cooand & Conquer were made a FPS, this is probably what it would look like.

The plot was silly, the reliance on the 'old enemy' (Russia - or 'Red Star' as it is termed in the game) old hat and the voice talents diabolical. Frustratingly the AI was predictable and too tame for hard core gamers and the whole experience was flabby and unengaging.

Any good points?

Well, some of the weapon technologies were fun to use - particular the little remote control weapons. I liked the little helicopters that you could use to take out enemies on rooftops and the wheeled bomb that you could drive under enemy tanks! But these were very much the highlights in an otherwise insipid game.

Above: One of the little RC weapons that your character gets to control. These can be great fun and are one of the highlights of the game. There are a variety of types, from little tracked Gattling guns to armed UAVs - and I would like to see this concept used again in another game.

To be honest, I did get at least a couple of days enjoyment out of the game before I tired of it, mainly because it was just something different. But I would have been very aggrieved if I had been one of the people who had paid the full price for this game...

All in all, Frontlines: Fuel of War was exactly worth the £3.75 I paid for it but not a penny more. So I suppose you can say that it was value for money!

Milgeek's Score:

Here are a couple of small movies I took of some of the action in Frontlines: Fuel of War...

F:FoW Infantry and RC action

F:FoW Armour action