14 DAY TRIAL // 
From Digital Reality comes War Front: Turning Point, a strategic simulator of combat situations commonly known in the gaming world as a Real Time Strategy (RTS). The game is set in a "post WW2" world placed in an alternate reality where Hitler is assassinated early in the conflict. This particular event is a milestone in the game's story as it leads to a successful occupation of Great Britain by the German forces and eventually a great clash between the winners of the war. Russia, Germany and the US engage in the cold war, a silent technological race for supremacy. The delicate balance of peace is brought to an end when the Americans decide to participate in the liberation of Britain. Sherman tanks level the ground where Stalin tanks once stood, only to be obliterated by the savage destruction wrought by the Katyusha mobile artillery. There are some loading screen pics that show strange robot-like man-handled machines that carry both missile launchers and machine guns. Pretty sci-fi for the setting but I haven't actually used them in the beta as they bear the mark of the German army. The open beta started on July 7th and it's designed to be a teaser as well as a stress test for the multiplayer online features.
Gameplay Full 3D graphics with a pretty impressive physical engine are the basis of the most attractive feature War Front has to offer: eye candy. Unfortunately, although you can stomp over trees as you hear them falling to the ground, you can't use vehicles to run infantry men over. It was quite amusing to see a tank running in circles around a man with a rifle. Other than that, it's always nice to see wheels flying, fire bursting out of vehicles as they explode and tanks becoming empty shells suitable only for the junkyard. Yes, they each explode in different ways, launching ripples through the air as they are hit by projectiles, shockwaves of molten metal and dust. Once you reach superior technological tiers you can get THE bomb. I've seen it in action and it's simply breathtaking as it can alone destroy buildings and troops over a large area. Check out the screenshots.
Russians and Americans are the factions showcased by the beta version and after seeing some loading screens it becomes apparent that there are more to be unlocked when the game hits retail. Hardly original, this setup is already more than ten years old, since Command and Conquer, the grandfather of all RTS implemented it for the first time. There are two types of resources that can be harvested, only to give a steady income of cash, all in a harvester-goes-to-the-refinery manner originated by the above mentioned title. I wouldn't say War Front is heavily dependant on macro economy as the exploitation of one resource spawn is more than enough to keep you alive. There are generic power plants, and radars available, war factories to create the bulk of your army and airports to host your bombers. Nothing new so far, not until we take a closer look at troop abilities. Imagine this: the Russian Komisar can shoot one of his allies for treason in order to get a damage boost for the rest of the squad. With the appropriate upgrade researched regular infantry could seize enemy buildings, radars can scan areas of the map from afar and eventually three kinds of paratroopers will be available for deployment.
The Russians have a thing for ice. In this parallel universe I could go as far as to suggest they developed the implosion bomb. With a tank that can freeze units in a large area and a massive frost bomb that can eradicate a fully developed base by itself, things are pretty straight forward. On the other hand, Americans love their explosions just the same. It is only a matter of preference, as you can use rocket launcher wielding infantry, artillery or bombardiers. Things will blow up pretty fast so be sure to tech to higher tiers, or at least raise your tanks in level and then strategically retreat them one by one until you have a large enough mass to attack. Did I mention your troops can gain levels? Of course they can. The more they destroy the more experience they gain, which in turn improves their hit points, regeneration rate, armor and damage. This is particularly important for hero units. Each faction has three of them, all infantry and unique, one at a time. With each level up, one character point is available to spend on one of their four skills. They're quite tough by themselves, but the main goal is to use them as support units since most of their skills are auras affecting large areas. As an added bonus, heroes can go inside friendly vehicles for extra protection. It is particularly useful to further improve, let's say, vehicle armor and regeneration rate when having a sizeable force. Bit by bit, these benefits stack up and you will find yourself having a powerful force at your disposal. There is a problem here as the starting base is easily defendable so the game isn't that fast paced. You require mass and tech in order to storm the base, along with some air support, heroes or even an ultimate weapon. In beta language, it's easy to camp the base while teching, defended only by some artillery and cannon structures. Therefore, a bit of premeditation is mandatory. You can't mass, use attack-move and simply win the game.
There are three difficulty settings for the AI, namely: easy, normal and hard. The computer only attacks when it is in a definitive advantage and that happens after a failed attack by the player or when the starting spot resources have been depleted. Pretty much, the computer has been taught to be a camper and this means most of the time you will have the time required to build up that perfect army setup you've been thinking about for days and just attack-move with it into total annihilation of the enemy. But in order to fully understand its potential you need to play on hard. Only now will the computer use aggressive tactics and puzzle you with its next move. That's a trademark of the game actually, because units move slowly and it takes a long time to reach the opponent's base. When you get attacked by tier 1 units, the computer already begins building their improved counterparts for tier 2. There are only two maps available as of now, one 1vs1 skirmish scenario called Sunken City and a multiplayer-only map designed for 2vs2.
Control is somewhat lacking in quality and I'm not talking about creating tactical groups, or arriving at the most recent event. Let me go into detail here. The keyboard shortcuts for attack-move and third person unit view are the same. It's quite disturbing to experience half a second of hardware lag as the perspective changes, only to realize you actually require the other command assigned to "T". This could be addressed by changing the keys; however it's too bad they have no custom keys implementation. War Front holds a replay generation feature, as well as replay playback, which has become a standard in nowadays RTS industry.
There is a choice between the classic third person view and the especially cool first person view. The later is particularly useful when you have a mean upgraded higher tier unit at your disposal as it is almost invincible and you don't have to worry about receiving too much punishment. Then again, it's always fun to go first person with a cannon defending your base, because only then can you see that ridiculously big crosshair and shoot at enemy tanks with improved precision. No music can do justice to the gore filled fields of battle, still the tempo accelerates as one slide into combat situations and it's quite catchy. When it comes to unit ambient, each reiteration of reality sounds professional and gives new depth to the whole experience. Immersion is not really a problem from this point of view.
System requirements are nowhere to be found and I can't help but notice a problem. Although I used a high end system for game testing, I still get hardware lags when switching from first person view to third person view. Sometimes even sound will lag for no apparent reason. Seeing that War Front is due to be released in less than two months, I wonder if Digital Reality will have enough time to address these issues.
Conclusion Overall, the beta feels promising; as the developers put it, War Front: Turning Point is true to the tradition of real time strategy games. Its next generation graphical engine will raise a few eyebrows, being the most important novelty factor presented by the game. Surely enough, the atmosphere will appeal to World War 2 nostalgics and the gameplay will hit Westwood fans first and foremost; so if everything goes well, the game will be on the shelves in September.
