Frontlines: Fuel of War

In both campaign and online multiplayer modes, the action takes place on large, free-to-roam maps, and players can tackle objectives in whatever order they choose. This liberty of choice is the game's shtick, as it were, designed to provide players the ability to develop their own strategies for each mission. But in practice, tactics are surprisingly unnecessary. Players will usually find just as much success rushing headlong toward whichever objective appears closest on the map. The only time any sort of strategizing really becomes attractive is when you come into possession of the game's futuristic flying drones, which can be great fun to pilot. They have the ability provide a bird's eye view of a battlefield, which is useful for identifying enemy troop locations. They also typically carry a heavy load of ammunition, making them surprisingly effective offensive tools. But the attack prowess of these machines can be a double-edged sword; they're sometimes so powerful that they can take an enemy objective all their own, which has the effect of making the campaign mode feel, at times, too easy.

In the end, Frontlines is a perfectly competent shooter with an interesting hook, but it simply doesn't stand apart in any significant way from the glut of big budget, high gloss first-person shooters currently lining store shelves. Older gamers with a taste for the genre will likely find it to be a reasonably satisfying romp, nothing more.