The FPS Well Is Drying Up

I spent some time today checking out some demos to the new batch of first person shooters with the required colon in the title, Conflict: Denied Ops, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Frontlines: Fuel of War. While its not really fair to review a game based fully on its demo, I do know that isn’t a chance in hell that I’ll review even two of these games.

With Conflict: Denied Ops I don’t even know where to begin, even the title is just plain awful. You play as two dudes that you couldn’t care less about, with generic sniper rifle and generic machine gun. The enemies just kind of run at you, and there are explosive barrels everywhere, it feels like 75% of the enemies hide behind propane tanks that are just sitting in the middle of a room. The demo ends with a helicopter crashing in the room you’re in that you didn’t even shoot down. Please just stay away from Conflict, I beg of you.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the 248th WWII shooter in video game history. Of course the developer has to be aware of this so they give it a twist, Nazis in New York. Throw in the nameless construction worker hero and you’ve got gold right? I could be wrong but I think Nazi soldiers didn’t crouch in the middle of an empty lot and not react when you ran up next to them shooting, but hey I’m no history buff. I don’t understand the idea of having AI shoot at you only when your back is turned, its as if you’re fighting a boo in a Mario game that wields a gun. The textures and the layout of the level in the demo were also pretty below average to at best average, it just doesn’t seem to be on par with the current generation of games. Personally I’m staying away, but if you want a dumb Nazi shooting sim I say go for it.

The winner of the bunch, although it wasn’t much compition, has to be Frontlines: Fuel of War. Frontlines is set in a modern setting that feels very much like a Call of Duty 4 Lite. The multiplayer demo is available on Xbox Live, and while its nothing great, its not terrible either. The controls don’t feel as tight as they probably should be in a shooter that is based on being fairly quick on the trigger. The full version is said to have 50 player matches, which would be an experience you really don’t get in console first person shooters. With that said I might check out Frontlines when it is released next week.