War Front: Turning Point Preview

War II has been done enough in gaming.  There I said it.  I said it and I mean it even if you see me write another preview/review for a WWII game.  But developers and publishers don’t seem to think so and obviously the public seems to agree.  With War Front the WWII RTS genre could be in for a wake up call not with some outlandish technology but with simple changes to the gameplay.  What would have happened if during WWII Hitler was assassinated early on during the war?  Instead of focusing on the diplomatic implications of this change War Front focuses on the technological change to how the war might have turned out. 

The biggest change for War Front is the inclusion of secret weapons that might have been or not have been used during WWII.  During the demo on display at E3 2005 the game was showing off rockets and jet propelled planes that I’ve never seen before in a WWII RTS game.  Another secret weapon used was something called an earthquake bomb that when dropped would sink into the ground and cause an earthquake.  To me it was amazing to watch these secret weapons tear throw the other army.  I was actually excited to be watching a WWII RTS game. 

The graphics in the game were outstanding with some incredible lighting effects.  The lighting techniques reminded me of something I would see in a FPS game instead of an RTS.  Hopefully the graphics won’t tax the system requirements too much.   Even the demo of the opening scene they showed off was incredible with all of the planes, tanks and other vehicles being incredibly detailed.  The demo of the cut scene even had a warning on it that the demo was done entirely with the in game graphics engine.  This wasn’t a CG movie but actual gameplay footage that could be recreated in a real game.  One of the programmers mentioned that he’s seen the footage probably over 100 times but still enjoys it and is proud of the graphics. 

Another part of the demo shown that impressed was switching to a first person perspective to fire a machine gun while inside a bunker.  The graphics looked amazing and the transition to the first person mode was seamless.  The developers also mentioned that they have tried to include as much modeling inside of the vehicles and buildings as possible.  For example if you zoom in close to an airplane flying you will be able to see the pilot inside of the plane.  Zooming in close to a building will show you the furniture inside.   

All of the depth and playability will still be included.  CDV knows RTS games so that shouldn’t come as a shock.  But with the unusual weapons and incredible graphics this could be big hit for CDV.  If this game is a hit then I’m sure two or three years from now we’ll still be talking about WWII games. 

For All E3 2005 Previews