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SAN FRANCISCO - At first look, THQ's Frontlines: Fuel of War seems like just another entrant in a recent string of military-themed shooter video games.
But a few tricks could set it apart enough to turn it into a sorely needed success for THQ, which struggled last year with lackluster reviews and poor sales.
The game is set in 2024, and a "peak oil" energy crisis has sparked a global war over resources with Russia and China in one corner and the United States and Europe in the other.
"We started researching it and we were blown away by how real these theories could be and how dependent our modern society is on that affordable, cheap oil," David Votypka, the game's design director, said in an interview.
The single-player portion of the game drops the player in a combat zone with a constantly updated list of missions. Where many games, like last year's hit Call of Duty 4, have players follow a set path, Frontlines chose an "open-world" model.
"Now the question isn't 'What did the designers want me to do here?' but 'What approach makes the most sense here?'," read one review on gaming news site 1Up.com.
For instance, a player tasked with taking an enemy compound could try to barge in with a tank, fly remote drones to blow up key fortifications, or simply mount an infantry assault.
"The combination of organic level design and a broad weapon set allows for unusually realistic and creative approaches to your mission objectives," 1Up said.
1Up and other reviewers also complained of ho-hum graphics and visual glitches, and some felt the open-world model didn't make up for a dull single-player experience. The game has a middling score of 74 on Metacritic, which rates video games.
Much of the negativity was due to early glitches in the online play, which is where Frontlines is trying to break new ground with battles that can include 50 players, far more than other popular Xbox 360 shooters like Halo 3.
Initially, jerky on-screen movement made the game all but unplayable, but Votypka said the problems have been fixed.
When running properly, reviewers have marveled at the epic scale and ability of players to drive off-road vehicles and tanks, and pilot jets and helicopters. Gamers can also choose specialised roles that give them have the ability to operate drones, repair vehicles or call in air strikes.
If that sounds like the PC game Battlefield 2, that's because THQ hired a team of developers who worked on that title, which was published by Electronic Arts in 2005.
Frontlines is the first game built from the ground up by what is now known as Kaos Studios. In a game industry version of rags-to-riches, Kaos's leaders got their start as amateurs creating a free add-on to transform EA's World War II shooter Battlefield 1942 into a modern game set in the Middle East.
THQ is banking that Frontlines is hitting the market at a time when most gamers are starting to tire of the games they got last holiday season.
There are signs that THQ could have a modest hit on its hands. Gamefly, which rents games via mail, said Frontlines was its second-most requested game last week. The game has also hit number four on the UK sales chart.
THQ Chief Executive Brian Farrell said last month that the company was counting on Frontlines to drive sales this quarter, but that it was still taking a "conservative approach financially" to the game.
"That being said, we're very, very proud of the quality and how it shines as a multiplayer game," Farrell said. "We think it has a tremendous hook - unlike its competition, it's not linear in script, it's very open-world, so it's a very different game."
Frontlines: Fuels of War launches today in New Zealand.
- REUTERS
