War Front: Turning Point explores an alternate World War II, one in which Hitler is assassinated in the early days. This new timeline includes more than just new leadership. Players will take command of experimental weapons, prototype vehicles and units rarely seen in strategy games in an attempt to alter or secure the historical outcome of World War II.Genre: Strategy
Publisher: CDV
Developer: Digital Reality
Release Date: TBA
I'm going to be honest here: I'm thoroughly confused with this one. According to the E3 presentation, War Front is an alternative reality WWII game where Hitler was assassinated and the generals instead focused on more experimental units; a tank with five turrets was given as an example. According to the little cheat sheet they gave me, this is a game set "…after what Churchill described as the beginning of the end: the Allied victory in North Africa." Also listed is that you'll be given a chance to kill Hitler. About the only thing in common with my notes and the reference title is that it's a WWII game and looks good. I know this was my last meeting at E3, but I wasn't that tired.
Well, let's go with the cheat sheet, shall we? This game is very much in the vein of Command & Conquer: get resources, build units, run over your buddy with 200 tanks, watch stuff blow up good. It's definitely a "Hollywood" game in that more emphasis is placed on how well the tank blows up than on how accurate the tank looks.
It looks like how well you do in early missions helps you out in later missions. Taking railroad stations or airfields will help you later on, which is an interesting idea; with most games in this genre, the only tie-in to later missions is the story piece.
The game looks pretty damn good, too. Dynamic lighting is going to play a huge part here, so be prepared for it to hurt your video card. The night missions are all handled with dynamic lighting, and the lighting will also affect the line-of-sight. The units will be very detailed with animated exhaust pipes, tank commanders waving their arms (guess where your framerates are going, folks). The terrain is deformable, and shots will make craters in the ground.
As you'd expect, there's a big multiplayer component in War Front, including a ladder system that bases wins/losses. What also looks pretty neat is that if your opponent disconnects in non-ladder games, the game puts an AI opponent in its place. There will also be a 10-player deathmatch piece. Oh, that's probably going to chug along nicely.
This is a classic RTS game: build and destroy. If you're a big fan of C&C:Generals, you'll be in line for this one.
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