Faces of War - Hands On Preview

Originally planned for a release in Spring 2006, Ubisoft confirmed back in April that the World War II RTS Faces of War would be delayed until this Autumn. Several months on and the game, developed by Ukrainian outfit, BestWay, is nearing its revised release of early September. But in the six months between the provisional and revised release dates, how is the game shaping up?

Faces of War isn't the first time that BestWay has created a WWII title; back in 2004, the studio produced Soldier: Heroes of WWII (published in the UK by Codemasters). Described as being at times the 'offspring of Commandos and Cannon Fodder', Soldier proved to have frustrating gameplay that inevitably led to some gamers pressing the Quit button before they should have - so is this 'sequel' building to surpass its predecessor?

Featuring three campaigns (Allies, Soviet, and Germans) set between May 1944 and April 1945, Faces of War covers some of the most important battles in the closing months of the war. including the D-Day landings at Omaha through to the onslaught in central Berlin. Around twenty missions are available in the solo game overall, together with a number of training missions to get gamers up to speed with the features that Faces of War has to offer. As you'd expect, each mission in a campaign occurs chronologically, aside from the D-Day landings in the Allied campaign. For some reason, players will experience the events of June 6th 1944 after battling through encounters during December 1944. Additionally, gameplay is offered in two distinct 'modes', an Arcade mode that will suit most gamers, and a Tactics mode, which increases the challenge by placing an even greater emphasis on strategies. That said, perhaps the developers are going a bit too far when they describe the Tactics mode as taking gamers to the "...verge of insanity...". By adding such a choice, no doubt it's hoped that Faces of War will appeal not only to mainstream RTS fans, but perhaps some of the more hardcore armchair generals too.

Veterans of BestWay's Soldier will no doubt recognise many of the features implemented in Faces of War. Like its predecessor, Faces of War has a direct control mechanic, which allows players to take (by sheer coincidence) direct control over the commander of the squad. This means that gamers can move them around the battlefield and shoot at enemies with a keyboard/mouse combination. The control system for the direct control mode does seem to ensure that the commander can either move or shoot on purpose, which may disappoint some, but at least it means that it's unlikely to boil the gameplay down to a 'one man army' experience. The option to access direct control does however mean that setting up flanking tactics can be achieved more efficiently.

Squad-based controls of course make it into Faces of War, though there's much more to the gameplay than moving a group of soldiers and targeting an enemy for them to kill. Ordering sniper shots and bazooka attacks are just two options open to players as the soldiers, for example US Rangers, break free from any specific character class. Focusing the gameplay on objective-based missions, coupled with the lack of infinite resources to manage, means that Faces of War won't succumb to rushing tactics that have dogged RTS titles in the past. Like a lot of RTS games recently, there's a definite move in Faces of War towards putting the strategy back into real-time strategy.

Following what seems to be something of a trend amongst RTS titles at the moment, Faces of War doesn't feature micro-management of resources - at least not in the traditional sense. Depending on the mission faced by players, several squads of six soldiers, or vehicles, can fall under their command. Additional AI-controlled soldiers also fight on the battlefields of Europe, and can then be called into the gamer's control if (or more likely, when) their squad members die. This call for reinforcements is the only way to increase player-controlled unit strength, so once they're gone, it's mission failed. Though structure building isn't a feature in Faces of War, there is still a great deal of micro-management in other areas. Every soldier and unit under the control of the player has its own inventory where resources including ammo and health can be added or dropped individually, something rarely seen in RTS gameplay. Extra ammo and weapons can all be changed and replenished from ammo dumps and picking up the fallen equipment from dead, removing another resource creating structure from the gameplay. Re-supplying both fuel and ammo to tanks and artillery form another aspect of Faces of War's micro-management, though for the most part these elements are kept to a minimum, allowing players to focus on completing the mission objectives.

Strong AI is one feature that has been played heavily in every press release made about Faces of War, with enemies and computer-controlled allies alike capable of flanking formations. Making good use of cover is also something that AI try to do, including jumping away from grenades, though there are times when they seem to ignore incoming danger (like rocket propelled grenades coming right for them). Despite this emphasis on AI, which does mean that soldiers will try and take cover or drop to the ground when coming under suppression fire, players will be able to continue ordering them into certain death situations; it's not just a matter of telling them the location of the objective and then watching the battle unfold.

Despite the visuals of Faces of War featuring physics based destruction and a range of terms and technologies such as blooming, bump-mapping, and masked specular lighting, the game is looking pretty much how you'd expect an RTS title to look in 2006. The animation of the soldiers, although choppy at times during the preview, has some neat touches especially when it comes to seeing them fly through the air when a blast wave from an explosion hits. There are also times when exploding vehicles suffer from a split second delay or two. One area of possible weakness for Faces of War is the atmosphere of the battlefield, which seem to lack any sense of dramatic tension, even in the midst of battle. Even the D-Day beach landings, something that we're sure you'd agree would be quite a tense experience, don't stand out from previous missions. In that respect, Faces of War may be in danger of failing to stand out from the crowd, though it may not be too late. Context-triggered music, something that failed to materialise in the preview build, would definitely help to create an atmosphere that's so far missing. Let's hope that BestWay have implemented such additions in the time between the release of the preview, and the final retail version.

Away from the Campaigns, Faces of War is being developed with a full raft of multiplayer modes that will offer a large number of options for players, including Co-operative play for between two and four gamers, and solo/multiplayer gametypes. Recognisable gametypes such as Deathmatch and King of the Hill are joined by the likes of more 'unique' options such as Chicken Hunt - where the object is to collect as many chickens as possible... Most of the multiplayer gametypes are open for up to sixteen players, and are split into a number of rounds of up to thirty minutes in length.

One of the key hurdles for Faces of War and Ubisoft is the revised release date of September 15th, only two weeks before rivals THQ launch their own WWII RTS - Company of Heroes. Set to become one of the key PC titles in 2006, Company of Heroes is a mammoth competitor for Faces of War to overcome. That said, Ubisoft does have a fourteen-day head start in order to get Faces of War off to a solid start before the CoH juggernaut arrives. It really isn't an over-statement to describe the task as daunting...