Frontline: Assault Corps WW2’s per turn allowance helps it stand out
A per turn allowance makes this much different than most PG-likes.
Turn-based? Check. WW II? Check. A new game from Frontline? Exclamation point! Wish I could sing like Steven Tyler, “I’m back in the saddle again…” for Frontline: Assault Corps WW2.
There are really a few different approaches which need to be looked at when you start reviewing a game like this: 1. Pick a starting country, then play a few turns with each additional country/entity/civilization available in the game 2. Pick a starting country, then play a few turns… more likely in a Campaign… but then, staying all the way with the original country’s choice to the end; 3. Pick setting up a skirmish, giving you full control of how the game will be setup, but maybe not catching the mood/feel of the game itself; or 4. Choose Operation: High Castle, a free DLC, which is its own campaign. The idea is to play as the Americans, without any other country’s backup or support, which is very difficult.
Four Countries
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Having said that, I went for the American campaign originally, but not Operation: High Castle. I will do that later when I get used to the mechanics of regular campaign play. Then, I “accidentally” (←–air quotes) ended up switching over to the German campaign after a while… just for the halibut.
Frontline: Assault Corps WW2 has a different mechanic than most PG-likes. You get a few starting units and a budget. With this, you can buy whatever you can afford… which leads to its own interesting dilemma. You usually get a larger amount of cash when you start, but even then, not exorbitant. You can buy a few pieces to start then you’re left with ‘an allowance’ you receive every turn. Other games do have the ability to buy units, but generally at the beginning of the game. This one, you need to watch turn by turn to see if there’s something you want and can afford. You may start with 7000 points (dollars)… then your ‘allowance’ is only like 350 points per turn. The minimum infantry troop is $1000 alone. So, how long are you going to wait to either buy something or wait longer and buy something bigger and/or better.
The variables of Frontline: Assault Corps WW2 are in multitudes to say the least. Move here, get a good shot off, move ‘there’ however, and die. There are very fine lines that dictate Line of Sight… generally a hex one way or another. Then, take into account the FoW, and your enemies may be appearing out of thin air — especially if you put you Leader (which they call “Spotter”) or your sniper into a great position (marked on the map, in buildings, with a binoculars overlay)
Now, I’m going to end this so I can go try out both the skirmish mode and the Operation: High Castle. Remember I told you the latter was more difficult than normal, so I better have my peas lined up. [I’ll let you know later how those turned out].
EDIT: Okay, couldn’t wait on trying a Skirmish. As far as I got into it, I’d have to call it a tie. I’m definitely going to retry the exact same one… now that I know, at least some of the mistakes I made… but we met in the middle of kicking each other’s asses. The Skirmish is not only limited to the money involved, BUTT there’s a maximum count of units you can have (in the upper left corner). It boils down to this then: you not only have to watch your money… which you have plenty of start with in Skirmish, but you’re also limited to how many units you can have on the map at once.
This iteration of Frontline far surpasses anything they’ve done up to this point. No matter how or who you pick to go to war with, it’s just a freakin’ blast to play. Please stay tuned to this “Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel” for a review of their next game Frontline: Afrika Korps which (*cough, cough*) is an RTS!
Frontline: Assault Corps WW2’s per turn allowance helps it stand out
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Frontline: Assault Corps WWII is available now for PC
