WWII themed games with a focus on realism are a little scarce in the last few years, as most shooters tend to embrace either the futuristic or modern environments. Enemy Front is one of those few games released recently that tries to show the dark side of war, as it places a huge emphasis on realism.
Story
You play the role of an American journalist named Robert Hawkins that became a freedom fighter. During the game you will either face the enemies by yourself, or you will partner with a squad. Despite the fact that you play the role of a reporter, you hardly feel that you control a person concerned about the new, as most of the time you will be a one man army. Other than that the story is pale and uninteresting, since most of the time you will follow the mission objectives as guidance without paying any attention to other things.
Gameplay
You will play in various European locations during WWII, so you get to visit places like France, Italy and Poland, among many other places. The gameplay in itself relies on the normal FPS tactics, you can kill two foes with a single bullet, you can bounce grenades off walls or snipe enemies from afar. You have the liberty to explore the game world as you see fit, but unfortunately there are quite a lot of restrictions that make the game feel linear at times, which is a shame.
The gun play is very satisfying as you will get to wear two weapons at a time. You will definitely switch between them a lot, and you also have some grenades as well that can be used to create certain tactics. You can study each area and go with a stealth approach or, if you want, you can try to kill anything that moves. Being stealthy will actually make the game much easier, but due to some animation problem at times this method can’t be efficient.
There are numerous collectibles scattered on the battlefields, but these don’t offer a lot so you rarely feel rewarded in the game. The lack of a progression system can indeed be seen very fast unfortunately, and that severely affects the game’s value.
The only aspect of Enemy Front that is worthwhile from a gameplay standpoint remains the good gunplay that can feel quite satisfying at times, especially when you manage to kill multiple enemies in a row without taking damage. But even that can’t make you play for hours and hours, as the game will be boring in the end.
Graphics and sounds
The game doesn’t impress from a visual standpoint, even if it uses an enhanced version of Unreal Engine 3. However, there are some locations that look great, especially those from the countryside, or some towns, but other than that there’s nothing jaw dropping here. Moreover, there are numerous problems with low quality textures that make the game feel unfinished at times.
The interface however is very good, minimalistic yet with enough information regarding your health and your weapon’s current state. The soundtrack is quite good, and the weapon sounds are realistic, however the voice acting is terrible most of the time, with only a few great moments.
Conclusion
Enemy Front fails to deliver a great and believable war theme, but it can be good enough for people that don’t expect anything else than a linear shooter. The multiplayer might be worth it for a few hours if you are looking for some fun, so you should try it and see for yourself if you like what it has to offer.
