War Front: Turning Point is an upcoming alternate reality World War II RTS from developer Digital Reality. The story takes place during World War II, but in a ‘what if’ situation. That situation is a fairly straightforward one: What if Adolf Hitler was assassinated early on in the War?
In this reality, the Allied forces and German army began to pursue highly technological and futuristic warfare units. War will be fought on both sides as you control three different hero units per side; for the Americans, one of the hero units is Colonel John Lynch. Hero units will gain experience and acquire new skills as they’re victorious in battles. Some skills Lynch will have are Ignite, which enhances his grenades for long-lasting damage; Quick Repair, which repairs nearby vehicles for 15 seconds; and Engineering, which increases armor and damage for any vehicle by 3. A single player demo was released a few days ago which samples the tutorial and two missions from the German and American campaigns. The 809 MB download can be found on any major downloading site.
Resources are required to build units and research technology, but unlike traditional RTS games resource gathering is not the focus. The two resources are power and other various resources and they differ per side. For example, Allied buildings don’t require power and once you build a supply stash, the trucks will automatically gather resources at the nearest mine. On the flip side, German buildings require power, but are cheap to produce. You can also use your infantry to gather additional things, such as oilrigs, to produce more resources, but a research skill is required beforehand.
Speaking of buildings, you’ve obviously got your standard headquarters, which acts as your main hub and also creates your engineering units which create your other buildings. Other buildings include radar stations, which make your mini-map more useful (it’s hard to read during bad weather — nice touch), barracks, vehicle bunkers and different defensive units like anti-aircraft and anti-tank turrets.
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, managing your military units is the focus of the game. Like traditional WWII military vehicles, you’ll have different tanks, infantry and aircraft. But in a twist, many of the units will be tweaked with different futuristic weaponry. New units like the Allied ice tank can freeze and shatter enemy units, and protective energy shields can provide cover for units. Russians have a heavy-duty drill vehicle that can burrow underground, and the Germans can create battle mechs or equip their infantry with jet packs.
Digital Reality created the game’s physics engine from scratch, and it really shines during combat. Buildings and tank parts will crumble apart after shell impacts and any unfortunate bodies nearby will be flung into the air. You’ll also see little shockwaves — complete with blurred aftershock — after explosions. During the day, you’ll see all the proper corresponding shadows from every smoking piece that flies into the air after explosions. In a neat addition, you can set your mouse pointer to illuminate during night missions, which is pretty handy to keep an eye on all your units without having to pierce your eyes against the darkness or turn up the brightness.
Even though plenty of WWII RTS games have been flooding the market for years, keep your eyes on War Front: Turning Point when it’s released on February 19. It’ll be bringing in small tweaks to enhance the RTS genre as well as plenty of new and innovative WWII units.
