Faces of War Review

Cannon Fodder. That was the game I couldn’t think of when previewing Faces of War all the way back in, err, September – finally, now I can sleep. Intentionally or not, Ubisoft’s new action strategy game has a lot more in common with Codemasters’ peerless Amiga classic than you would expect. On a superficial level, both games require you to lead a squad of soldiers through hostile territory with only your mouse-clicking skills to protect them, but the comparisons don’t end there. Each title was designed to force the player to react instinctively to new situations, rather than sit back and plot tactical victories, but where Cannon Fodder shredded the nerves and constantly engaged the battle-fatigued player, Faces of War instead becomes a frantic chore that is often just too much to bear.

It’s a shame, as the game showed so much potential to be an RTS medal winner that mixed the WWII bombast of Call of Duty with the strategic thrills of Total War. Sadly though, most of the niggles that popped up in the preview version have been ignored, leaving an unpolished, patchy final product that will most likely stand the test of time as well as Hitler’s deluded final battle plans (yes, I have seen Downfall). The saddest part is that, with only a few months more development time, some voice re-recording and thorough play testing, Faces of War could have been so much more. Instead it’s going to be left lagging (literally, if you play online) behind its critically acclaimed rival, Company of Heroes.

Developed by Best Way, the team behind the underrated Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, the game is focussed on the climactic battles of 1944-5, when the Nazi war machine was desperately defending its territory from both Allied and Soviet troops. As the missions progress, players will fight across France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary and Germany, all before the final rush for Berlin. There are three campaigns to complete, centred on the efforts of the Allied, Russian and even the German forces, but rather than controlling the whole battle, completing each mission relies on guiding individual squads through the war zones – supporting other troops, taking orders and seeking cover behind fragile bits of scenery.

While this sounds like the game design should immerse you more than normal in the complexities of real-time combat; the reality is very different. It’s actually very easy to feel detached while playing Faces of War, as you struggle desperately to survive while the battle wages on around you. To help, as the dull training missions painstakingly show you, all of your squad members’ actions are context sensitive – making it easy to clamber over obstructions, commandeer vehicles and suppress the enemy. Providing they are all still alive, each team member has their own unique skills (sniper, grenadier, machine gunner) that can be called on by clicking that action, meaning you are ready to take on any foe, from pistol-armed Nazi to scenery wrecking tanks. Each member can be individually moved using Direct Control, but switching from the mouse to the cursor keys mid-fight is really too much of a hassle, unless it’s absolutely necessary. You also get to drive your own heavy machines from time-to-time, and blowing the hell out of everything crossing your path is enormous fun.

From the debris-spraying explosions to the minute animations on each soldier, Faces of War’s visuals and physics are suitably impressive and, when a mission is in full swing and a city is crumbling around you, occasionally breathtaking. However, even on a pretty decent rig, the frame rate noticeably dips when too much action is going on, making it feel like you’re manoeuvring your men through a vat of treacle. This often seriously affects the gameplay and is further hampered by supposedly advanced team AI that often appears to completely disregard your requests, presumably as you don’t have specialist knowledge of military tactics. One particular gripe is with the reinforcements system. Why does the game tell you how to call in extra troops if your numbers are depleted, only for this to rarely, if ever, work in the battlefield? Countless times I’ve had to soldier on with only one man, while a platoon of potential allies fight away obliviously around me.

The audio also deserves a special, less-than-glowing, mention. At key moments, including the training missions, the stirring classical soundtrack and battle noises swell so loudly they completely drown out your orders, forcing you to read the lengthy on-screen instructions. In a game where death is often only one wrong click away, it’s disastrous not to be able to react quickly to each new challenge, and the distressingly linear levels are unforgiving if you wander off course. The best way to overcome these hurdles is to switch from the default Action mode to Tactics, which slows the pace and gives players chance to breathe, but that kind of misses the point. Plus, I almost forgot to mention the poor, often hilariously misjudged dialogue and voiceovers – the Germans have barely disguised Yankee accents – that certainly don’t help to draw you into the game. Still, I had to laugh at the eager young soldier, with no knowledge of innuendo, who declared: “I swear by the notches on my Garand that we’re the hottest guys in the American army!”

If you have the patience and good humour to get past all these irksome transgressions, Faces of War is sporadically a very entertaining game. Creeping up on the enemy for a good vantage point before an attack is suitably tense, and there is a genuine sense of satisfaction in completing the wide array of missions, which range from sneaking an engineer into an enemy camp to assassinating a general and storming a Nazi citadel (my personal favourite). As in my preview, special mention goes to the Omaha beach landing sequence (a bonus Allied level) that recreates the D-Day landings on a vast RTS scale, leaving most players pretty shell-shocked by the end. There is also a feature-packed, if laggy, online mode to explore too, with Deathmatch and King of the Hill modes offering the best introduction for nOObs like me. Sadly, I couldn’t find anyone playing the Chicken Hunt mode, where players fight to gather enough chickens to cook lunch with.

As war games go, Faces of War is more of a blundering, well meaning Private than a seasoned General. Faces of War could have blown away the competition had it spent a bit more time at boot camp, but as it stands it’s a definite missed opportunity.