Enemy Front – why you should care

All gamers wanted during the heyday of WII shooters, was for the genre to jump to modern times. Now that we’ve had that in utter abundance, a new entry into the WWII genre doesn’t seem so bad. With Sniper Elite V2 recently dropping and heading up a possible resurgence of 1940’s shooters, you should keep an eye on Enemy Front.

Coming from the mind of Stuart Black (the man behind 2006’s incredibly underrated Black), Enemy Front is adamant on reinvigorating the shooting genre with the no-holds-barred attitude and emphasis on gun and bullet impact within the environment. Could this be the true spiritual successor to Black?

Like Black, the shooting will play an integral part of the game, and while that may sound obvious for an FPS, the focus is in the feeling and action of each weapon more so than ever before.

This philosophy extends into the way the game is played. The levels are scattered with explosive barrels, gas tanks, ammo crates and cars just waiting to be turned into fiery death traps. This may sound familiar, but it’s Stuart Black’s goal to make Enemy Front ‘s shooting fun and exciting, and give the player dynamic options in more open-ended scenarios, as opposed to being filtered down a small corridor.

To make this heart-pounding action look as it good as it plays, Enemy Front is currently running on the CryEngine 3, giving the game’s environments, character models and particle effects a gorgeous spark and adding a great visual experience to the game.

This means that the environments will be destructible and the AI unpredictable and varied, giving the player a different experience each time the game is played.

Another way Enemy Front focuses on gunplay is by offering three unique play styles that correspond to different types of shooters. You choose your style at the beginning of your game. Hope mode offers rechargeable health. Honor mode takes away rechargeable health but lets the player pick up and use health packs. Players also scavenge for health packs in Glory mode, which offers the purest cinematic experience by taking away your crosshairs and HUD. By letting gamers play the game the way they want, all you have to worry about is shooting the enemy.

While Enemy Front may initially look familiar, it’s a new take on a genre that’s deserved of another run around. Stuart Black will be eager to redeem his name after the lackluster Bodycount (which he stepped out of of during its development). Enemy Front is impressive so far, and is looking to have the spirit of Black behind its WWII exterior.

Enemy Front is set to release sometime in late 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. (Keeping fingers crossed).