'Frontline Commando 2' Review - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

'Frontline Commando 2' Review - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Following hot on the heels of their movie-licensed shooterRobocop, Glu Games has finally taken their follow-up toFrontline Commando and Frontline Commando: D-Day out of soft launch and into wide release. Robocop itself used many of the same mechanics as the Frontline Commandogames, so it's perhaps not that surprising that some of the new elements in Frontline Commando 2 echo certain parts of it. Luckily, one thing they didn't carry over, at least not completely, is the stamina meter, but even without that hanging over its head, Frontline Commando 2 is kind of a dud sequel, particularly when held against D-Day.

Before I really get into it, let's get it out of the way. Yes, this is a free-to-play game, and its design reflects that at almost every level. Ads will occasionally pop up between battles, upgrades have timers on them, there's a premium currency that can grease all kinds of wheels for a price, and the difficulty is stacked against you such that by a certain point in the game, you'll almost certainly need to grind. These are all aspects that in a perfect world would not be present in the game and the experience would be better for it. If free-to-play elements turn you off, you may want to do a little 360 and moonwalk out the door right now, because apart from lacking a stamina meter in its campaign mode, all the all-stars of that type of design are here.

Rather than placing you in any real war as its predecessors do, Frontline Commando 2puts you in the role of a mercenary who has been left for dead and is seeking revenge. Like the other games in the series, this is a third-person cover shooter, with no actual freedom of movement. The environments are distinctly more urban than the settings in the previous two games, and your main character isn't quite so identifiably part of the American military. One of the most obvious new aspects is that in this game, you have to build a squad to support you in combat. They're actually not entirely useless, and will often kill enemies on their own. They are, however, yet another money sink in a game that really didn't need more, since you have to train them up as you go along if you want to have a chance.

In total, the campaign spans just over 50 missions, a decent amount even if it is dwarfed by the mission counts in its frequently-updated predecessors. Each mission has you taking out a set number of targets, trying to check off sub-goals on the way for extra money. After a set number of missions, you'll face off against a boss, after which you'll get another piece of the story delivered via a cut scene. The missions themselves don't run more than a few minutes in length, making for a fairly short game if it were just a matter of smashing your way through. Naturally, that's not possible, since your weapons, health, and squad are rapidly outpaced by the escalating power level of the opposing forces.

Clearing missions earns you various rewards, but first and foremost is cash. You can use cash to upgrade your weapons, train your squad, and buy some of the new weapons. You're going to need to do all of these things to keep moving along in the missions, and in order to have enough cash to do so, you're probably going to have to go back to previously cleared missions and grind some out now and then. You'll also earn other rewards if you clear sub-goals, such as gold, items, and new squad members. The sub-goals are varied, having you to do things like rack up a certain number of headshots or destroy enemy transport vehicles, giving you something to do in each stage besides point and shoot mindlessly. Getting the new squad members is particularly important, since, like your weapons, at some point your earlier members are going to become virtually useless, no matter how much you upgrade them.