The “Der des Der” and its famous trench warfare come to life in what may well be the most worked title of the Americans of Petroglyph. At least, that’s on paper. The Great War: Western Front has so far only revealed itself through a small skirmish that has allowed us to see what we hope is only a tiny part of the game.
The Great War: Western Front has style and already has some interest.
This appetizer has a name, the Battle of Passchendaele, a historic event during which the Canadian army distinguished itself by capturing the German positions in record time. This military feat is just one example of the historic missions promised by the developers of The Great War: Western Front. Accuracy is important, as these key moments in the conflict have been re-enacted in a way that provides a scripted experience far different from what the rest of the title should look like. To give you a clearer idea, this first approach was more reminiscent of the first mission of a classic campaign as you might see in a Starcraft II Where Age of Empires IV. Passchendaele nevertheless remains an honest start to discover the workings of the game and especially its somewhat particular style for a RTS. Petroglyph managed to capture the very essence of First World War combat in a strategy game. Positional warfare and deadly assaults are at the heart of a gameplay where the infantry is little more than cannon fodder. If they are very strong in their defensive positions, the soldiers die very quickly outside, even if they are in large numbers. Storming an enemy stronghold, then, is all about seeing more than a thousand men running towards certain death in a battle as tragic as it is epic. The battles are large, but planning and executing this kind of massive attacks involves a choppy pace that The Great War: Western Front cleverly smooths out with support units.
The main allies of our troops were a handful of artillery as well as air support to provide reconnaissance, bombing and air supremacy. Tanks are also on the menu The Great War: Western Front, but not in the Passchendaele mission. We had to manage in the old fashioned way by using the various shelling capacities of the artillery to be able to advance our men in relative safety. The only limit to this strategy is ultimately the limit of command points in your possession. Equivalent to your economy, these funds allow, among other things, to call up new battalions in line with your army capacity (more than twenty in the preview), but also to use the special abilities of your support units. We have to say that all of these dovetail nicely together. At the same time, it does not fail to remind us of some titles of the same genre, mainly the series Wargaming ofEugen Systems and to a lesser extent the real-time battles of the saga Total War. The Great War: Western Front is therefore not lacking in interest, and it has also revealed some good ideas during this first test, such as the choice of rewards once certain objectives have been achieved. Petroglyph cannot, however, rest on its laurels, because it still has a lot of work to do to be up to the licenses mentioned above.
To stay focused only on this first draft, The Great War: Western Front lacks a bit of depth to make it addictive. The title, for example, only gave us two different types of soldiers, the classic infantry and the raiders. We’ll tell you that, but at the same time we can’t tell you much about these two. Blame it on an interface that lacks explanations, although we recognize that it does not only have flaws. The concepts of morality or simply the statistics of our units remain mysteries that prevent us from savoring all the mechanics of this RTS. maybe Petroglyph Willfully hides the potential of its game from us, but as it stands, The Great War: Western Front is a little too simple. It must be said that its promise has nothing to do with what we have been able to test. The battlefield should for example be much more malleable than the mission of Passchendaele, with in particular the possibility of placing the trenches and other machine guns yourself. In the same way, the title proclaims loud and clear a gameplay different between German and Allied forces. This subtlety, we can only anticipate for the moment like a lot of other things. It is better to do so that said, because these prospects could inflate the interest of the title or failing to fill its gaps. What we can say, however, is that The Great War not a super pretty game overall. Is it important for a strategy game and as part of a previewnot sure, but we let you be the judge.
Our first impressions: Could do better!
The Great War: Western Front has style and already a certain interest, but this first contact does not seem to go to the bottom of things. the gameplay lacks too much thickness to rave about, but if we project ourselves into the future of the title, then perhaps we will revise our judgment. It’s been a lot of expectations, but the promises of the American studio make you want to believe it.
