First-person shooters have always been selling like hot cakes in the gaming world. Especially if these games have any historical setting, such as a World War or other major conflict people know something about. Front Defense is a WW2 Wave Shooter with some nice effects, but very little story to it. The game can be downloaded from the Steam Store and Viveport.
Front Defense Feels Like a Generic Shooter
Even though we were quite excited about the World War II setting, Front Defense seems to advertise, things did not turn out as we expected. More specifically, the setting is done well, as it feels like you are literally shooting at soldiers on a WW2 battlefield. The weapons are also authentic- or close to it – and the environmental sounds as chaotic as one would expect. Users are thrown directly into the action, without any walkthrough or further explanation.
Unfortunately, this decision also hurts the appeal of the game itself. Players are expected to shoot down wave after wave of enemies. It is sad to see game designers choose such a prominent setting and then create a game type most people have played far too often in their lives already. Wave shooters are repetitive, bland, and boring. Moreover, they are anything but unique, and Front Defense is incapable of separating itself from the competition.
Users have a set roster of artillery they can use, which is the same throughout all of the game. For a room scale experience, one would expect a bit of a change up in this regard, but that is not the case. Luckily, the surroundings are genuine, and planes will continue to drop bombs throughout the waves of soldiers you are attempting to shoot down in quick succession. Based on dramatic effect alone, the game is definitely at the top of its class. However, with the rest of the game being so borderline boring, even the setting starts to look and feel the same after a while.
With only three ‘stages’ to play, Front Defense is not the longest game either. It does not appear there is any multiplayer option to choose from, although it is doubtful it would do a wave shooter any good. For a game so heavily promoted by HTC, we expected a lot more. Unfortunately, the great visuals and effects and mixed with dreadful gameplay, resulting in an experience most people won’t enjoy all that long.
