The scale is huge, but so is the complexity.

The main issue I normally have with WW2 shooters is the repetition involved. I can barely even begin to imagine how many damn times I’ve fought in a virtual trench battle against the axis powers and all their might. Iron Front offers a slightly unusual take then, by giving you the choice of either a German or Russian single player campaign to go through. Being able to actually play from the side of the Germans is certainly a refreshing take on a genre that is often morally simplistic to the point of retardation, and the 1944 time frame means the axis powers are significantly weaker than in the heyday of the war. The mission variety itself is also engaging, with stealth and tactics coming into the fray far more than other WW2 shooters. It’s a shame the actual narratives aren’t especially emotive or engaging, however. It’s not helped by the writing or voice acting either, two elements that are rather lacking in Iron Front. You do have the option of playing through both campaigns in their native languages, a pleasant feature that certainly makes up for the awful English dubs, but this is still not going to be the most inspired representation of World War 2 you’ve come across.

Whilst the audio elements of Iron Front don’t immediately impress, it is certainly very competent visually. Being based on the ArmA 2 engine, Iron Front looks just as good as everyone’s favourite modern military simulator. Whilst the ArmA technology grants gorgeous visuals and epic scale maps that make for a decent first impression, it seems that developer Deep Silver have struggled with some of the technical elements of the engine. Glitches are everywhere, and they are a constant source of amazement as to how Iron Front managed to pass quality tests at all. It’s odd as well that even ArmA 2 doesn’t have this many glitches. My experiences with ArmA have always been somewhat rocky, but Iron Front is on a whole new level. Far from the odd audio and graphical bug, Iron Front outright froze my system on multiple occasions, demonstrating debilitating bugs that ruin the game’s immersion and force time-wasting system restarts regularly.

Iron Front covers the same timespan as the average school history lesson, and the narrative is about as interesting.

Once you get past these technical blemishes, the ArmA 2 engine continues as it usually does; being a bit of an acquired taste. The gameplay is certainly deep, and it offers an impressive level of variety. You can run and gun as would normally be expected, but the fact that you can often be felled with a single bullet means you’ll find it much safer to order your squad to aid you. You can also hop into various vehicles and aircraft should it take your fancy. All the vehicles and weapons are realistically modelled after their historical counterparts and you subsequently must adjust sights for different target distances and take bullet drop into consideration as you would on a real weapon. It all adds up to give a sense of realistic warfare, with various squads and tank units all vying for combat supremacy in huge environments. This simulation style realism comes with a price, however, as the controls are cumbersome at best. There is certainly a learning curve that can be satisfying, but some controls seem downright unnecessary. Going prone and crouching are some such controls that really don’t require three buttons. So many games can get away with one button for changing position, so why does Iron Front need so many? This is more a criticism with the ArmA 2 engine than Iron Front specifically, but it is easy to become frustrated by such superfluous design choices. Make no mistake; Iron Front is hardcore, often to a fault.

If you can get over such control issues, the experience can be quite rewarding. The single player missions and campaigns are lengthy and fairly varied, and the scale of the multiplayer battles is noteworthy indeed. There are a few issues with the netcode that seem to result in occasional lost connections and latency spikes when playing online, but it’s generally a well accomplished element of Iron Front. With servers supporting up to 64 players, and the ability for each of these players to purchase AI units that they can then command, the multiplayer offers a deep RTS element to its game mode that helps differentiate itself from other online shooters.

It’s a bit awkward when the most exciting thing about playing Iron Front is the fact that hasn’t frozen in at least ten minutes.

There’s plenty to like in Iron Front on paper, but in practice the game comes off as a little soulless. There are plenty of interesting takes on WW2, but the game is ultimately just a bit flat. Intriguing sections are liberally spaced throughout, but you often have a myriad of boring things to micromanage before you eventually get there. Granted, this is a simulator where a slow and methodical pace is the norm but, even in comparison to other military simulators, Iron Front can get pretty dull. Unlike ArmA 2 which passes the technology off with enough finesse to offer great immersion, Iron Front’s poor audio elements and myriad glitches prevent it from ever becoming truly engaging. There are plenty of military and WW2 enthusiasts who will find Iron Front’s level of detail exhilarating but, as a game, it can often be too frustrating to actually get to the good stuff. If you just want a realistic but enjoyable shooter, look elsewhere, but if you live and breath WW2 strategy, then this could be your cup of tea.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

In the upcoming tactical shooter, the German soldiers are equipped with aircrafts, vehicles and weapons that are realistic replications of historical arsenal from World War II. For example, the Wehrmacht goes into battles with the heavy tank Tiger II, also known as Königstiger.

This successor to the Tiger I is a heavy tank that combines the thick armor of the Tiger I with the sloped shape of the Panther tank and was equipped with a 8.8 cm Kampfwagenkanone 43 L/71. The German arsenal also includes the Panther tank, the medium tank Panzer IV and the warplane Junker JU 87, also known as Stuka.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is based on the engine of ARMA II Operation Arrowhead by Bohemia Interactive.

The game also featuresl multiplayer modes such as “Capture the Flag” or “Attack and Defense”.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is due to be released exclusively for the PC on May 25, 2012.

Deep Silver and X1 Software/AWAR today revealed parts of the Red Army’s arsenal in Iron Front – Liberation 1944.

Part of the asset collection is, for example, the Iosif Stalin 2 tank, an improved version of the Iosif Stalin. It was equipped with thick armor and a long 122 mm gun that was capable of defeating the German Tiger and Panther tanks.

Also parts of the Russian arsenal are, amongst others, the Soviet medium tank T-34, the Katyusha rocket launcher and the bomber aircraft Petlyakov Pe-2. More information about the equipment of the Wehrmacht will follow soon. “Iron Front – Liberation 1944” will be available exclusively for the PC from May 25, 2012.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is due to be released exclusively for the PC in May 2012.

“Iron Front – Liberation 1944” is based on the engine of ARMA II Operation Arrowhead by Bohemia Interactive. The story takes place in southern Poland during the Soviet Offensive in the summer of 1944. The player takes on the role of a Russian or German infantryman, using teamwork, tactical skill and authentic war machines to battle for victory. The German campaign focuses on slowing the advance of the Soviet troops, while the Soviet campaign is all about breaking through the enemy’s resistance. However, the player does not have to do all this on foot: Using their computers, tacticians will control tanks, including the famous German battle tank Panzerkampfwagen VI or “Königstiger” and the Russian Stalin tank JS2, or fighter planes such as the Focke Wulf 190 and dive bombers like the Stuka or the Petlyakov PE-2.

“Iron Front – Liberation 1944” is due to be released exclusively for the PC in May 2012.

New details on the multiplayer mode and the editor of Iron Front – Liberation 1944  have been revealed. The editor lets players create new battles and missions while the multiplayer mode offers various game modes such as free for all and cooperative matches.

The editor offers new battles, from small engagements to large scale combat. Players can use a big number of various buildings, military objects, destroyed vehicels, road signs and other things to design the missions.

The multiplayer mode of “Iron Front – Liberation 1944” contains various game types. Next to common multiplayer modes like “Capture the Flag” and “Deathmatch”, “Tanks Only” and “Blitzkrieg” offer a more specific multiplayer experience to gamers: “Tanks Only”, as seen from the name, is a team death match featuring tank units only. In “Blitzkrieg”, players fight for the control of certain spawn points. The mission can be set with various amounts of infantry, tanks, vehicles and aircrafts. One team defends, while the other teams does a fierce storm of the enemy’s strongpoints.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is due to be released exclusively for the PC in May 2012.

The video shows the aircrafts of the Wehrmacht during combat operations. Like all equipment and weaponry in “Iron Front – Liberation 1944”, the aircrafts are authentic and realistic replications of the original warplanes, such as the Focke Wulf Fw-190 or the Junkers Ju 87.

“Iron Front – Liberation 1944” is based on the engine of ARMA II Operation Arrowhead by Bohemia Interactive. The story takes place in southern Poland during the Soviet Offensive in the summer of 1944. The player takes on the role of a Russian or German infantryman, using teamwork, tactical skill and authentic war machines to battle for victory. The German campaign focuses on slowing the advance of the Soviet troops, while the Soviet campaign is all about breaking through the enemy’s resistance. However, the player does not have to do all this on foot: Using their computers, tacticians will control tanks, including the famous German battle tank Panzerkampfwagen VI or “Königstiger” and the Russian Stalin tank JS2, or fighter planes such as the Focke Wulf 190 and dive bombers like the Stuka or the Petlyakov PE-2.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is due to be released exclusively for the PC on 25th May 2012.

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is set in Southern Poland during the Soviet Offensive in the summer of that year, when the infantry and tank as well as aircraft units of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht engaged in fierce combat. It was the first time in history that the “Königstiger” tanks fought with the powerful JS2 soviet tanks.

For more on Iron Front – Liberation 1944 please click here

Details for Deep Silver and X1 Software’s upcoming WWII tactical shooter Iron Front: Liberation 1944 have come through via the game’s website. The game looks interesting, and though it may not seem to be the most imaginative game out there, it still sounds fun.

Here’s some info:

Iron Front – Liberation 1944 is set in Southern Poland during the Soviet Offensive in the summer of that year, when the infantry and tank as well as aircraft units of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht engaged in fierce combat. It was the first time in history that the “Königstiger” tanks fought with the powerful JS2 soviet tanks.

The player takes on the role of a Russian or German infantryman, using teamwork, tactical skill and authentic war machines to battle for victory. The German campaign focuses on slowing the advance of the Soviet troops, while the Soviet campaign is all about breaking through the enemy’s resistance. Each campaign features eight missions. However, the player does not have to do all this on foot: Using their computers, tacticians will control tanks, including the famous German battle tank Panzerkampfwagen VI or “Königstiger” and the Russian Stalin tank JS2, or fighter planes such as the Focke Wulf 190 and dive bombers like the Stuka or the Petlyakov PE-2.

Online is where the battle really heats up in Iron Front – Liberation 1944: Players can either complete missions cooperatively or compete with each other in special multiplayer modes such as “Capture the Flag” or “Attack and Defense”. The game also includes an extensive mission editor, enabling players to intuitively create their own missions and share them with their friends online, thus guaranteeing that there will never be a shortage of new missions.

The tactical first-person shooter Iron Front – Liberation 1944, based on the engine of ARMA II Operation Arrowhead by Bohemia Interactive, includes a German offline campaign, for the first time ever.

Iron Front: Liberation 1944 will release exclusively on the PC in 2012.