Gameplay, continued

Where the game really shines is in infantry combat. Each kill is very rewarding and objectives are not won easily. The player models can be hard to see and when you do, it can take a bit of channeling to figure out if the player is on your team or not. Player names only show up with your crosshair on them and at a close range. The number of times I have killed a teammate, is beyond count. It can be a bit frustrating spending a lot of time flanking the enemy only to be shot by a teammate on the other side of the map. It leaves me wishing for the icons over people’s heads like in Enemy Territory or Call of Duty.

Vehicle combat is just not my cup of tea. Ostfront does have an interesting way to do it, but I just do not like the limited field of view or the trapped feeling of being in cabin. I do not even like it in the Battlefield games, so maybe I am only happy with a gun in my hand and my feet on solid ground. Tank vs. tank battles are fun to watch especially when a misplaced round just bounces off the hull of the opposing tank. Unless you have a Panzer Faust or demo charges, you will spend your time hiding when a tank comes by. I am not a fan of artillery either. I like to face my enemy—not jump in a ditch and pray a shell misses me—but in some ways that is realism at its finest.

The game also features a practice mode that will give you a chance to learn the maps and understand the objectives offline. It is even good for testing out the weapons but you will not feel like you are playing vs. real people. I think a tutorial on each map might have improved the learning curve some, but knowing most gamers, they usually jump right into the server and ask questions later.