Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET Nearly half a decade after it was announced, Second Front just came out. The World War 2 tactical-turn-based-hex-a-scuffle was announced during a time when the competition was less fierce and the genre was somewhat stale. Things have since changed quite a bit, and the traditional wargaming genre has seen somewhat of a resurgence (alongside the whole strategy gaming genre), with new developers and publishers entering the scene, and some long-time presences strengthening their market positions. In this review, what’s asked of Second Front is that it delivers on its promise (and premise) of being an engaging digital reimagining of traditional cardboard hex-and-counters wargames. With me being a “new-age” wargamer- with cardboard cutouts long out of fashion even before my mom and dad had plans to conceive me- this is sure to be interesting. This one is going to be what I hope to be the first of three entries. This one goes over the basics of the game, the next will be assessing the campaign, and the last one will put the editor to the test.It’s a deceivingly traditional wargame, slapped with some digital lipstick and disguised as something new. It is a World War II turn-hex-based, 3D tactical game at the squad level, meaning that every unit you control is either a squad, a vehicle, a gun, a tank, and officers. TOP/BEST ADULT VIDEO GAMES IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

So far, so vanilla, right? But take a time to consider how many World War II games at the tactical level have come out in the last couple of years worth mentioning? Barely anything. We have Steel Division 2, a forceful entrance- to say the least- that can hardly be considered a true wargame; Valor & Victory is probably the game most similar to Second Front, but its below-average quality and boring traditional design are less than compelling; Close Combat: The Bloody First was a bloody disaster that shouldn’t be touched with a 6 feet pole. The Troop is alright but hardly scratches the complexity itch veterans’ wargames crave and in my opinion, its asking price is a bit steep for what content is available right now. The only good one was Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes and even that one was hanging perilously on the rope between tactical and operational levels, and most certainly wasn’t played at the squad level. Leave by wayside Wargame Design Studios’ efforts to revamp John Tiller’s Squad Battles and that’s that. Armored Brigade has an interesting 1943 mod that time-transports the game back to the titular year. Radio General is a compelling and novel experiment but it still doesn’t quite fit. Company of Heroes 3 Mediterranean endeavor is probably the biggest hurdle Second Front will face, not necessarily due to the difference in quality (because both Second Front and CoH 3 are fantastic)

German bunker defending the beaches of Normandy

But because going against the series that single-handed kept the real-time-strategy genre alive and the power of its brand name alone is a daunting task I don’t envy. The cartoony Bolt Action look has a purpose that doesn’t lean into budgetary reasons, at least according to what Jo Bader has confided to me. It so happens that every design decision was made in order to turn Second Front into an “easy to understand what the hell is going on” game, but never compromising on the conundrums of mid-20th century combat. If these graphics look too childish, don’t let them fool you. Behind this simple-looking game is a monster of a tactical wargame that goes all the way to (mostly) simulate every moving part of the battlefield (I’ll get to its limitations soon). Now, it’s not my job to sell you games, but it is to try and be fair to them. So, at first glance, the visuals alone might be enough to dispel some customers, and I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind not liking the art style. I personally prefer more gritty and realistic visuals. However (!), isn’t XCOM somewhat cartoonish? Yes, and it stands tall amongst its more realistic peers like Xenonauts or Gears Tactics. What about Field of Glory II and its big-headed units? Hell, I personally dislike FoGII graphics more than I do most games, but look further than the large craniums and you’ll find the most elaborate medieval wargame to date. Even Combat Mission graphics Call of Duty Vanguard UNLOCKED

Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

(especially the first games in the series) pale in comparison to Graviteam and even the top-down Close Combat games. Armoured Commander and Dwarf Fortress graphics consist of letters and numbers. Call of Duty brags about looking dirty and down to earth, and if you say that Call of Duty is a good game because of that I’ll fight you. Do I enjoy the graphics? Eh! Don’t hate them, but don’t love them either. They’re funny looking. If I had to wiggle my critical finger at them I would say that the wooden-puppet look of the soldiers is a bit unnerving and looks out of place with the rest of the assets. Much of the game looks plastic-y, and the awkward dimensions, details, and textures of their faces are a bit jarring. Just hide their eyes under the helmet and call it a day. [Insert: So, since I had some screenshots from playing the game prior to its open playtest and still have some screenshots I could prove to myself that my mind was sane that I wasn’t imagining things, and that the unit character models had indeed suffered some changes. I hope Jo Bader doesn’t get mad at me, but I think the units used to look a lot better than they currently do.] The combatants have a go at each other in turns, but not quite as you would expect it. You see, every turn is comprised of four distinct moments: an explicit “movement and fire”

Create your own battles in the scenario editor

A reaction fire phase; an advance phase that lets you move one more hex; and a recovery/melee phase when routed units have a chance to regain their composure and engage in melees. There’s a lot going on, and the computing AI doesn’t stress much about taking its sweet time to think its moves through and through. All and all, turns can take as long as several minutes to process, and in battles with a large number of units, this can end up being extremely taxing and time-consuming. The battles are, for the most part, just your average tactical turn-based World War II affair that you might be expecting. But there are a lot of small things that set Second Front apart from other, similar games, especially its more geriatric counterparts, Battle Academy and Battle Academy 2, that limit themselves to the move and fire turn structure. The several phases add a lot more options to movement to troop movement. I’m still not sure it’s the best kind of turn structure, and my reasoning behind that is the fact that the reaction fire phase happens prior to the advance phase, and enemies can’t fire in reaction to that advance phase, some plays felt a bit cheesy. Sure, you could argue that was me being smart and making proper use of the game mechanics, and I can see that, but it just doesn’t gel with me. Personally, I would like the possibility to skip firing during the reaction fire phase and having my units fire after the last advance phase, but this is probably just unnecessary nitpicking. Call of Duty World at War

Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

Second Front excels in the amount of detail it packs into every single unit and almost every single engagement (of course, it has its downsides too, but more on that down low). Units can sprint, walk and traverse the terrain while prone. Tanks and vehicles have the possibility to stop before firing (of course, augmenting your odds prior to shooting). In Second Front, players take command of infantry squads, weapon teams, and individual vehicles. To help players learn the game, there are 12 boot camp tutorial missions for infantry and another 8 for vehicles with a final tutorial mission to test what you have learned. There are also 48 individual historical scenarios divided into four groups of 12 which allow you to play as American vs. German, German vs. American, German vs. Russian, and Russian vs. German. As you play through scenarios, you can also unlock 5 campaigns. If that were not enough, you can even create your own battles by editing maps, scenarios, and even assembling your scenarios into a campaign. The game also includes the ability to access the Steam Workshop and download scenarios that other players have created and shared. The ability to create your own battles is quite extensive and impressive. As you use an editor to make a custom map, you can then set up units for both sides of the scenario. The game even limits you to the types of units available by date.

A German 88 defends Berlin against the Russians

The gameplay in Second Front is a lot of fun. There are no multiplayer games, so you are always playing against the computer AI which is actually fairly good. Each scenario is played in a series of turns made up of five phases. During the Move and Fire phase, the active side can move all of their units and fire their weapons. A unit’s accuracy is highest when it stays in its hex. It can still fire after moving, but the accuracy of its attack is decreased quite a bit. A unit can’t move after it has fired. Enemy units can fire during this phase if units move within their line of sight. The Enemy Fire phase comes next. Here enemy units that did not fire during the Move and Fire phase can now perform attacks. Next comes the Escape phase where units that were broken units attempt to move to safety. This is handled automatically by the game for both sides. During the Advance phase, the active player can move their infantry units one space, even into an adjacent enemy occupied hex. All infantry can do this even if they fired and/or moved previously. In the Melee phase, close combat takes place between opposing units in the same hex. This also takes place automatically. Once the player completes their turn, then the AI takes their turn with the same phases except that now the AI is moving and firing while the player only takes control during the Enemy Fire phase. Finally, during the Recovery phase, broken units attempt to rally and malfunctioning weapons are attempted to be repaired. Call Of Juarez Gunslinger

Second Front Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

Second Front provides players with a lot of options when it comes to movement. Infantry has 4 movement points per turn when they walk. If they choose to run, they get two additional movement points. However, a running unit suffers from exhaustion. They do not fire or fight in melee combat as well and they cannot run two turns in a row. Infantry can also choose to crawl and move only into an adjacent hex. The advantage of this is that they are harder for the enemy to hit and if they move within cover while concealed, they may retain their concealment status which further reduces the enemy’s ability to hit them. Vehicles also have two different movement options. They can move and stop at the end of their movement or choose to keep moving. If they choose to keep moving, they do not have to spend a movement point at the start of their next turn to start moving again. However, their weapon accuracy is penalized greater than if you stop. Some vehicles also allow you to button up the crew or leave them exposed. Buttoning up helps protect the crew from rifle and machine gun fire, but can affect weapon accuracy and reduce movement along roads.  Combat is well done in Second Front. When you decide to attack with a unit, hovering over an enemy unit will let you know your percentage chance of hitting and in the case of targeting a vehicle, the chance of doing damage if you hit it.

There are a number of factors that affect accuracy. Moving, being pinned, firing at long range, and firing at a target that is concealed or in cover all decrease your accuracy. On the other hand, firing on the same hex a second or third time, firing at range one or two, and attacking an infantry unit that is moving all increase your accuracy. If the units in the hex from which you are attacking have a machinegun of some type, you can have it fire with the rest of the squads or fire it independently. Mortars assigned to units are also fired by themselves. Both of these crew type weapons also have a change of reloading during an attack, allowing them to be used to attack again in the same turn. However, they also have a chance of malfunctioning. When attacking with vehicles, especially in the case of tanks, you may have several different weapons. In addition to the main gun which might be able to fire both armored piercing or high explosive rounds, the vehicle may also have more than one machine gun. You can fire them all at the same time at the same target hex to increase the chance of a hit or you can fire them individually.  Tanks also have turrets which can be traversed to attack enemies all around the vehicle without having to change the facing of the tank.

ADD ONS/PATCHES AND DLC’S: Second Front