Frontlines MP Demo for PC - 3/11/08

Well, Mitch proved me wrong. I had thought that they weren't going to do a demo for PC (as I stated to Larva and Atomm last night), but it appears they are:

Mitch wrote:Many people have been asking and we're happy to announce that we will be releasing a PC multiplayer demo of Frontlines: Fuel of War on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 1pm EST.

This PC multiplayer demo will be based on the final version of the game and feature an all-new map "Invasion" in addition to the final "Oilfield" map.

We will be posting more information on how to get the demo as well as a list of fixes and changes that have been made since the last beta patch, as we get closer to the release of the demo.

Kaos Studios and THQ would also like to thank you for all of your time, effort, and enthusiasm during the Frontlines beta. As part of our preparation for the demo, we will be bringing the open beta servers offline on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 11pm EST.

Your participation during the beta has been extremely helpful and we again thank you for all your time and efforts.

The forums at http://community.kaosstudios.com will stay open in the meantime and we will post any updates about the demo there. We are planning a "Fight the Devs" beta event for Monday. Watch the forums for more info shortly.

Thanks and see you on the frontlines!

That's the good news. The bad news is that they are closing the beta on Monday.

The game will be released before the Demo comes out, but I don't know how much before.

So, what's the verdict? Is this a buy?

I want to say yes, but I'm still unsure. I'd honestly like to see how they have addressed some of the issues brought up in beta before I get it. The squad interface as it is, is pretty useless and that is probably my biggest complaint. The rest is just tweaking. That being said, they've been really, really amazing about listening to input from testers and incorporating changes. There was a solid group of people who consistently gave input and advice and the response from Kaos has been great, both in the forums, and in the changes to the beta over time. I would expect a revamped squad interface in the demo as well as many other changes/tweaks from the beta. Mitch has said he'll post a change list - I'll stick it up here when I see it.

My vote would be to wait and play the demo before buying.

I would agree. I have to say this game just hasn't done much for me in the fun category. I will try the beta and see if that has changed.

It was fun the other night, but the helo's gotta go......

Killing Larva with the RC's was a blast though..... :-)

The helos are relatively easy to take down - especially compared to BF2. All it takes is coordination between two players or hitting them with the EMP rocket - which they can't spoof with flares. The EMP brings them down to the ground and most pilots bail. If they don't you have a few seconds to take them out.

If you're patient, the choppers are easy to kill, especially if it's not an ace pilot flying it. You just gotta ring their alarm to get them to pop their counter-measures off early, then fire. They're MUCH easier to kill than in BF2 and I've done it with a single shot. Sometimes after a 1st miss the rocket will make a near 90-degree turn and hit them on the 2nd pass 😈 .

That was fun gaming with you guys last week. It was great to catch up on B.S. in comms. 🍻

I was just getting more =VF= members into it, and now they're shutting down the BETA Monday and not releasing the DEMO until March. 🙁 This is going to make it more difficult to get timely member-feedback prior to deciding whether to take the plunge or not. I assume the game is going to command around a $50 premium, which is no small investment for most gamers.