Preview: Hands on with Frontlines: Fuel of War - Xbox 36026th March 2007Let us explain. Aside from choosing a soldier type there is also the option to choose a role as a ground support, counter measures, drone tech or air support unit. Now we haven't done the maths (we were kicked out of school), but we were told this equates to 24 different roles combinations across the two teams. As soon as we spotted that mysteriously helicopter, the one that blew us to bits, we eagerly fingered one of the Kaos reps and pointed at the helicopter on the screen to indicate that we wanted one of those NOW. He obliged by setting us up for our first experience as a drone tech. So, we chose our soldier type - an assault guy - and selected to be a Drone tech. This role and all other roles in the game have three levels. As you kill the bad guys and achieve objectives you're awarded points based on your performance. Once you reach a set level you unlock the next level and so on, until you have access to more powerful drones. So, eager to get on with the game and see just how well these drones performed, we immediately selected the recon helicopter, a drone which is capable of sniffing out any enemies and flagging them up on the map so your team-mates can close in on their position.  We immediately jumped into the first person view from the helicopter - it can also be driven from the third person viewpoint - and navigated the main street and side alleys in search for any enemies. There's still some tweaking to the controls needed, as it did occasionally feel clunky to control and didn't turn as smoothly as we would have liked, but it was an extremely effective tool in the battle, not to mention bloody good fun to play with as we zapped around flagging up enemy positions and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. A neat feature of the recon drone was the ability to disable the drone and blow it up, so by hovering by the feet of an enemy we were able to damage and occasionally kill any unsuspecting soldiers. After about half an hour of whizzing around the streets testing out our new toy we levelled up. Yeees! What have we got now? Well, the second level drone tech was even more fun than we'd bargained for. It's a small RC car packed with explosives, which speeds along the ground and has the ability to take out multiple opponents in one foul swoop. The car is so small that we were able to hide in side alleys and under debris on the streets and patiently wait for enemies to come running past. Then, we'd chase them down the street and blow them to bits just when they thought they had reached the safe position. We're grown adults and like to think that we can occasionally be mature, but this was the sort of fun that made us giggle to ourselves as we lent our chair backwards so we could watch the reaction of the Italian journalist who was completely baffled at how he could possibly have been blown up for the umpteenth time. On one occasion we found three enemies, all hiding behind a car plotting their next move. We squeezed the RC car in between them and detonated sending them flying in different directions. Woohoo! Now that's we're talking about! It's difficult to put into words the amount of fun and the scenarios you'll be able get yourself into with drones and that's with just two of them - there are 6 in total, three for each team. In fact, we were so enthusiastic about drones on the night that we ended up acting like part of the KAOS team and telling other press bods how to use them Now, for the sake of getting the whole game experience we didn't actually reach level 3 drone tech, but we did see it. It's a helicopter drone that shoots missiles at your opponents! Get in there! Switching to the Western Coalition we had access to a different range of drones. We still had a recon flying device which acted in the same way as the helicopter, but also had ground based mortar drones that packed an extremely powerful punch and an assault drone with a chain gun attached allowing us to mow down multiple enemies in one smooth movement. The latter two drones move extremely slowly, but have devastating effects. Once again there were control issues that will need to be addressed, but even with the frustration of banging into walls and parked cars, it was clear to see that all of the drones on offer are going to bring a new level of excitement into the war arena.
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