Projects „Apherona“ – This is already a whole genre. Niche, not particularly demanded and very difficult to rise by anyone. Exactly a year ago, we met Marauder – a role -playing game with step -by -step battles. Then it seemed that the developers simply did not have a proper budget to bring their ideas to a new level of implementation. This happened to them before. Ugly picture, heap of software errors and pronounced roughness – distinctive features of almost any product from „Apherona“. But in the case of Marauder, we were most worried about the question of how the domestic Gamdev would get hold of large budgets and squeeze into the not the most stringent time scope of creating the game, imposed by the publisher. We secretly hoped in our souls that someday the authors would still have the opportunity to prove themselves in full. The current absurdity of Afghanistan is, alas, far from such a case.

Hello from the past

Making games about Afghanistan today is no longer a trend. Here EA With his new Medal of Honor wants to speak. But something tells us-the effect of even the first Modern Warfare will not happen. What after that to talk about domestic strategies about the ninth company and all that. Why did the creators of the Maraudter suddenly rushed to cultivate something on a long-plowed, exhausted, oversaturated with malignant pesticides.

„Front line. Afghanistan“ -Typical Wargam, who is not able to bring something new to the genre, but it cultivates all the old, for which games of this kind are not particularly respected by ordinary users. And the first in the list of „old sores“ is, of course, archaic graphics. Of course, lovers of particularly lousy wargers (sure that there are few such psychos) now they will safely object – they say, there is no schedule in such cases, the most important element was, there is and will be gameplay, as in the chess. May be. But only to observe even with restrained skepticism as a frightening emptiness extends around the quadrangular card, and not everyone will be able to shine over the horizon line in the line of the horizon. Personally, we barely restrained.

Picture in „Front lines“ terrible. The developers even lost their last branded ability to give gray entourage with mediocre textures a certain special magic charm. At Marauder, there were at least interesting locations, houses with children’s courtyards, fortifications, parked „nine“. Here – only snow -covered and not very mountains, a penny forest, a static sky and clumsy buildings. About the latter – a special conversation.

Apparently, when erecting buildings, models from „Apherona“ We decided to completely blow up like small children with cubes: “This is how we will have a house in the village, and now we will drain something here, and already gets a mosque, and if now we remove these three cubes and twist it here-then, lookka, the fence turned out!»Like elements of the external environment, all these houses, fences and needs affect the atmosphere in the most negative way. To believe at least for a short while, that the action takes place in that same Afghanistan, the camera needs to be lowered as down and put it somewhere at the eye level of the average fighter on the map. But from this moment the miscalculations of a different kind make themselves felt.

For a long time you saw how armored vehicles are a friend through each other? How infantrymen with a ducky animation fall on a terrible green substrate with rowing sticking out from everywhere, which for some reason is called the earth? And this picture of a crazy militarist artist calmly slows down on any computers. There are four processor cores, memory lots and top video cards? so what? „Front lines“ this will probably be few, she will ask for supplements.

Indignation about technical performance may completely repel from a normal person a desire to get acquainted with the game. But everything else here will be perceived much better, almost without disgust and wrinkled displeased grimace on the face. Another thing is that they will survive to such a state where it is no longer scary to get acquainted with the plot and missions, the most persistent and devoted to the genre. It is for them that the following paragraphs were written.

Small realism

The Aphereon in their work wanted to cover the entire period of CCCP participation in peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan – that is, from the end of the seventies and until the nineties. Moreover, the developers encroached on historical reliability. But with one important reservation – no one hundred percent follow -up, the place was found by numerous conventions.

Only the details of key military operations of those years are recreated – places of battles, tasks and so on. The authors are not shy even to boast of the preliminary research done. They argue that air photography data were used to compile cards, and for the sake of missions, many historical documents, tactical manuals and memoirs were shoveled.

With the tasks, we will still believe that the developers there looked at the archives. But here is a bluff with aerial photography … You yourself will understand everything when you download the first card hit. A set of primitive objects, the cannon meat set for their defense is optionally fog. If there was really about historical reliability, then all locations are catastrophically lacking additional small details. In order to prevent the player from bored constantly and at least try to imagine that he is involved in the production of a particular military operation. There is nothing here – everything is conditionally and superficial, as on a table with a map and models at the Commander -in -Chief of the Army.

If you want something more than one selective task, run the campaign. They give to play both for Soviet soldiers and for Mujahideen. At the same time, if there is a fracture mission for our troops, the game persistently asks to go for the “Reds”. And then after all, then, you yourself understand, is not a patriot.

The main difference between the raging of the whole campaign and the alternate launch of individual missions is the dependence of the conditions of each next battle on your dexterity, initiative and prudence demonstrated in the past. They substantiated their soldiers in vain under the bullets, squandered half of the accessible equipment and did not

use the advantages of the landscape to conduct the right war – come to terms with the fact that the next time it will be more difficult. Well, for example, armored personnel carriers will not be allowed to repair, new recruits will be given less, with ammunition it will be tight.

Campaign – for strong in spirit of hardcores. The classic defmatch here can also be offered to you. If you suddenly want to choose a gentle area for the battle, then the whole action begins to resemble a large -caliber brawl “wall to wall” with the participation of tanks and other combat vehicles. Tactics and strategies, coupled with realism, will be very few then, and meanwhile, their individual elements in the game are present.

The main attention here is paid, of course, the behavior of soldiers. They get tired quickly, are always afraid of all and require maximum attention to themselves. If somewhere nearby fell under the shelling of a friendly platoon of fighters, then other warriors will become more careful. And if suddenly numerical superiority is not on your side, then get ready for a mass panic.

IN „Afghanistan“ There is also a gradation of the levels of difficulties – and here again a pleasant surprise is inhibited for hardcorers. If someone will really decide to rush in all heavy, then for them „Apseron“ Two particularly strict regime. Let’s talk about the most dentist. “Superman” – everything is like in the war: friendly units need to be sought, enemies must be recognized before the attack, treatment takes almost as much time as in life, during a pause, orders cannot be given.

Play all this is insanely boring. In a world where there are already a huge number of beautiful strategies where the ball rules The Creative Assembly, Where Wargaming.Net pleases us each time more and more, the work of Apheriontsev looks like real atavism. We would have “ate” this one ten years ago. But not now. Creative experiments are, of course, good. But you cannot forget about the quality of execution.

Pros: It is hard to find these advantages – let there be the presence of hardcore elements.
Cons: terrible graphics;beaten theme;Everything is boring and fresh.