World War II has become quite the popular theme for the entertainment business as of late. From movies to video games, players have had a chance to experience the myriad of battles from the last Great War. WWII Frontline Command from the Bitmap Brothers and distributed by StrategyFirst takes users back to the 1940’s and allows you take control of the various military powers during the later stages of the war. The game starts right before D-day and takes users through the end of the war. WWII Frontline Command is a real time strategy that adds some new things to the genre.

WWII Frontline Command is not your typical RTS game as you do not collect resources or build bases. Rather you start with certain amount of units that you have to complete the mission with (some missions do add more units if you complete certain tasks or side missions) like Myth. This means that you have to watch all of your units and know where they are at all times if you want to be successful. This also means that you don`t just rush them into an enemy encampment guns a` blazing.

Another difference is that instead of having individual units you have small squads of units. Some types such as the commander and vehicles are single units while some units work in pairs or in threes. This means that instead of having one soldier, you have a squad of soldiers. This is a neat idea but can be frustrating when you are down to your last squad and want to have units attack an enemy from two different sides.

Since WWII Frontline Command takes place during WWII, not all units have fully automatic weapons. Because of this your units have to spend time reloading their weapons during combat. This adds a nice (but sometimes frustrating) tactical element to the game. The Bitmap Brothers do a nice job of showing reload by placing a circular counter next to a unit that shows how far they are in the reloading process. This goes not only for infantry but for artillery as well.

Another new concept is unit morale. If you are getting your ass handed to you your units’ morale goes down, indicated by a morale bar next to the unit, and it will take repeated issuing of commands to get them to do anything. If their morale is high then they will perform actions above and beyond the call of duty (such as taking on tanks and bunkers). Morale obviously goes up and down with the tide of the battle but placing a Commander unit near a unit will increase the morale of that unit.

WWII Frontline Command has two single player paths to take. The first is a regular mode which features 10 missions and some slightly easier play settings. Units have unlimited ammunition and slowly heal over time. There`s also a veteran mode for the really talented of you out there. Veteran mode offers 20 missions (10 new ones) but you are required to re-supply units with ammunition and the AI is much more difficult to beat.

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