This was one of the first games that blew me away when I was a kid and made me proud to own a PS2. The opening D-Day scene took my breath away, all the explosions, the scripted scenes, the death animations, the sound, it was all here and the production values were through the roof. Looking back at it 11 years later makes throwing an egg on the floor is more excited than watching this game. While I can’t compare it to games that came after it, even back then there were issues with the game, and they just really stick out now.

Frontline’s realism dropped off after the opening level. After D-Day, you get recruited to do special missions across Europe and are a one-man-army. It’s very unrealistic when you’re running around by yourself killing squads that an entire army takes to take down. You’re blowing up fuel depots, sabotaging equipment, assassinating important Nazi figureheads and various other things. The game is solid, the scripting is still nice today, but the shooting mechanics and controls suck. There’s no aiming down the sights, instead, you just zoom in. Shooting from the hip has no reticle so this is useless. My biggest issue with the game, and even back then, was that it is insanely difficult and there are no checkpoints. If you die you restart the entire level which can be infuriating.

You have to be careful and run around finding health packs and ammo. You can pick up enemies weapons and instead are stuck with what you are given at the start unless you find a placed weapon. I did like the variety of enemies such as fat chef’s throwing knives at you, engineers, cooks, butlers, and even enemies in robes. The death animations are still nice, but where’s the damn blood?! The game almost comes off as campy because it is so far from capturing the tragedy of WWII. Even back in the day, I felt this way. The pacing of the levels is also off because some levels will be really long and tough while others are super short.

I did find that the game had some fun cheat codes, but there’s no replay value. Multiplayer wasn’t put into the PS2 version, and even the graphics are lacking. There’s a lot of aliasing and the framerate drops tremendously during explosions. Everything does look clean and you can tell a lot of time and care was put into the game. I just can’t get over how bad the aiming is, it’s so squirrely and hard to get a bead on enemies. The game has a pretty decent length campaign and is worth the cheap price if you never played this game. Frontline was one of the best WWII games for a reason because it was one of the first to really have high production values.

In the end, Frontline feels very dated, but you can see why the game was praised so much back in the day. The production values still show, but the PS2 can’t keep up with the action. The aiming is terrible and controls are all wrong, but what can you expect from an 11-year-old game?

It is hard to really give this game an objective review and the reason is simple: it has not aged this well.

This game was made by a different company, than AA, thus it ignores its existence: by gameplay and general game design this game is a direct sequel to PS1 titles. However, said gameplay is more streamlined and simplified, in a way, making it mostly a regular corridor shooter with side objectives that often just "press on something you find along the way".

This is one of those "early PS2/GC" titles that feel more like PS1/N64 games with better resolution and assets, rather than true experience made conceptually for the new generation. Another "early" factor is that, at least on the GC version, stick controls don't feel very good. Movement and aim have this "wooden log" quality, typically more for PS1 games where they usually just mapped D-pad controls onto an analog pad.

I understand why it had such high scores and why it is loved by people who played it: the game still has neat scenes and scripted moments, came out still before Call of Duty and when MoH: AA was still very new and on PC only. So at the time of the release, it was the most interesting and advanced WWII FPS on consoles.

Still, playing it in 2024, after MoH: AA, after dozens of CoD titles, after Brothers in Arms, etc., makes you feel like you see before you only raw beta versions of things to come in the subgenre.

Aside from a gameboy I had as a kid, this was the first GameCube game I ever played. The night was got the system, my dad rented this game from Blockbuster. I snuck upstairs in the early morning to play it before he woke up. The D Day level struck me and felt so real at the time.
One funny memory I have with this is our lack of knowing we needed a memory card for the GameCube. Every time I played this game I had to start from the very beginning. Each time I would see how many levels I could progress.

I revisited this as I remember it being one of the first games I played frequently, although I was so young I couldn’t get past the first couple of levels, it didn’t stop me from replaying them constantly (sorry mum and dad).

I expected to play the first few levels until the nostalgia wore off and I got bored, instead I played though the whole game. The gunplay holds up pretty well, despite some annoyances (weapons can be comically inaccurate, some enemy death animations can take so long that it’s difficult to tell if they’re even dead, and the aim jolting whenever you’re hit is frustrating, especially against manned turrets and aiming with a joystick).

The presentation and level variation really carries this game, from one of the more memorable D-Day recreations, fighting across an armoured train, to an undercover mission in a large Holland manor, with libraries, clock rooms, and kitchens filled with knife throwing caterers. It does a good job of making places feel real and lived in, even though it’s still funnelling you through a linear path of nazi blasting.

Call of Duty definitely blows this game out of the water when it comes to set pieces, large explosive battles, and responsive gunplay, but this game still offers a lot of charm with it’s levels that feel like they were made with a great deal of care. Plus it’s just good wholesome fun shooting hundreds of nazis.