- Publisher: Frontier Developments , Frontier Foundry
- Release Date: Mar 30, 2023
- Critic score
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- Unscored
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Apr 4, 2023The Great War: Western Front is an excellent way to learn something about the battlefields and conditions of a war that, let’s face it, is one we rarely learn much about these days. It’s always inspiring when developers take the time to be meticulous with their history games and aim to present something that doesn’t just entertain, but also informs.
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LEVEL (Czech Republic)Jan 23, 2024Right from the start, the game uncompromisingly tries to show the reality of trench warfare. The theme of World War I games is often the feelings of hardships of ordinary soldiers, and it's fitting that even in a game where you have the role of commander-in-chief, this is not forgotten. Chances are, then, that you won't just forget the game either. [Issue#327]
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Apr 3, 2023Despite finicky controls and complex gameplay, The Great War: Western Front is deeply satisfying, always respectful of the source material.
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Mar 28, 2023The Great War: Western Front is a good strategy game that tackles a historical period most titles in the genre overlook. Both the strategic and the tactical sides feature interesting mechanics and plenty of choices that affect the course of the war. The computer mostly puts up a good enough fight while the multiplayer side has plenty of options to create varied situations. But the game sits at a weird crossroads in terms of abstraction. It has plenty of realist elements but also allows corps to instantly move across the map. It rewards deep preparation but some battles can be won by simply carefully avoiding some enemy defenses. The Great War: Western Front captures the frustration and tension of World War I trench warfare well but struggles to make it a great video game experience.
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Apr 3, 2023The Great War: Western Front aims to be a faithful reconstruction of the many battles the France, Britain and Germany fought more than a hundred years ago, and of the context surrounding them. It definitely succeeds at that, thanks to a very good soundtrack and to videos, posters and quotes from the period. Gameplay wise, however, the result is a game that is more catered towards a niche of players.
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Apr 7, 2023The Great War: Western Front excels at making you feel the pressures of World War I. Sometimes that leaves the gameplay lacking, but most often it requires a level of engagement that is hard to find in a lot of other strategy games. At a certain point it can feel like massive grand strategy tactics, while simply throwing walls of men at each other on the smaller scale. Spending additional time with it, however, will yield additional tactics and technology that transform battles. It is a game clearly made in the image of its namesake, so it is no wonder that the result is a gruelling series of meat grinders that lasts for quite some time. It successfully uses that earnestness to differentiate itself from its competitors enough to make it easy to find joy in the seemingly endless war.
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Apr 2, 2023The Great War: Western Front is a good real-time strategy game that effectively captures the madness of World War I in a way that nobody ever dared to attempt. Despite some shortcomings typical of an independent production, Petroglyph's title offers innovative ideas that elevate it to the level of the greats in the genre, such as Paradox and Creative Assembly. For a studio new to the field, this is an impressive achievement.
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Mar 27, 2023I like Western Front, for sure. Its frustrations detract from a good experience rather than overwriting it, and it's more entertaining than the theme suggests, without feeling glib or shallow. It's a solid go at a difficult niche, blending tactics and strategy well, but is best enjoyed on its own terms, and with perhaps a little more patience than I have.
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Mar 27, 2023The Great War: Western Front is a small game about a big topic that uses clever abstractions to keep things simple to understand and quick to play. It achieves a lot with a couple good ideas, but as the game goes on and it attempts to show how the war evolved even as its stalemate persisted, it needs more ideas and better execution than it brings to the table. Implying more evolution and development than it truly depicts, The Great War: Western Front ends up being a pleasant and convenient wargame but falls short of being a great one.