Gamezebo Rating:

War. War never changes. Well, except for humanity's new tendency to play our little battle games on a digital plane instead of with real guns and soldiers. That's a change, and a pretty relieving one at that.

Front Wars by Gregory Challant is one such example of a war simulation. It actually looks and plays almost identically to Famicom Wars / Advance Wars, a Nintendo series that hasn't seen an update in quite some time (the studio behind the series, Intelligent Systems, has been hard at work on alternative war / strategy games like the excellent Fire Emblem: Awakening for the Nintendo 3DS).

While Front Wars is nowhere near as polished as even the earliest Advance Wars titles, there's still quite a bit to like here - provided you're not bothered by Challant's, er, "flattery" of Intelligent Systems' work.

There is one major difference between Front Wars and Advance Wars, however: Whereas the latter is based off fantasy scenarios and made-up wars, Front Wars lets you play through prominent battles that defined the Second World War. You literally send cute, large-headed soldiers to their deaths on the shores of Normandy. It's bizarre.