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Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat Review: Is It Worth It?

A screenshot from Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat, showing a soldier in futuristic armor sneaking up on an enemy.

Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat Review: Is It Worth It?

As the new and improved version of 2003’s Chrome, Techland’s 2004 expansion, Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat may not be new or improved enough to bring in new fans or hold the attention of those who enjoyed the original game.

A screenshot of Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat. showing a futuristic soldier in a smoky battlefield.
The future of warfare feels old here.

Falling Behind 

Chrome is already dated. It’s over a year old and in this industry that can be a lifetime. That is unless the game is destined to become a classic. Unfortunately, Chrome doesn’t enjoy such a status. The reason that Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat exists is to salvage what’s left of Chrome and repackage it under a new name. To be fair, this game can be a fun experience, but mostly because it’s what Chrome should have been in the first place. After the FPS revolution that was Half-Life 2, Advance Battlegrounds may not stand much of a chance of getting its second wind.

The premise is fun, if a bit familiar. In the future, large corporations rule the universe. An ex-corporate mercenary, Bolt Logan, has now taken on the position of guarding the miners that extract the most precious element in the universe, chrome. It’s not made entirely clear why chrome is so valuable, but it’s mostly here to push the narrative forward. Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat is basically a shooter. The main objective is to blow away the enemy by any means available. That will involve an assortment of guns such as pistols, rifles, and machineguns.

Weapons, ammo, and health kits can be scavenged off the fallen bodies of the enemy. There are plenty of these packages to pick up, so the player seldom needs to worry about getting killed. It’s like having access to cheat codes throughout the game. This can make players more reckless but it also increases the pace of the game, keeping it from getting stale. The main character isn’t especially well-developed, and there’s not much to like about him in any regard, including his name – Bolt Logan. 

Players can upgrade some of Logan’s abilities throughout the game to make him a more powerful force, but other than his skills there’s nothing that draws people into the character – or the story for that matter.

Controls Could Use an Upgrade

Vehicles such as a bike, four-wheeler, and a two-legged walking tank offer some diversion. Unfortunately, the vehicles are loose and difficult to control. It’s too easy to slam into a wall. There’s no way these vehicles would be this hard to control in real life. What we need is a broader perspective of the environment and a speed that allows us to actually see where we’re going before we get there. There is an on-rails segment where someone else is in control of the vehicle and players just have to shoot at the enemy.

Not only do players have virtually unlimited health and ammo, but the enemy doesn’t really put up much of a fight. They don’t take cover or attempt to flank. They mostly stand where they are and shoot. Occasionally one or two of them will duck. Self-preservation doesn’t appear to have been a mandate at the guards’ safety seminars.

The Shooting is Fun

Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat’s weapons are effective and easy to aim. They do a lot of damage, often sending the guards flying through the air. The sound effects are somewhat anemic, making the guns sound more like firecrackers than death-dealing ballistic machines. The voice acting is mostly lifeless; the actors go through their lines like they haven’t even had their morning coffee. This can really break emersion when the stakes get high.

A screenshot of Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat, depicting a tree-lined string of islands

Not Enough of a Change

 There’s little change in the graphics since last year. The backgrounds are great but character models are a little on the rough side. They don’t move well and their facial expressions leave a lot to be desired. The gameplay mechanics have been smoothed over from Chrome, although players can still expect some incredibly long loading times and the occasional freeze-up. Online play hasn’t gotten any kind of substantial overhaul. If people want to play Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch, there are other games with more options. The servers here are usually pretty empty, leading to long waits for matchmaking.

Final Thoughts

Advance Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat for less than twenty bucks is probably worth it. Players might get some value out of it. It’s fast and fun but, with changes in the FPS market over the last year, it has a hard time standing out from the crowd.

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