Front Line (video game)

Did You Know?

• The ColecoVision version requires the Super Action Controller add-on.
• Ports were released for ColecoVision, PC-8801, Sharp X1, Atari 2600, MSX, FM-7, and Famicom between 1983 and 1985.

Gameplay

The player controls a lone soldier whose ultimate objective is to lob a hand grenade into the enemy's fort. The player begins with a pistol and grenades, with no ammo limit. After advancing far enough, a tank warfare stage begins where the player can hijack a tank. Two types of tanks are available: a light tank with a machine gun and a heavy tank with a cannon. The light tank is more nimble but easily destroyed; the heavy tank is slower but can sustain one hit from a light tank. A second hit from a light tank destroys the heavy tank, while a single shot from a heavy tank destroys either type. If a partially damaged tank is evacuated, the player can re-enter it. The player must exit a tank within a few seconds of a fatal shot or lose a life. An extra life is awarded at 10,000 or 15,000 points, with none thereafter. The tank battle continues until the player reaches the enemy's fort, a brick-barricaded tank firing mortar rounds. To destroy it, the player must toss a grenade over the barricade on foot. Success causes the tank to explode and an enemy soldier to wave a white flag, awarding 1,000 bonus points. The game repeats with infantry levels, where enemies become quicker and deadlier, and points multiply based on the level.

Reception

Front Line performed well in Japanese arcades, with Game Machine ranking it the seventh highest-earning arcade video game of 1982. By June 1983, the same publication placed it twentieth among table arcade units for that month. In the UK, its commercial impact was modest, blamed on a steep initial learning curve. Critical reception at launch was split: reviewers admired its originality but found the difficulty off-putting. At the November 1982 AMOA show, Video Games offered two takes—one praised Taito’s knack for unusual concepts and noted control similarities to their 1975 game Western Gun, while the other called it one of the show’s ten biggest misses, frustrated by an awkward firing system. Computer and Video Games agreed the early going was tough but argued the action becomes rewarding once the tank appears, calling it worth the effort. In the 1983 Arcade Awards, Front Line was a runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year, losing to Pole Position. Electronic Games, which presented the award, highlighted its relentless pace, describing it as a non-stop shoot-’em-up that forces constant movement and firing.

Legacy

Front Line helped pioneer ground combat in video games, introducing grenades and an overhead run-and-gun perspective years before Capcom’s Commando arrived in 1985. A programmer from SNK spotted the game in an arcade and believed the company could expand on its format, leading to SNK’s TNK III (also called T.A.N.K. in Japan and Europe) in 1985. That title improved the concept by adding a rotary joystick. SNK later merged ideas from T.A.N.K. with Commando to create the hit Ikari Warriors in 1986. Jaleco’s Field Combat, released the same year, also shared similar gameplay. In 2000, Taito published a Game Boy Color spin-off called Sgt. Rock: On the Frontline, which followed the original arcade template but took place in the DC Comics universe. The arcade version appeared on Taito Memories Gekan for PlayStation 2 in 2005 and on Taito Legends 2 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows in 2006. The Famicom port reached Japan’s Virtual Console on Wii in June 2007, Nintendo 3DS in January 2014, and Wii U in June 2016. Hamster Corporation released the game under its Arcade Archives series for PlayStation 4 in January 2018 and Nintendo Switch in February 2019.