Redstone Interactive and Offworld Industries bring us a new FPS military shooter in Beyond The Wire. This one takes place during World War I and the main game mode consists of two factions fighting in waves against each other taking control of land and trying to push the enemy back to their HQ and then taking it to win.
I know it may not sound groundbreaking or flattering for some, but in a gaming world nowadays over ran with Fortnite, Warzone, and other Battle Royale games, it is nice to play something different.
Gameplay-wise, Beyond The Wire feels good, like most of the military simulators out there, with lots of keys that control lots of stuff to make it as realistic as possible to an extent. Then when it comes to the weaponry and gear, most soldiers carry the same bolt action rifle, some with pistols, and most with the same gear (bolt cutters, field dressing, grenade).
Between the 3 factions: the US, the German empire, and the UK, they have some degree of variance on weapons, respecting each country’s weapons of the time. So it gives it more of a constant level feel than the one with whoever gets to the fancy gun gets the advantage.
One thing that I liked about the game was the military mind that it kept you in. Each team has a commander and squad officers, which help the commander through comms to ask for air support and the like. You have a text chat with everyone, your team, and your squad, and if you are a squad officer, you also have a direct link to the commander. Voice chat is proximity for the regular troops, and officers can talk to each other on a separate channel, not proximity-based.
When it came to the soundtrack and visuals of the game, I found it lacking compared to the Triple-A games, but that is like comparing Apples and Oranges. The music is nice, not bad, but nothing memorable either. Good enough to help get you into the mood of the game when on menus. The sound effects are great: shots, explosions, and yelling from the wounded are spot-on, and in the middle of a firefight, you really feel like your life is on the line, and everything is chaos around you.
Graphics-wise the game looks great, and you are in those trenches fighting with your brothers (if you manage to get anyone to play with you, that is) against the evil enemies that are as scared and tense as yourself between the mud, forest, and all-around chaos.
Unfortunately, the lack of people to play with is already enough for me not to be hesitant about this game. If it had more players, it could very well compete with the big guys on the recent batch of military simulators.
I mean with everyone jumping on Apex and Warzone, I do not see where this game can get a big enough fan base to bring in the crowd. I do hope that changes because I found the game to be a lot of fun.
Since Verdun died for lack of player base (even though they had bots on their servers, and you could keep playing right now if you so desired), I’ve been waiting for the next World War 1 simulator. This one seemed like it could be the one. Still, sadly, its quick plunge into the void of multiplayer player-less games made it just another try at reaching mainstream players with perhaps overly complicated simulator games that get abandoned the first few months since release. I pray that I do not see a return of the Grim Reaper for this one, I truly would like this one to succeed.
Beyond The Wire is out now on Steam for $34.99. And I truly do think this is a must for anyone who wants to dip their toes back into something that is not a battle Royale game.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of Beyond The Wire for the PC provided by Redstone Interactive and Offworld Industries.
