➤ World War II Hardcore 🎮

In recent years (not too much actually), there has been a certain dissatisfaction with what are the playful proposals of the traditional industry in different genres. In particular, the world of online shooters has seen the birth of real alternative factions, which contest the casual drift of titles such as the various Call of Duty, the Battlefield and Overwatch series, to name known names among the many possible.

These titles would be guilty of favoring players unable with ad hoc mechanics and with the integration into the gameplay of what were once considered real cheats (think of the super of Overwatch). Obviously the industry has its reasons for favoring a more relaxed approach to online gaming (a frustrated player runs away immediately and never comes back), but it is also true that those who prefer a more competitive approach, focused on "skill", that is, on skill. of the player, may be disappointed by some proposals. Fortunately, the malaise did not remain a complaint from the forum, but it has often turned into real video games, sometimes of enormous success. Day of Infamy, the new class-based team shooter from New World Interactive, a team from the modder scene to whom we owe Insurgency (nearly three and a half million copies sold on Steam), is aimed at those who want to return to an experience of game essentially based on skill , in which killing means knowledge of one's means and maps and not pressing a button when a little light shines that announces the availability of the end of the world attack. In short, you have to use your brain.

We reviewed the Day of Infamy online shooter - find out if we liked it

The way to realism

Day of Infamy proposes itself as an essential shooter since its setting: the Second World War. If we were to indicate a title that resembles it among those still active on the market, the choice would inevitably fall on Red Orchestra 2 (with Valve's Day of Defeat it would go further back in the years). In reality, the gameplay offers significant differences, but conceptually the two titles are very similar.

Like the title of Tripwire, also Day of Infamy offers realistic weapons, both in appearance and in use (the ballistics of each weapon is reproduced with great accuracy), a fairly steep learning curve and probable shootings, different depending on of the role that has been chosen to play. Those who, machine gun in hand, run in the open field thinking they can carry out a massacre, have bad moments ... On closer inspection the similarity with Red Orchestra 2, which however remains more realistic, is also one of the problems of Day of Infamy, since those who are already playing the other will have less motivation to try this, but it is more a matter of market positioning and quality of the game, which really does the best with the means at its disposal. Like Insurgency, Day of Infamy was developing using Valve's Source Engine. The limits of the engine can now be seen all, but New World Interactive has nevertheless done an excellent job in the composition of the maps, which are rich in details and well structured, despite the obvious technical deficiencies that give it a poor appearance anyway. The settings of the various maps are typical of the games on the Second World War: villages devastated by bombings, countryside occupied by the Nazis, the inevitable beaches of Normandy and so on. Which ones to play depends on the server settings, which still allow you to vote for the next map at the end of each match. On the other hand, some skins of the characters, decidedly not very refined, are ugly. A separate mention deserves the soundtrack, really full of sounds of all kinds, which make Day of Infamy one of the best titles in terms of audio reconstruction of the historic conflict. There are specific sounds for each weapon and for each faction variant; the steps are convincing and blend perfectly with the ambient sounds. In short, having a decent audio system greatly increases the involvement in the game and, above all, allows you to better understand where the enemies are coming from.

Gameplay

The factions that can be selected in Day of Infamy are three: the Americans, the Nazis and the forces of the Commonwealth. Perhaps more could be added, as has been done by the competition, including Soviets and other more exotic armies, but we can be satisfied. Once the faction has been chosen, one of the available classes must be selected. Given the realistic take on the genre, don't expect floating medipacks, supplies thrown like baseballs, or other similar jokes. Likelihood is everything. As we said, walking around without paying attention to covers and without looking around, means certain death. A well-aimed shotgun is enough to kill.

In fact, one of the problems with Day of Infamy is that if you don't find the right team, you won't be able to enjoy the game. Especially during the first few games, when you don't know the mechanics well (the tutorials help but are not conclusive), entering the wrong server can lead to a bad impression of the game. It is not nice to be few to approach the battlefield in a more reasoned way, perhaps finding themselves with companions who get killed like idiots, consuming all the lives available to the team, because they are victims of the Call of Duty player syndrome (attack from alone with their heads down regardless of the numerical advantage of the opponent). For example, it is rare to see the Officier / Radioman combo exploited well. These are two particular units, with converging characteristics: if, for example, the Officier wants to call an attack with artillery, he needs a Radioman. However, if whoever selects these units (there can only be one Officier per team), is completely disinterested in team play, the penalty for all the others is net. For the rest it must be said that the action is completely focused on the player's abilities: there are no sights whatsoever, apart from those on the rifles, jumping is not much use and each class requires a different approach to the action. Let's say that finding a good coverage always pays, as does choosing a class and deepening it in such a way as to know its strengths and weaknesses in depth. A final note goes into co-op mode, which pits players against CPU-driven enemies. Unfortunately we managed to play little, as it is not very popular. From what we have seen, however, it does not offer much more than similar modes seen in other titles and is essentially a distraction from the central experience offered by the game, which is the one that can be lived on multiplayer servers.

Modes, maps and the like

Without bothering to list modes by mode, and map by map, here is a gallery dedicated to fans of numbers, who will find all the answers to fundamental questions such as: how many modes are there, how many maps are there, how many cooperative modes are there and so on. .

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Intel Core i7-4770 processor
16 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
Windows 10 operating system

Minimum requirements

Windows 7 operating system
Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo E6600 processor, AMD Phenom ™ X3 8750 or better
4 GB of RAM
Scheda video 1024MB VRAM, DirectX 9-compatible con supporto per Pixel Shader 3.0
12 GB of hard disk space
DirectX Version 9.0c

Recommended Requirements

Windows 10 operating system
4 core processor or higher
8 GB of RAM
2048MB VRAM or higher video card
15 GB of hard disk space

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam Price 19,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.0

Readers (5)

8.2

Your vote

Day of Infamy is a good online shooter focused on realism and skill. It lacks some of the devilry so dear to modern players, like a progression system and the ability to customize avatars with cosmetic items, but we don't think that's a problem for the game's potential audience. More obvious defects are some technical deficiencies (the Source now shows all its years) and the lack of players on the servers, probably due to the competition from other similar shooters such as Red Orchestra 2 and, above all, Heroes & Generals, ugly but with free access (that's how the world goes). In short, if you like the genre, you loved Insurgency and you feel dissatisfied with the other proposals, give it a chance.