2002 – EA and DICE release Battlefield 1942 and turn the multiplayer shooter genre on it's head by allowing players to recreate historic battles from World War 2. This begins a wave of sequels and clones attempting the same, using various real and fictional wars as a canvas for paintings that become nearly all the same game.

2008 – A multiplayer demo is released on Xbox Live for yet another Battlefield clone. This is it's story. This is Frontlines: Fuel of War.

2/12/08:

11:00am – After waking up and munching on some Frosted Flakes, I go to the internets and see that Major Nelson has posted about a multiplayer demo for Frontlines.

11:05am – Downloading begins on the Frontlines demo.

11:10am-12:00 – I pass the time by playing Culdcept Saga. It's a fun game, but man I really suck at it.

12:15pm – I join a quickmatch and find there are only 3 other people in the game. I also discover that in addition to choosing a class, I must also choose a support class. I see “air support” with a couple icons of bombs, so I naturally choose it.

A warzone has been made of a city street. I see a map in the corner of the screen displaying the current frontline, along with vibrant shades of blue and red on either side. The HUD points out the current strategic points that must be captured. I head toward one and find an enemy who is then riddled with assault rifle ammo. I find his only teammate at the far end of the street and decide to test my bomb dropping skills and equip my target designator. I miss completely, but it sure looks flashy.

More people join the game and before long, there are 16 of us. After capturing checkpoints and earning kills, I gain a support level and have access to a cluster bomb. I go to the nearest capture point on the frontline and give it a try. The entire area begins to explode. I laugh with joy. Enemies are killed.

1:00pm – The host decided to be a dick like most on XBL and leaves because he's losing. The match ends. The crowd disperses. I decide to play another quick match, choosing one without auto-aim enabled.

1:05pm – The city street is gone and I'm now standing ankle-deep in an oil field and see explosions in the distance while tanks are driving past. I check the players list and see 32 people in this match. For the sake of variation, I choose the covert-ops class with “emp tech” as my support. Silenced SMG – how typical and “covert”. I try shooting the giant oil puddle I'm standing in. To my dismay, nothing happens. I also notice that my support skill doesn't appear to be doing anything. I find out that it's a passive ability that makes me invisible on radar.

1:20pm – After leveling, I gain new EMP tech abilities. One of which plants a small beacon in the ground to stun enemy vehicles. The other is a rocket that simply disables them. After several tries, I manage to hit a passing helicopter with one of these rockets. It drops to the ground, and gets C4 planted on it. I laugh hysterically as it explodes.