Online game "Enlisted"

Enlisted is a free multiplayer World War II-themed shooter. It is published by the company Gaijin Entertainment, which is well known to gamers for the simulator of air battles War Thunder. Only in the new thriller, in contrast to the project in 2013, the main focus is not on the technique, and on the actions of infantry, although drive a tank and fly a plane here, too give. The game has been in the testing phase for several years, but it is fully operational: it already features five theaters of war, several modes, and all the basic mechanics, including the behavior of soldiers under the control of artificial intelligence. Let's find out why we need such characters and what the project will interest the genre lover.

Enlisted is often compared to another military shooter - Battlefield. There is nothing surprising in this parallel, because the game of the Russian publisher is also impressive in its scope, with hundreds of soldiers acting simultaneously on the battlefield. But there is an important difference, which lies in the mechanics of the squads. In fact, most of the troops in overcoats and blazers are bots controlled by artificial intelligence. A horde of these dummies scurries around the map behind the living player's character, providing him with cover and more or less tangible support in the attack. If some die, others land on the terrain. Thanks to this solution, everyone in the fight can feel apt and agile: you don't need any special skills to outflank the bots and destroy them one by one - even a beginner can do it.

But before you can hear the shots rattle in your headphones, you need to create an account on the official website and download the game's client. For this you only need an e-mail address - they don't take money for Enlisted. After installing the main menu opens where you can choose one of the two sides - the Allies, represented primarily by the Red Army, and the Axis, in which the Wehrmacht soldiers rule the ball. Depending on the campaign, you can also play for the British, Americans, Italians and other participants in the war. And before you go to the front, it's not unreasonable to look at the training mode.

It is useful to go through the training mode for two reasons. First, you have to get used to the gun's behavior: guns have recoil, and some models are so capricious that you have to place the front sight slightly below the target, instead of combining both, as we got used to. And it does not hurt to adjust mouse sensitivity before the fight. Secondly, it is in training that the beginner is introduced to the squads. You get to the range in the company of military men, controlled by AI, and then everything depends on the decisions of the commander. Using the keyboard, you can send them to a specified point (button X) or take any of them under direct control (button Y). With this mechanics should get used to before practice on the battlefield, otherwise the squad will turn into a mindless herd that just runs after its leader and quickly dies.

After theory, it's time for practice. Today there are five Enlisted campaigns to choose from: Battle of Moscow, Invasion of Normandy, Battle of Berlin, Battle of Tunisia, and Battle of Stalingrad. As it is not hard to guess, each of them offers special sets of units, vehicles, and tactical conditions. If in Stalingrad and the German capital the battles unfold in the streets, among the buildings and ruins, the locations of Africa and France are more open. Moscow is represented by the suburbs: here you will find trenches, wooden huts, five acres of dirt and the silhouette of a church on the horizon. To the developers' credit, the entourage is a success. When you have to get out of the trench and run among birches and haystacks to a hut with carved casings, near which a padded German tank is burning, it really impresses.

In addition to training, there are two main modes, Squads and Lone Combatants. Both feature "Capture" battles, where teams fight for control of multiple points on the map - whoever takes more and lasts longer wins. There is also "Invasion": one army takes turns attacking the five lines where the other side of the battle is defending. If the attackers take a point, the defenders must retreat from it to the next, and so on until the attacking team runs out of reinforcements or takes the last line. For experienced gamers Enlisted also offers "Assault", where points must be captured simultaneously, "Destroy" with mines and "Escorting an Armored Train" mode, which name already tells you what it is. But if you've just started the campaign, all your time will be taken up by "Capture" and "Invasion.

As already mentioned, for the mass effect, the war is waged in squads, more often 3-4 soldiers, one of whom you control. This specialist is the most valuable soldier of the group, armed with a specific gun. For example, a sniper rifle that can kill with a single shot, or a grenade launcher for anti-tank fighting. Once your character gives up the ends, the game forcibly puts you in the next squad member. And after the death of the entire squad, you can choose a new one and land in a different squad. You played, say, at the beginning of the match as the 36th Engineer Battalion, and returned as part of the 255th Infantry Regiment. The number of such reinforcements is limited, so before the battle it makes sense to think who to take with you and what equipment. As you pump up, this task becomes more and more varied.

The game features a huge arsenal from World War II, including exotics like submachine guns with silencers and flamethrower tanks, added with the release of the Battle for Stalingrad. Only not everything is available at first - you still need to grow up to the most valuable samples. Good old rifles like Mosin's Triple Linear, of course, are also good, but who can't wait to attach a handheld grenade launcher to the German Kar98k, must have patience. After each battle you are rewarded with experience points, characters, units and items (including weapons), which you can then equip any of your soldiers with. This is the equipment that gets you into battle.

The first thing you should be prepared for is the lack of ammunition at first. If in a regular shooter, where two teams fight, there is a high probability of dying right at the start, not shooting even half of the ammo, then Enlisted gives you a break. It is difficult to snack with characters of live players - deal with the destruction of bots from the enemy squads. You can, for example, take control of a sniper, sit on some remote tower and snap the advancing enemies one by one. But when you run out of bullets, you either have to call for help from an ally willing to share the right caliber, or come down from the tower to find a trophy barrel under fire. The latter, by the way, are scattered in the same place as the bodies of those killed-all logical.

Riding on tanks also does not do without nuances. First, to fully manage the crew, in which one takes on the role of mechanic-driver, the other fires a cannon, changing on the fly high-explosive and armor-piercing shells, the third sits behind the machine gun. To cope with all the tasks alone can be difficult, especially for a newcomer. Pouring oil on the fire and moving through the ruins of the city, which is full of obstacles, and the car is constantly stuck in some boulders. But it is necessary not only to get out, but also to fire. Secondly, controlling armored vehicles involves two types of view - from the cockpit and the hatch. One option gives good protection, but a very narrow field of view - if there are obstacles around, then for the tanker looking at the world through a small sighting window, driving turns into a living hell. Another way of driving - sticking out of the hatch up to your waist is better for orientation, but turns you into the number one target. So sometimes heavy equipment is better than fast equipment and getting behind the wheel of a motorcycle.

It's not easy to handle an airplane either. But since aviation is the last to be mastered, at first the recruit gains experience in infantry and tank battles. The main thing is not to forget that the ground troops can put the markers, which simplify the work of pilots - so it's easier for them to figure out where to hit. When talking about weapons and equipment, we can not ignore the problem with registering hits. Two or three times per match you will notice that the shot was exactly on target, but had no effect. Especially ridiculous is the situation when the same happens with shells from a tank cannon - it seems that you were aiming at the crowd, but after the explosion everyone remained on their feet. Such mishaps do not happen often enough to spoil the impression of the game, but they must be kept in mind.

Soldiers subordinate to the player require attention not only on the battlefield, but also behind the scenes of the military theater. To make sure of this, just open the menu, where you can improve the skills of units from the experience gained during the battle, make a pool of units for the next match, as well as equip and upgrade each soldier individually. After all, they are all individuals. With a name, unit affiliation, rank and class: there are gunners, mortar men, snipers, armored gunners, storm troopers, engineers, machine gunners, medics, radio operators, flamethrowers, motorcyclists, tankers and pilots. We're talking about the very unique specialists mentioned above. Sometimes their contribution to the success of the team is crucial. For example, the radio operator knows how to call an artillery strike on a given point, the armor strikers clear a location from tanks, and the engineer is called if you ran out of ammo or need to build a shelter.

In the upgrade window you can see three tabs: the development of the whole squad, the personnel (including the opening of new classes within the group) and the "Workshop", where the upgrade of cannons and equipment is available. The basic rule of pumping is that you must choose the campaign and side of the conflict whose units and bonuses you want to discover in the future. For example, if you go by the Red Army, then participation in the Battle of Tunisia will not help much, as well as the Invasion of Normandy. But the rest of the campaign will bring the units you need, and skills and equipment, so that the Soviet attacker Mstislav Nesterov could hang up his body armor, take more first-aid kits and add an auxiliary gun to his standard PPK-41, and at the same time learn some tactical tricks. This is just an example of how much detail Enlisted allows you to customize your personal army.

Enlisted is a unique shooter in many ways, showing all kinds of troops on one map, except for the fleet. The squad mechanics gives, on the one hand, the effect of mass and the basis for progression, and on the other hand - allows everyone to feel like a real shooter, because fighting with bots is easier than with the characters of real players. Even a beginner in his debut battle at least someone will shoot. In addition, the battles take place among historical scenery, including the Eastern Front, which is rarely seen in projects of this class. Despite some technical flaws, the game is definitely worth a try, especially since it is available for free.

May 2022