Day Of Infamy Game Review, What Call of Duty WW2 should of been.

Last night while browsing the steam store I saw Day Of Infamy popup on my recommended, i'd heard of the game before hand but was pretty much driven off WW2 shooters since DoD Source waaaay back in the day, but at only $5 i decided, what the hell lets check it out, and man am I glad I did, straight off the bat i was totally invested in the game, the realism, the minimalism of the active game play and the small but crucial mechanics the game has, I should of been surprised though as I later learned that Day Of Infamy was created by the same studio who did Insurgency, one of the toughest modern FPS' on the market.

So lets dive into WW2 and review Day Of Infamy.

Story and Setting.

Day Of Infamy is set in the WW2 era, during the war in Europe by Germany and fought against by the Allied powers, you take control of a soldier on one side of the other in a series of campaigns and scenarios that you will be teamed up for with other players, the campaigns themselves vary but are authentic to World War 2, from places like Omaha beach right up to Foy, and also across the oceans in Africa.

Players pick a side at the start of the map and choose their army and loadout, the game comes equipped with different armies that have different weapons, all of them being authentic to the time period, lets check out some of the armies and classes below.

Axis

The Axis powers are broken into differing version of the German Army and Italian army, there's no real difference in the armies apart from aesthetics and some armies having different weapons for different classes, as they were going for realism most Axis powers will be seen with Kar98k bolt rifles and the MP40 Sub machinegun.

Allied

The allies are broken into different parts, though with a little bit more diversity in the makeup, America, Canadian, French and Australian troops are all present with some also having different weapons and abilities, but like I said above, the only real change between the two armies are the aesthetics.

Classes

Day Of Infamy has a pretty diverse list of classes, ranging from your average front line soldier to officers who can call in air strikes, both factions have these classes albeit with different weapons and gadgets, lets take a look at them below.

Officer

The Officer is a specialized class in Day Of Infamy, able to command troops and call in reinforcements as well as specialty commands like air strikes, depending on what army your officer is they will usually be equipped with the appropriate SMG and pistol, as well as smokes and a pair of binoculars to call in air strikes or artillery barrages, however there can only be one officer per side in a given match.

Rifleman

Rifleman are the backbone of the army and the most front line troops, they can alter their kits in small ways to bring what is needed, changing between fragmentation grenades, to smoke grenades and even C4, as the rifleman is the most common unit in both armies there is no limit on how many rifleman a team may have.

Sniper

Snipers in Day Of Infamy work as authentic snipers, no running around and quick scoping, usually being setup to defend points or to offer counter sniping the sniper works best when further away in the back line but have the welrod pistol, a brutal single shot bolt action pistol if they get into close quarters combat.

Depending on the size of the server the maximum amount of snipers on a team is 2.

Machine Gunner

Owing to the brutal nature of Day Of Infamy, Machine Gunners are ruthless, setting up in buildings or watching over passes, they can effectively gun down an entire team if they are left alone or the enemy team is too close together, they also have smoke grenades and fragmentation grenades for when they're needed to push up.

As they are one of the most powerful units in Day Of Infamy the maximum amount of Machine Gunners on a team at a time is 2.

Assault

The Assault class is a faster more nimble version of the Rifleman but equipped with a fully automatic SMG, most Assault classes are used to take and hold objective points but are also used for flanking and scouting enemy positions, as well as just clearing out houses and strong points in a quick and efficient manner.

There is no limit to how many Assault soldiers can be on the field at one time.

Support

The Support class is used on the front lines to help the rifleman and assault class, they offer great covering fire as well as a range of grenades, their special ability allows them to resupply all classes with health items and ammo making them vital on the front lines, most support classes will run between the front line soldiers divvying out ammo while also helping to push forward.

As far as I know there is no limit to the support class but I could be wrong(varies from server to server)

Engineer

The Engineer is a utility class in Day Of Infamy, they're the only class in the game that has access to high explosives which can be used to lay traps, flush enemies out of buildings or to control the flow of the battlefield, also equipped with a high powered rifle,smokes and frag grenades, they're vital on maps that require you to either take or hold objectives as their demolitions charges can stop an enemy rush in their tracks.

Depending on how big your team is, the maximum amount of Engineers on the field is 2.

Radio Man

The Radio man is used for as you can guess, relying orders via radio, they will usually stick close to the officer on the field to provide them with intel as well as coordinates of enemies as well as the ability to actually call in for support, the Radio man is better suited to the back line but is still equipped with a semi automatic rifle as well as smokes and grenades.

Again, depending on the server, the maximum amount of Radiomen on the field at one time is 1.

Game Play

The Game Play of Day of Infamy is what makes it so attractive, realistic, brutal and authentic, as Day Of Infamy's developers, New World, have tried to make this as authentic as possible, you won't see soldiers running around with red dot sights or extremely specialized weapons as you do in current WW2 shooters(hey CoD) you are put in the shoes of a standard soldier, with the equipment they had at the time, single shot rifles are the most common and only special classes will have access to a higher tier of weapons, but luckily it doesn't really matter that much.

As this is world war 2 and body armor was a few decades out of being viable, most soldiers will die in 1-2 shots, that includes you, in Day of Infamy, you will need to focus on tactical, strategic game play as opposed to running in hoping for the best, the respawn mechanics are done in waves that tick by during the game and the game will usually end when one sides wave counter reaches 0, it's possible though to acquire more waves by taking objectives which can be extremely fun when you're the last one left against an entire team.

Built on the Source Engine, the game does a fantastic job of beating the old engine in terms of mechanics and game play with some of the smoothest game play iv'e seen in a WW2 shooter since Day Of Defeat, everything feels sleek and smooth while also having the gritty realism of a WW2 shooter, it also has a number of mechanics that make the game feel more authentic, for example, tossing a smoke grenade is a great way to block off incoming fire, but if you're in it's range you'll begin to cough loudly, loudly enough that enemies on the other side of the smoke can hear you and fire upon you.

The game modes are largely domination, with some objective modes being included, however the overall tone of the game will be of defense and attack, while defenders have an easier job than attackers they spawn with less waves to reinforce them should they be killed which means it will usually be a race against the clock to take objectives before you run out of waves, but with the tactical nature of Day Of Infamy, just rushing to the objective area is a great way to get destroyed as i said above, most soldiers can't take more than one bullet before dying.

However the game isn't just brutal fps, it's also very tactical in it's approach, the team will have to work together as well as communicate with each other to meet their desired objective, as i laid out above the different classes for the teams are used for different things and you may require the help of your team to push forward, rifleman will usually be teh first in the door to secure area's, then will call of Machine Gunners and snipers to take up positions close to the objective area to hold off enemies while they secure it.

I play a lot of the sniper class so i'm usually requested to either guard certain avenues where the enemy comes from or to counter snipe other snipers who are hunting my teams troops, it's really refreshing to have not just a WW2 themed game, but a FPS game in general that requires team participation to accomplish your objectives, it also rewards people for being skilled at their classes and knowing the best spots to be.

Last night on a map there were two entrances to a building we needed to get to, one was a massive open field covered by Machine Gunners and Assault troops and the other a pretty well covered alleyway, obviously we decided to choose the ally way but as my team pushed into it a german flamethrower came around the corner and roasted my entire team, little things like this add immense enjoyment to the game play whether you're on the receiving end or not, couple that with a squad of friends and you can enjoy hours upon hours in this game with unique game play experiences.

Critical Review And Reception.

Day Of Infamy is one of those rare "indie" titles that does it better than the industry leaders, in this, comparing CoD WW2 to Day Of Infamy, i'd say Day Of Infamy wins every time, as the developers have gone for realism over gimmick the game feels and plays very authentically and the big open maps and objectives give you hours of unique game play even when playing the same map back to back, the increased damage and realistic mechanics also drive the enjoyment of Day Of Infamy as you feel completely immersed in the game as a soldier during WW2.

One of the most attractive things about this game however is the price, usually for the above mentioned to be sold in a game you'd expect a hefty price tag to go along with it, Day Of Infamy however treats their game as it's meant to be, at the low price of $20 it's an amazing steal for what you actually get out of the game, at the moment however it's on steam for less than $5 which anyone can really afford.

The only real downside of the game is the low level of customization, you can change your weapons in some ways but they largely stay the same, but this also ties in directly with their quest for authenticity, most soldiers didn't have access to these types of modifications on the field, so you don't either, it's great for the authenticity factor, not so great for a game play factor, all though it really doesn't make that much of a difference, it's just a personal thing i'd like to see just a little bit of in the game.

And that's about it for Day Of Infamy, the game is very well polished and effective at what it does, producing a authentic experience in the world war 2 shooter genre, with maps and locations loyal to the actual towns and areas that were in WW2, and at such a low price, any FPS fan should check this out.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, if you enjoyed it, feel free to up-vote, resteem or follow me for more, if you have any questions about the review throw me a comment below and i'll get back to you, thanks guys!