Day of Infamy | Geek Node Archive

Developer New World Interactive
Publisher New World Interactive
Distributor Terminals
Where we got our copy Terminals
Genre FPS
Game modes Single Player, Multiplayer, Co-op
Players 1 - 32
Reviewed on PC

Where to buy Steam

PottyZA

Published May 23, 2017

Day of Infamy is the latest in a long line of mods turned into full game releases. It can best be described as a mashup of Day of Defeat, Counter Strike, Medal of Honor (the good ones), Red Orchestra and of course, the game upon which the original mod was based, Insurgency. Although Day of Infamy was technically released in August of last year, it only recently managed to climb out of the bottomless pit that is Steam Early Access.

Fans of Insurgency will know what to expect since the game first started out as a mod for it. I would go so far as to say that Day of Infamy is a better game than the one that spawned it. You’ll find a gritty atmosphere that Insurgency could never quite capture, along with a few other improvements that make it a more enjoyable game to play. With that said, Day of Infamy is hardcore, not quite Arma-hardcore but Call of Duty it certainly is not. A single bullet can and probably will kill you. There’s no regenerating health, no hit markers, no instant respawns and no way of knowing where the enemy is hiding. It’s exhilarating.

Day of Infamy gets the look and feel of World War II just right, but the graphics are a bit dated. To be fair, the game runs on the ancient Source engine and at times it is easy to see the resemblance between this and Counter-Strike: Source. However, this isn’t necessarily a negative point. The game runs on pretty much any PC, even ancient ones, from 10 years ago. The graphics never really look bad, but they never look great either.

This is, first and foremost, a multiplayer game, so don’t expect any fancy cinematic-heavy single player campaign here. There are things to do for lone-wolves, such as playing the co-op modes solo, but it’s not nearly as fun as playing the game with others. This is reflected in the choice of game modes: there are 3 cooperative modes, 4 “Battle” modes, and 3 “Special Assignment” modes.

The cooperative modes include Stronghold, which tasks you and your team with capturing enemy held territory from pretty deadly AI. Raid has you eliminating high-value targets across the map, while Entrenchment has you protect the front-line until the enemy respawns deplete.

Battles are the standard multiplayer modes and are pretty much all variations of point-capture or defence, with varying rules. Special assignments are similar, but feature smaller teams and much more limited respawns. There’s quite a lot to pick from when you decide exactly what you want to play, but I’ve found using the quick match feature to jump into an available game works better than looking for the exact server that offers what you’re looking for.

The moment-to-moment gameplay can be frustrating at first, as you get shot by snipers that you didn’t even know where watching you, mortars that you didn’t know exist and machine guns that you’re sure couldn’t have hit you from that far away. But once you get used to it, it’s awesome. The first time you witness your team work together to push through the enemy lines and capture the objective feels great.

There are a couple of different soldier classes to play as, most with specific weapons only usable by that class. Snipers get a handy scoped rifle, engineers get a deadly flamethrower and the machine gunner gets a huge machine gun (it’s in the name) to pump his enemies full of lead. Each class has a specific bonus too, such as more ammo or increased movement speeds.

There’s also the Officer and Radio Operator classes, which work somewhat differently to how you might expect. The officer gets to order people around, or call in deadly airstrikes and lay down a massive smokescreen for your allies to hide in, but he can’t do it without the Radio Operator’s trusty radio.

You can customise your soldier to a certain degree, swapping out different attachments as you get more supply. Supply is a currency of sorts, which you gain by completing objectives and killing enemies, that allows you to tweak your soldier to suit your play style.

There are unlockable skins too, in the form of collectible “units” such as the newly added Scottish Black Watch or the African-American Black Panthers. These units are also tradeable on the Steam marketplace if buying and selling virtual items appeals to you.

My only real gripe with the game so far is the lack of South African servers and local players by the looks of things. The latency isn’t all that noticeable on the European servers, but I’m sure the game would be more enjoyable with lower latency.

The game serves as a reminder that World War II is an awesome era for games to be set in. It’s a good thing that more and more games are returning to the time period that so many gamers love. I can only hope that those other games do such a great job of it, they can certainly learn a thing or two from Day of Infamy.

There was a time when gamers were neck deep in piles and piles of WW2 shooters. For a while, developers avoided the time period like a plague. Rightfully so, most gamers were suffering from WW2-fatigue at the time. This year seems to be the come back for the olden day shooter. Day of Infamy welcomes it back with a bang. Day of Infamy is the latest in a long line of mods turned into full game releases. It can best be described as a mashup of Day of Defeat, Counter Strike, Medal of Honor (the good ones), Red Orchestra and of course, the game upon which the original mod was based, Insurgency. Although Day of Infamy was technically released in August of last year, it only recently managed to climb out of the bottomless pit that is Steam Early Access. Fans of Insurgency will know what to expect since the game first started out as a mod for it. I would go so far as to say that Day of Infamy is a better game than the one that spawned it. You'll find a gritty atmosphere that Insurgency could never quite capture, along with a few other improvements that make it a more enjoyable game to play. With that said, Day of Infamy is hardcore, not quite Arma-hardcore but Call of Duty it certainly is not. A single bullet can and probably will kill you. There's no regenerating health, no hit markers, no instant respawns and no way of knowing where the enemy is hiding. It's exhilarating. Day of Infamy gets the look and feel of World War II just right, but the graphics are a bit dated. To be fair, the game runs on the ancient Source engine and at times it is easy to see the resemblance between this and Counter-Strike: Source. However, this isn't necessarily a negative point. The game runs on pretty much any PC, even ancient ones, from 10 years ago. The graphics never really look bad, but they never look great either. This is, first and foremost, a multiplayer game, so don't expect any fancy cinematic-heavy single player campaign here. There are things to do for lone-wolves, such as playing the co-op modes solo, but it's not nearly as fun as playing the game with others. This is reflected in the choice of game modes: there are 3 cooperative modes, 4 "Battle" modes, and 3 "Special Assignment" modes. The cooperative modes include Stronghold, which tasks you and your team with capturing enemy held territory from pretty deadly AI. Raid has you eliminating high-value targets across the map, while Entrenchment has you protect the front-line until the enemy respawns deplete. Battles are the standard multiplayer modes and are pretty much all variations of point-capture or defence, with varying rules. Special assignments are similar, but feature smaller teams and much more limited respawns. There's quite a lot to pick from when you decide exactly what you want to play, but I've found using the quick match feature to jump…

Video Game Review: Day of Infamy

2017-05-23

PottyZA

A gritty, thrilling return to the World War II shooter genre

Total - 8

80 8

Day of Infamy is fun, even when you're losing. That alone makes it worth recommending. It helps that it's cheap too.

User Rating: 4.9 ( 1 votes)

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PottyZA

Tech Author at Geek Node

Developer by day, gamer by night. Charl loves everything about gaming and tech, and sometimes writes about them. When he's not busy gaming, you can be sure he's thinking about it.