War Hero 1944 Mobile Preview

In the past, DChoc's picked some unlikely characters to serve as action heroes, including a tow-headed human cannonball, a murderous mobster, and a female vampire. Carter, their latest darling, is a somewhat more archetypical choice: He's a fearless, all-American WWII pilot who's been shot down over Normandy. He also happens to be the champion of War Hero 1944, an isometric action-adventure that DChoc will release in October or November.

In most wars, the average soldier dreads the call to heroism--they're happy enough to come home alive. Not so for Carter, who performs amazing martial deeds every time he gets up in the morning. Conveniently, he happens to be in the right place at the right time at the beginning of War Hero 1944; after surviving his crash landing, he's the only man on the ground who can stop the dastardly General Muller from executing his evil plans. The entire Wehrmacht seems to be standing between Carter and his objective, so he'll have to swallow his hero's pride and accept some help from his general and a pretty French partisan he meets along the way.

War Hero 1944 is based on the same gameplay engine that drives DChoc's other action-adventure franchise, Mafia Wars, so fans of that series should be able to jump right into the action. Actually, this could be said of any player, because War Hero 1944 is very simple to pick up and play. You can move Carter around in four directions, shoot his primary weapon, and chuck grenades. The game autotargets enemies and environmental features that are attackable, blessedly eliminating the need for any sort of fine coordination on the clunky keypad of the Nokia 6620.

That's all you'll need to do to wade through the cream of the German Army, who will do their utmost to make you an ex-war hero. Wave after wave of these little guys, who are outfitted in various types of gray field uniforms, will come after you from all angles. There are standard soldiers, who can be killed with a single shot, as well as tougher enemies, like officers, grenadiers, and SMG-equipped Storm Troopers. Although your trusty rifle will address most threats, it pays to make good use of your grenades and the explosive features lying around the environment, such as oil drums. The game does a good job with splash damage--every time you blow something up, a circular shockwave will indicate the area effect and the screen will shake wildly.

Since Normandy is completely different than gangland Chicago, War Hero 1944 has been given a complete aesthetic overhaul, too. The version of the game we tested used a rich color palette of greens, beiges, and grays to paint the French countryside. The environment also had a wealth of visual details, like rocks and shadowing. War Hero 1944 didn't have any sound effects on our test Nokia 6620, but it was fully scored with martial music. We enjoyed marching to the beat of snares and the blare of trumpets.

War Hero 1944 looks like it'll appeal to the same crowd that liked the Mafia Wars games. It's sure to bring in some new gamers, too, simply by virtue of its adroitly managed WWII scenario. We'll have the full review of this game in a few months, so check back soon.