It's true to say that in war there are no winners - but in theory this means that there are no losers too. It's like one of those cheap 'grab a gift' machines that guarantee a prize every time, albeit a prize that's a fraction of the price for playing. Herein lies the problem though; as you pit your vast armies, armadas and air forces against those of your opponents and have a damn good blast in the process, essentially you end up pretty much empty-handed. Sadly this feeling is reciprocated extensively in War Front: Turning Point, the latest RTS offering from Digital Reality (of Hegemonia fame).

That's not to say that Warfront doesn't try, but - just like copying school projects to save time - there's nothing new to really wow players. Initial impressions are actually pretty good however, with sleek cinematic introductions fronted by wonderfully clichéd characters that make Wing Commander actors seems like Oscar material. You are thrown into the lovely looking game engine and sent assaulting your way across war-torn cityscapes as either the Allied or German forces.

This is where DR have put the most effort and ingenuity in, because things aren't quite as they were, with Europe and America joining forces with Russia in order to quell the super-advanced forces of the Hitler-less Third Reich. This unusual scenario opens up all sorts of opportunities, which the developers were quick to take advantage of. Take the evil, hulking Nazi mechanoids for example, or the Russian earth-burrowing ambush APCs - there's a whole host of refreshing takes on historic battle paraphernalia, some of which, like the bowel-disassembling sonic tank, are a joy to send in against enemy troops.

The on-screen presence of most units just isn't there though, which is a shame, as a lot of this is down to the easily overlooked omission of decent sound; tanks don't quite sound as foreboding as the terrifying, astonishingly powerful behemoths they really are (take one look at Ground Control 2 and you'll see what I mean), troops die with a generic 'Aieee!' and the random comments from your units ("Always ready, sir!" etc), although amusing, simply detract from the immersion, which is an essential factor to maintain with RTS games.

Don't let this small oversight put you off what is essentially a decent RTS though, albeit one that's lacking a fresh feel. You shouldn't come to Warfront looking for inspirited creativity, but that's not to say that I don't pull out my Chuck Norris DVD box set now and again. You know where you are with Chuck Norris, just like Warfront delivers the Heinz baked beans of RTS gameplay and does it by the 'explosions are essential' rulebook.

The campaign mode is the meat and veg of the matter, taking you from the desperate repulsion of a full scale assault on London right through to chasing Fritz back to Berlin, while the German campaign sees you gleefully thwarting anybody in Europe's attempts to have a nice day, eventually crunching your tank tracks over the smashed-to-bits Big Ben. What I feel is the most refreshing aspect of Warfront is the inclusion of hero characters that stay with you from mission to mission. Each has unique 'superhero' attacks and abilities, such as hand grenades or stealth, and these skills can be implemented in a variety of ways in order to win the day, ranging from infiltrating an enemy base and planting a bomb to taking out whole platoons of enemy units. These characters also play out the storyline in the fairly decent cut scenes, with epic shots to introduce new units and front line developments, but despite this you end up appreciating them more for their abilities rather than their character and resolve to fight for freedom - it's hard to really love these chaps in the long run.

I did find myself getting attached to little bunches of men though, as they endeavoured to facilitate your heinous orders to charge into certain death and come out victorious. Unit upgrading is also possible, bulking up firepower and speed to gain an upper hand, while base building is satisfyingly pretty, with buildings actually being built with little cement buckets instead of just appearing out of the box. The whole thing is pretty damn lovely to look at, and the extra effort put into the details of the scenery and effects is Turning Point's saving grace.

The multiplayer is solid enough, if you can get past the run-of-the-mill feeling that plagues many RTS games; it just comes down to the limited variety in the structure of the game. The online battles I had ended with the same result - a massive army obliterating a base, which is impossible to defend against, making it very hard to want to come back for more of the same.

Warfront: Turning Point is a fine real-time strategy game that fans of the genre should gain plenty of enjoyment from, despite adding little that's new to the genre, other than an original alternate history scenario that makes for some distinct and memorable units to command. Graphically it's a real treat too, competing with the best of them in this regard, although this makes the lacklustre sound all the more disappointing. Warfront isn't quite a classic and it's not going to blow you away, but as Chuck Norris keeps reminding me, there's nothing wrong with a bit of what you fancy - and if you disagree then he'll roundhouse kick you back to the 1940s just to prove it!

Reviewed by Chris Davies for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).