As in any self-respecting "Battlefield" DLC, the main addition of "They Shall Not Pass" is essentially composed of new maps, four of which are entering the game's collection. We therefore discover "Heights of Verdun" , a map completely ravaged by shells, offering a lunar spectacle quite similar to the first solo mission in the tank pilot's war story. We will therefore do real trench fighting, something that is amplified with the arrival of a new elite soldier specially dedicated to hand-to-hand combat. The latter has a large armor as well as a very medieval, but very effective spiked mace. We managed to kill most of the enemies with one shot, but the lack of firearms makes this role quite complicated to play, the extra life granted by the armor not being really powerful enough to compensate for. This map also allows us to discover the heavy mortar. It is a stationary artillery piece that is used like a traditional mortar to send large shells far away. The rather long reload time and the lack of precision are compensated by the absolutely insane firepower of the machine. It will be necessary to be fast to seize it considering its strategic importance. The "Fort de Vaux" map will be the favorite of flamethrower enthusiasts since once the hill has been conquered by the Germans, they will have to go through the corridors of the fort to push the French out of their nest. We are then dealing with very short distance combat where gas grenades, incendiaries, explosives of all kinds and shotguns will be your best allies. After these two maps reserved for infantry, we were able to discover those with vehicles.
MECHANIZED INFANTRY
The "Soissons" map offers a fairly open environment with several groups of houses that house the objectives to be captured. Very open, it gives pride of place to clashes between tanks, while air support quickly becomes important, mainly because of the lack of anti-aircraft weapons. It is also on "Soisson"s that we discovered the new behemoth of the game, a huge French tank called the 2C. Huge in size, this tank can take a staggering number of hits before exploding, while it has a myriad of weapons on all sides. It even has a large caliber machine gun in the turret on its back to repel enemy aircraft. We also discover the French tank Saint-Chamond which has a cannon and several machine guns. Quite fast in a straight line, this tank nevertheless suffers from a really disastrous handling, which will allow the anti-tank infantry to quickly kill you. To avoid this, the tank has a pigeon, which once dropped will rain shells around your armored vehicle, just like in the tank pilot's war story. Finally, the last map is Rupture, a map cut in two by a large river, with a capture point located on the main bridge. The capture is nevertheless easier than on Argonne Forest since you can capture while being under the bridge. It is also the prettiest map in the game by far. With its green fields full of poppies, you are surprised to admire the landscape. A dynamic beauty moreover since if the level of the river is low when the weather is nice, during a storm we can see that the flow increases significantly, which impacts the gameplay since it then takes longer to cross at the swimming.
THE FRONT LINE
Overall, the French army does not change much to the original game since it is mainly the arrival of a skin, with blue jacket and Maginot helmet. The weapons are still all available knowing that six new guns are arriving in the arsenal. Unfortunately, other than the Medic's 1917 Rifle, most weapons don't offer much advantage over those already available. Moreover, after a few games, these new weapons were mainly shunned, while the traditional classics were acclaimed. We also note the arrival of four new melee weapons, but again, the differences from the rest of the weapons already available are tenuous. Finally, the coolest novelty remains the "Frontline" mode which is a kind of mixture between conquest and rush. Basically, each team must compete for 3 flags placed in the middle of the map while attacking and defending, knowing that once these three flags are taken, the team will have access to two telegraphs that must be detonated to win the game. . This mode is really very good since it allows big reversals of situation and fierce fights. When a team loses a point, they must quickly retreat in order to defend the next flag. If the latter is held, she can return to the attack. "They Shall Not Pass" promises to be a good DLC, in particular thanks to the "Frontline" mode, the new maps and the 2C behemoth which allows much more freedom of movement than the train or the airship. The French touch remains limited, however, and story junkies will lament the absence of a new War Story dedicated to French forces. Too bad, we would have loved to see the battle of the marl with troops in a taxi. "They Shall Not Pass" will be available on March 14 for premium members, while other players will have to wait until March 30 to discover these new features.
