World War II Online: Battleground Europe Review

By Jim Rossignol Published 19 December, 2005

Tanks For The Memories.

Version tested: PC

It's hard to get into. That's been a problem with online PC games for a while now, because there's really nothing casual about them. You have to get inside their communities to really enjoy the game, and these hardened fraternities of gamers can be obscure nuts to crack. All too often the newbie sidles into a game and looks around, is embarrassed by having to ask so many questions, and gives up to go back to something a little less forbidding. Quite a few of my games journalist colleagues cite this problem as one of the major reasons why online PC games are flawed: they're just too awkward to be mainstream. It's geek terrain. Developers, meanwhile, work to make them ever more accessible to the general gamer - see Battlefield 2. See World of Warcraft.

But then there are games which simply don't want to bend in this way. Their kick is in their complexity and their demands on the player. They remain resolutely out on the periphery of what it's possible to be interested in. They're tough to get into, overly complex, reliant on lots of acquired knowledge. They rely on communities of committed and enthusiastic players to keep running. And yes, Battleground Europe is exactly that kind of game.

Battleground Europe is the relaunch (or the latest iteration) of the World War II Online project, which has been going on for about five years. The idea behind it all is to recreate the entire Western front online, complete with everything except civilians. WW2 online delivers ships, towns, Messerschmits, Spitfires, tanks, infantry, rickety old Bedford trucks, and a lot of hedges to hide in. The scope is vast, and it's a bit of shame that there aren't enough people in the game to truly demonstrate what it could be capable of. With some organisation it begins to shine because, unlike the perpetual battles of closest cousin Planetside, World War II is a war that can genuinely be won or lost in weeks or months. The frontline is a real one and the territory almost as vast as the embattled tract of Europe itself. The Axis and Allies are slugging it out to win the war right now, and the historically accurate technologies develop as that conflict unfolds. Since there is a single server to log into, everyone who plays Battleground Europe is fighting the same war. The late night American contingent put on some impressive displays of firepower.

'World War II Online: Battleground Europe' Screenshot 1

Peekaboo! Tanks love to play hide-and-seek in the woods.

Nevertheless, I knew Battleground Europe was going to be immediately unappealing because I've looked at World War II Online a few times over the years. During that time the player numbers stayed low and that the game has stayed ugly. There was only one logical way to conduct this review, and that was to get one of the major teams to show me what was really going on. I arrived back in virtual 1940s Belgium with a friend of a friend and guiding hand, which made all the difference. Of course this seemingly small step is a fair hurdle to get past for the average gamer, and I'm acutely aware that I knew to do it. If this game was picked off the shelf, and our imaginary gamer went in cold, with little more in his head than hoping it might be like those other World War 2 games he'd played, only with more people, then he could end up being be perplexed, even appalled.

I'd like to think he'd detect something else there, some potential, but it's nevertheless likely that he'd log off anyway, because the time required to get rolling really just seemed like too much. And he'd be right. This is playing war at its most serious: one for the armchair generals and the tank-fanciers. Like the PC's numbing simulations and the tougher strategy titles, Battleground Europe is detailed and functional. And that means ugly. Ugly like a block of flats. Ugly like concrete slabs. Despite having more toys than Battlefield, this is a vehicular FPS that defies our expectations of visual loveliness. It's nothing that will appeal to your immediate gaming intuitions, and if the Biblical-length key lists are anything to go by then there's a whole lot more than ugly visuals to digest. Nevertheless it does work. It works because it does everything it wants to, and it wants to do a lot. On the micro-scale of jumping in and looking around it sets you traversing a vast terrain, and when you look at the wider picture, you begin to realise just how much the small, poorly-funded development team has had to contend with. The game is vast.

'World War II Online: Battleground Europe' Screenshot 2

Lots of crawling, some running and remarkably little squatting.

In fact, once you're caught up in the moment, there are some beautiful experiences to be had. Sure, the inside of a shed is pretty ugly even by the standards of five years ago, but taking off in a bomber and seeing the whole player-driven formation rise up around you, fading in and out as you ascend through the clouds, is breath-taking. Seeing tanks open up against each other as tiny people run for their lives between trees and hedgerows is unlike anything else you can play (except perhaps Flashpoint), and so it's these moments that really begin to decide what Battleground Europe is all about. When you get up into the sky and begin to see the sheer scale of what is going on here, or when you make a night raid on one of the front line 'forward bases' that spring up from enemy territory, you realise what a majestic and impressive game Battleground Europe can be.

So as I crawled along on my belly and watched the fighters whirling overhead, I begin to take satisfaction from being a cog in a larger machine. While Battlefield's World War is really just a 20-minute burst of skill and personal glory, Battleground Europe is about simply enjoying your achievements for the greater good. Manning an anti-aircraft gun to keep your tanks from being strafed, or giving some stranded infantry a lift in your truck, these are moments that integrate into a larger picture, one of your battalion, and then a larger one: that of the war as a whole. Sure, a game based around driving a bunch of squaddies down a country lane might not be all that thrilling, but as part of a huge theatre of conflict it suddenly becomes compulsive.

And compulsive is what Battleground Europe has the potential to be, if you give it a chance. But also if you fall in with the right players, in the right place, at the right time. It's too big for its population, and kills are hard to come by, so crawling through some mud and managing to place that killing shot is peculiarly satisfying. Whether you'll want to pay a monthly subscription for the pleasure is another matter. You'll need to consider just how much you want to fight World War 2. I think the answer for most people will be 'not enough'.

7 / 10

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About Jim Rossignol

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Psi #1 6 years ago

    no comments?

  • itamae #2 6 years ago

    "no comments?"

    What did you expect? It's a decent, World War II-themed FPS for the [/b]PC[/b]. Surely everything that can be said about this genre has already been said in one of the 20 million other PC WW2 FPS comments threads. ;-)

  • neuroniky #3 6 years ago

    @itamae: well, I think this is pretty different from your decent WWII FPS shooter anyway... it's a crossbreed of a simulation, a mmorpg and a FPS. I'm really curious about this one, but this week I'm starting EVE online, and this means I'm now paying for 3 games already, so probably this has to wait.

  • Stickman #4 6 years ago

    It's a pretty shoddy WW2 themed FPS to be honest, but that's not the attraction of the game really.

    I so want to get this and become part of something. Like 'Band of Brothers' type action where you actually care about the people around you, and the actions you perform have a direct effect on the grand scheme of things.

    Like the review says though, it's so desperately hard to get in to initially. The most unwelcoming MMO ever! Do I have the time or energy to get the most out of the subscription? Probably not. Bugger.

  • Artemis_Matsas #5 6 years ago

    Can you do rocket jumps?

    /hides

  • Sres #6 6 years ago

    Good review and hit on something that is wrong with the game (n00b unfriendly).

    Lots of squads pick up the green tags as they appear but a lot arrive expecting instant battles across the front. Games like BF and CoD have legions of followers because of this instant action fun.

    When they go looking for bigger organised battles they can either move to an RTS (ugh) or pick up Battleground Europe or Planetside and really that is all there is out there at this time.

    I've played this game since mid 2003 and I'm a fanboi about it but my interest in the game wanes on and off.

    There are a lot of positives but you have to work at it to get the best out of it, much like the reviewer said, the game comes into its own when it's organised, when players work together and seeing huge flights of bombers crossing the battlefield or an armour column bearing down on you really does make your heart stop.

    Some of the best fun of the game can be had fighting over a town for hours and yet you may only see a portion of the battle raging around you as you focus on your small part.

    Most endering comment that sticks in my mind from the review is that 'you see that you are a small cog in a larger machine', and that to me is how you have to look at it. If you come to the game looking to a be hero then you will be sorely disappointed, heros lead missions and that generally means directing from the back of the attack.

  • Wobble #7 6 years ago

    are there any M0t0rb1k3s?

  • Stickman #8 6 years ago

    Sres, are you part of a clan type thing then? How do you go about joining in properly. I had this on pre-order and cancelled at the last minute, but maybe I could look into it after New Year if I thought there was hope!

  • Frogger #9 6 years ago

    I've played the game for a while and completely agree with the review. Forget everything about fancy graphics, prepare yourself to die A LOT without knowing who shot you down, because it's just like the real thing : a bullet in the head and your history, and get ready for a real, longterm involvment. If you have a social life in the real life, you might not be able to enjoy the game at its best. Get also ready to learn a huge amount of jargon, a complex chain of command, an impressive list of weapons and vehicles with accurate historical features.

    But what a reward when you get in ! The whole virtual world is living ! You really feel like being a part of something important, whether you're a simple soldier, a tank or truck driver, an airplane or bomber pilot. And you want to do your duty the best possible. It's not a kiddy game really.

    The best way to enjoy the game as a beginner is to join a team. Of course you can try the game and go from a place to another, crash some planes, drive boats and tanks, but you will feel useless, you will not understand what's going on. Join a team that welcomes begginers, which looks well organized, even if they are not playing the army corp you would like (tanks, airplanes, infantry, paratroopers, navy...). They will give you the needed informations to start, teach you the basic fundamental things to know, take you with them on missions so you can understand the war and conflicts issues, and in a few days, or weeks if you can't play often, you will have this very satisfying feeling of having a real influence on the conflict.

    An important detail : almost everyone in the game uses Teamspeak to be able to talk live with your fellow fighters and commanders. Get ready to plug in a microphone to enjoy the game.



  • Stickman #10 6 years ago

    "If you have a social life in the real life, you might not be able to enjoy the game at its best."

    /cancels order again.

  • Cerion #11 6 years ago

    I've played this game on and off for over a year. The only reason I leave from time to time is because it is too addicting and too intense at times!! People get down on the graphics (the devs are making improvements), but I say pah! to graphics. One can have excellent graphics and horrid gameplay. BE has top notch gameplay for the most part.

    Yes it is complicated. You will die a lot at first. Then once you've learned the game, you'll still die a lot :). Difference is you'll also be killing more.

    This is definitely a team game. If you play it like you would an fps shooter such as Halo or Battlefield 1942, you will become frustrated very fast.

    The game is also a strategic simulation in which Commanders make research decisions that effect the gear you use in the field. Some resent this aspect of the game, but I find it fascinating and a challenge to implement the strategies of my Commanders. I think it remains the only tactical and strategic FPS game out there.

    Lastly, I've played MMOGs since 2001. Until last year when I tried BE, I had been a pure carebear, PvP-hating player. But BE changed all that. BE is not about the crutch of uber-looted gear, it's about skill, smarts, and patience. It's strictly your wits against another player, from the lowly rifle grunt, to the tanker, to the Commander in Chief planning strategy.

  • pantherboy #12 6 years ago

    "these are moments that integrate into a larger picture, one of your battalion, and then a larger one: that of the war as a whole."

    But the problem is that most players don't care about strategy unless the game is designed to reward such behaviour - most of the times all you get is half the people trying to be snipers and the other half jumpling randomly and running zig zags looking for someone to shoot.

  • Sres #13 6 years ago

    That's bobbins stickman, the game is ideal for people who are interested in game where you do not have to keep up with your friends.

    Games like EQ2, WoW etc require you to grind out the experience. This is the only game where you can get in game and kill everything on the battlefield if you know how too do it.

    There is little experience grind, players can drive tanks from day 1, they can fly planes from day 1. I'm not saying that there isn't some grind, but the fact that with the rifle you can kill every other infantry person and with every tank you have the ability to destroy like or similar AFVs.

    Last campaign I played around 400 missions, this campaign I haven't amassed 50 missions. My time has been dominated by Christmas, social life and DIY. The point is that I will rejoin my squad and still be able to group up with them and not have to level grind to catch them up.

    Stickman, to answer your question. I'm part of the 22nd Mechanized Regiment. We have around 100 members and on average we have around 25 players on a night (Peak US Time). I'm from GB and we mass around 15 players.

    Squads are the backbone of the game, many feel that squads have got the shaft in recent months with the introduction of Brigades, but they forget that brigades are made up from the verys squads and players who work together to capture and defend objectives.

    There are recruitment threads on the official game forums http://forums.b attlegroundeurope.com and there are also ones at the allied and axis forums (you can get to them from the main website).

    If you ask on the forums in the guest area, you can get a free 14 day trial key to see what you think. The key is only to see how the game is, you don't enter credit card details or anything, although after the 14 days you have to create a new account.

    Panther boy: You can't jump and when you're a target from 400m in game you really must zigzag back and forth :) There is rhyme and reason in this game, there are squads in game striving to these strategies that are set out by the high command, they move the map.
    Edited by 2 at 19/12/05 @ 12:26

  • Sres #14 6 years ago

    Friend pointed out this one

    Frogger, "An important detail : almost everyone in the game uses Teamspeak to be able to talk live with your fellow fighters and commanders. Get ready to plug in a microphone to enjoy the game."

    That is blatantly not true, TS is not a requirement to play this game, nor does the majority of the playerbase use TS.

  • Stickman #15 6 years ago

    I'll give it a 14 day bash then, cheers Sres!

  • jienn #16 6 years ago

    Technically most advanced WW2 game ever. If you're a newbie in the game just hang with someone, and you'll learn faster

  • dfm87 #17 6 years ago

    Looks great game to me..
    Want a 14 day guest pass, where can I get one of that?
    Cant suscribe at the offical forums..

  • kamel #18 6 years ago

    Something else about the game that is rarely mentioned... but important.

    All weapons are physics based. All follow fairly realistic ballistic paths.

    Damage to armoured vehicles requires penetration of the armour. You can fire small calibre stuff all day at a thick skinned vehicle to no effect unless you knock off a track.

    Tanks have fairly faithful reproductions of all the armoured surfaces. If you look up a textbook on the armour of a tank, then you can be reasonably certain of what thickness a given surface is in game.

    Many AP style weapons have the unique [for gaming anyway] ability to pass right through a target. You can fire an AP round from a cannon through a group of infantry and kill or maim more than one... a solid shot AP round can literally pass right through the side of the crew compartment of a tank... cut the gunner and loader in half [and scattering chunks of shrapnel and spall throughout the interior]... exit out the other side of the tank... behead an infantryman cowering in the wrong spot... and embed itself in the engine of a truck a couple of hundred meters away.

    WWIIOL is a THINKING players game.

    Teamwork wins more fights than Uber-leet wannabe-parchuting-recon-rambos.

    A functioning TEAM of noobs can be a force to be reckoned with once they've learnt the basics of the game.

    you just need to bring a couple of things along to enjoy the game.

    1. Some patience.

    2. Some brains.

    3. Preferably some friends.... a lot of friends.



    If you're a WWII wargamer. Then this is the game for you. Knowledge of the different weapons, armour thicknesses, gun penetraton, speed, etc, give you a BIG advantage. Want to kill a tank? Shoot at the fuel tank or ammo. Where's the fuel or ammo? Go look at a cutaway diagram... look it up in a reference book... or the web. Want to know a vehicles weaknesses? Look it up.

    This is a wargame based on the REALISTIC modelling of vehicles. To a large degree, they match historical specs.

  • Obear71 #19 6 years ago

    The review is actually a very good perspective of the game.

    I would like to point out a few things about the graphics

    Yes the graphics won’t blow you away but as of recent patches the game has had more and more fancy graphics and effects and will continue to get updated as PC's get faster. The lack of cutting edge visuals is not because the Dev team can’t do them, it’s simply a Polly count limit.

    Most games even the latest with rather large maps are just shoe box games. They can cheat and give the illusion of a large map by blocking access to areas and putting allot of low Polly high texture resolution distant objects (city’s, buildings trees etc)

    WWIIonline dose not have this luxury, you can go ANYWHERE and view every inch of the Massive half scale Western Europe map from any angle. Not only that you have a viewing distance of about 3-4km and EVERY object (bush shrub infantry tank plane cloud) has to be drawn.

    Also a complex and CPu intensive balistics modle and damage model also takes its toll on the PC, you dont just shot randomly at a tank/aircraft etc, each vehicle has its own armour thickness and weaknesses, inside are components like fuel tank, gear box, ammo, crew etc. Normal games use a hit point system, shot somthing enough and you will kill it. In WWIIonline each time you fire a round it has a velocity, type, size and an angle of impact, this will vary the result. Fire to far away at 45 degs with a small shell size and it may just bounce off. Also each vehicle has a complext pysics modle giving each aircraft/tank its unique and historical handling abilitys. WWIIonline uses more of your PC than most other games.

    Because of this and the amount of pollys your PC has to render is Massive and this is only possible by lowering the quality of the models.

    But having said that as of recent patches the game is actually looking rather nice. In fact the sunsets and sunrises and the new speed trees make the map rather Immersive. Personally, I don’t think the graphics are Awful, just lower pollys and resolution, though they are making some large strides in bringing them up to something more pleasing to the eye. In fact sometimes the game can look very nice.

    The game dose have a steep learning curve, not because it’s HARD to play. You can pretty much spawn in and kill a 5 star general on your first mission if you’re lucky.

    It’s just that the game has various aspects to learn regarding capturing towns and as the map is half scale Western Europe, it takes time to understand the map and not get lost.

    also it take time to become situational aware as every bush tree building can contain and enemy infantry, thus death is a common foe for the player who is used to leaping out of a spawn point like Rambo and trying to be a 1 man army. But once you get past the first month of play, the game becomes very addictive as there is nothing that comes this close to a true WII battle simulation.

    Put it this way, I have played and enjoyed all kinds of war games (Bf1942 bf2 Operation flashpoint counterstrike) and have enjoyed both the game and graphics. But they only hold my attention for a few months. I have been playing WWIIonline for 4 years.

    When you’re lying prone on top of the cliffs at Dinant, and you are looking 4-5 KM in the distance with your binoculars and see the advance of a 25+ tank column with trucks full of enemy infantry and towing pak guns and 88’s and the drone of high altitude bombers with fighter escort getting ready to “Soften” the target for the advancing armyits an amazing sight to watch as you franticly try and let your sides high command know that the town is about to be hit with a large scale attack.
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/05 @ 20:06

  • El_MUERkO #20 6 years ago

    I'm a flight sim nut and WW2O appealed to me, but I took off and it was sluggish on my good machine and there was a height ceiling of a few hundred feet and it all felt a bit wrong.

    Its a pity, I'd give me right leg for a game that could do WW2 with decent graphics and a healthy dose of realism, I'd almost wish for one of the big publishers to get behind the devs and spend some cash to make this game what it could be.

    Why dont the devs buy the new Operation Flashpoint engine, its looks alot prettier and can output large numbers of units and huge draw distance on realatively low spec machines.
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/05 @ 22:07

  • memoi #21 6 years ago

    "I'm a flight sim nut and WW2O appealed to me, but I took off and it was sluggish on my good machine and there was a height ceiling of a few hundred feet and it all felt a bit wrong. "

    Are you sure you're playing the same game? We fly at 6k+ metres on bombing runs over enemy territory. The map's so huge it takes us the best part of an hour to fly from our airfields to the enemy factories, avoiding the fighters on the way. If we go too low then the flak batteries will get us. Flying at a few hundred feet will only get you killed!!

  • Geckopow #22 6 years ago

    If you are interested in war, the aspects of war that is, logistics, supply, chain of command, morale and of course the fighting, all within a high physics and damage modelling virtual battlefield, then BGE is the game for you.

    What you can contribute to the war effort as either a Fighter plane, bomber, tanker, destroyer and even the lowly infantry man is really just scratching the surface of this game.

    The actual arena is massive, it renders 3-4km viewing distance for ground troops, and 7-8km for planes and navy, its the Western Front at half the scale (would still take you days to walk across the map, realtime).

    The variety of what you can do alone keeps the game in my number one spot.

    The graphics are not eye candy, but what it lacks in eye candy, it makes up with gameplay and realism. At the end of the day i want good gameplay, that is what gives value for money to a game, it keeps you coming back for more and more even after years of playing. Not too mention the fact, that the game is constantly being updated (all free for subscribers) guarantees that you get value for money!

    An easy game it aint, if you choose a infantry man, you will start off with a rifle, you need to gain some rank to get access to all the other weapons, which means you need to get kills, and that is where the gameplay and realism comes into full effect. Try and kill a german infantry running across a field as he is rushing to place a charge on a friendly tank from 200 metres out, and its damn hard. To begin with you are merely classified as the rank and file, cannonfodder, but as you become skilled with your weapon and more importantly, learn to engage with stealth, then your rank will increase, which gives you a lot more freedom, later you can create your own missions and lead men into the fray, or maybe have a go at the High Command, and lead a whole division into battle! Really the limitations are endless!

    The reason why i give the game a rating of 9, is simple, its real value for money, with constant updates (new vehicles, new elements to the gameplay itself, its not just a game, its a virtual war that is constantly evolving). It considers gameplay more important than eye candy (the graphics are not rubbish, they are actually quite good, i prefer the term functional), the community is excellent and the developers really get involved with the community too, its not everyday that you get to shoot a developer as he dons a german outfit, well it happens a lot in BGE. If you are interested in WW2, then this game will truly satify that appetite.

    Note also, the game does have some flaws, Infantry can feel a bit clunky sometimes, but as usual they are working on fixes for that and other improvements as we speak!

    If your the kinda guy, that looks for a quick fight, running around gunning down the foe, then this game is probably not for you, if you are the kinda guy that expects realism and complicated damage modelling, and has some patience to almost forget everything you learned from other FPS games, then this game is probably for you!

    I thoroughly recommend it!

  • Geckopow #23 6 years ago

    "I'm a flight sim nut and WW2O appealed to me, but I took off and it was sluggish on my good machine and there was a height ceiling of a few hundred feet and it all felt a bit wrong.

    Its a pity, I'd give me right leg for a game that could do WW2 with decent graphics and a healthy dose of realism, I'd almost wish for one of the big publishers to get behind the devs and spend some cash to make this game what it could be."

    Bombers usually fly at 12-15,000 feet in the game, the fighters patrol from all altitudes, are you sure you are talking about the same game, and the visiblity range of BGE is massive compared to Operation Flashpoint, and is not limited to 32 or 64 players, the BGE server can cater for about 10,000 players all on one server, one map, the actual game map etc...

    The game could be seen as more flight sim orientated due to its origins, the flight models are tricky, those planes are nasty to fly when your exceeding the envelope, many a time i have crashed due to blackouts (im still low rank for the Airforce though...hehe)

  • macdelta #24 6 years ago

    I believe pretty much everything have been commented by other members. But I would like to comment som minor stuff.

    I started playing this game on the 9th of december 2003, and I have been doing it at least 4 days a week during this time. In may 2004 I joined my squad (22nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment, and sres is a fellow squadmember), and this is a squad I love fighting with. We have some of the best officers in the gameworld, but that's not what's important. What's important are the following. These men will do anything for eachother, and that include helping out new players. We have a lot of great squads in this game; BKB, 1SC, 40 Commando, and a h*ll of a lot more. (Excuse my rough language, but I'm just a grunt.) And all of these squads are helping new players. Usually they will start chatting with greentags, (new players) while they encoutner them and bring them along for the action. I do it myself and I enjoy every minute where I get the chance to help somebody.

    Today I am one of two Recruitment Officers in the squad, the 2nd one are Spikey) and we both try to include as many new players, and help them as much as we can. Even if it will reduce our fighting in the battles.

    I'm not a very good player. I stink as pilot, tanker and in the navy( so I only play as infantry). But I do enjoy this game, because it makes me a part of a team, and this team are effecient as a whole.

    Macdelta
    Recruitment Officer
    22nd Mechanized Infantry Regiment
    2nd Armoured Brigade

  • jadeia #25 6 years ago

    Very good concept, but the graphics let it down a lot, especially when compared to whats available. The odd thing though, is that although you have terrible graphics, it still requires state of the art graphics cards.

    I paid up (by the way there are TWO payments required to start, 1) Membership, 2) Subscription - ouch), and then found my 64meg card wasnt enough.

    They recommend 128 Gfx cards as a minimum, which is ridiculous considering that I can play games like HalfLife 2 and WoW but cannot play this game?

    In my opinion - this game is only for the die hard "wanna be part of something cool" clans that reminisce about their commodore 64's or XGA IBM's.

    You will get bored quickly of this one, though you will find the community is one of the most mature around - which may be enough to bring you in.

  • Sres #26 6 years ago

    I'd be interested in seeing a screenshot of WoW or HL2 from a 64bit gfx card would look like, I can't believe it would look that much different compared to this game.

    As for the graphics, lots of die hards will come in here and spout the usual, the size, the polys and so forth, but the fact is the game looks crap because of the textures. Things are gradually being improved but it is slow when the game is being run on a tight budget.

    Recently I've been playing a lot of BF2, what is missing from that game is community. It's fast and furious, you hadly have time to chat or discuss what you are going to do next and this is where BE takes a step above games like BF2.

    Technically BF2 is a fantastic game, don't get me wrong I enjoy playing the game, but the sheer frustration of not being able to speak to someone less than 5m away from me, specifically about a sniper infuriates me.

    BE is slower, a lot slower, you can have conversations with the person next to you, it is basically the same chat system you get with a MMORPG like EQ2/WoW although more restrictive on the number of chat channels you can have.

    Graphically I'm not going to BS you, the game is poor and is a huge resource hog, however if you can look past the graphics, the gameplay is there, many people struggle to cope with the game and that is a problem that the developers have addressed, however they still don't have it nailed down correctly at this time.

    I would recommend that everyone trys the game who is borderline, because in the end you'll never know what you missed.

  • killalooper #27 2 years ago

    wow neuroniky i just started eve a month ago and was thinking about starting this game to but that a no eve takes alota time

  • Jellybrain #28 2 years ago

    WWII Online is something different, and to that end, it will not appeal to all.

    I used to spend 40-50 quid a month on gaming software, would get bored and go bye some more.

    I started playing WWII Online in 2002 shortly after its release and have not bought another game since. The variation in missions and objectives is awesome and holds my attention.

    I am a proffesional who works long hours. When I get home and have put the kids to bed and ignored the missus for an hour in front of the telly, I turn the game on and am transported to a world where real life goes away for a while. I am happy to lay in a bush waiting for an enemy inf to wander by for two hours because I am imersed in the game. You just cant do that with many others.

    I am in a squad (22nd mech) and have been with them for 5 years now. Before that I was with BKB and found both fun and rewarding. Team speak is a must for total immersion and I would recommend a track IR for those who like to look around and see what's coming.

    There is much work to do on this game. V1.31 is now released and WOW, what a difference. Weather and higher polly graphics are only a couple of the many new refinements.

    This game does a lot and takes time to learn. I only get to play for 3 or so hours a week now but have an X52 flight stick fully mapped in all three modes and can remember what every button does and when to use it.

    Take the time to learn the game and YOU WILL be rewarded with a game that is second to none.