Players looking for a fast-paced shoot 'em up should look elsewhere. While
World War II Online does have more than its share of pitched battles, the
designers made a decided effort to make the game realistic as possible. You can
run out of ammunition in a battle, your gun may jam, your driver may be killed -
these are things action gamers do not generally have to deal with. Each vehicle
is modeled realistically - some tanks are lumbering slugs with a propensity to
roll over if driven too fast, while others are nimble but crack like an egg when
hit by a barrage of AP rounds. The planes are also realistically modeled and
take some practice just to get off the ground - engine torque can be a real
bear. Luckily, though, WWIIO provides an online practice mode which will allow
you to get a feel for each vehicle without having to do so under enemy fire.
Unfortunately, WWIIO is not without its problems. First of all, you need to
be prepared for some very long load times. It takes a while for the game to load
and connect to a server, and then you'll be in store for another wait before
entering a mission. Be prepared to do something else while the game loads or you
might find yourself losing patience.
There are also issues with in-game load times. Sometimes when switching
between the driver and gunner positions in a tank, for example, you will have to
wait so long for the new screen to load that in the mean time you have been
destroyed or you find that your tank has rolled all the way through town and is
now in a river. Cycling through all the views you use before heading off to
battle tends to alleviate this problem, but it just adds to the delay before you
can actually get into combat.
WWIIO seems that it was released a bit too early - many of the weapons
described in the game manual are not available yet, player stats are not
tracked, and the gameworld is not yet persistent. That the game is still a work
in progress is evidenced by the quite large patches which the player is
periodically forced to download before playing.
The game's great scale also occasionally creates problems. While the
designers have done a pretty good job with the spawning system, occasionally you
will find yourself far from the action. You'll sometimes find yourself traveling
for twenty minutes or so just trying to get to the battle.
It will be interesting to see how the game develops over the next few months.
There are numerous design issues with trying to model a conflict on such a grand
scale and the designers' approach to these will have a profound effect on the
game. For example, there are currently no controls on the units players select -
many battles consist of dozens of heavy tanks going toe-to-toe with only a
smattering of infantry running around and a fighter or two circling overhead.
When a tank is destroyed or runs out of ammo, the player then respawns and
returns to the fray. Not a very realistic portrayal of combat in 1940 for a game
that strives for so much realism. Also, the game's strategic elements have not
come into play yet. How will command be handled? How many generals will be
allowed per server? Will switching sides be forbidden to prevent plans from
being leaked to the enemy?
It will also be interesting to see how players will handle in-mission
coordination once the gameworld is persistent. Coordination will be vital
against well-defended targets, but will players be willing to form-up into
squads of infantry or tanks? Will airstrikes be coordinated with the ground
effort or will pilots simply fly around on their own looking for things to
shoot?
A game of this type on a scale this large is not easy to pull off. So far,
the game's designers have done a fairly good job given the magnitude of the
game. How the game develops over the next few months will go a long way in
determining whether or not it will be successful. For now, players with some
patience and an interest in World War II should definitely give the game a try,
especially since the monthly service fee has been suspended for the time being.
Despite its problems, the game can be a lot of fun. However, others will
probably want to wait a little while until some of the kinks are worked out.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 62%.
Currently, the game is a labor of love - it takes a lot of patience, but can be
rewarding and very enjoyable. If promised features are added soon, this could be
a good game.
System Requirements: 400 MHz Pentium II CPU, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB
Video RAM, 8x CD-ROM, 300 MB Hard Drive Space, Mouse.
« Page 1
