World War II Online: Battleground Europe
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist
World War II Online: Battleground Europe is a realistic MMOFPS made by Playnet, and is set in Western Europe. The game has hundreds of towns and cities in a huge, zone-less map where battles rage for days and campaigns for weeks. Choose to fight between the axis or allies against thousands of players, gain ranks and access to new unlocked equipment and permissions. Capturing towns and cities to gain control over the map is the main focus of this game. With over 100 weapons and vehicles accurately modeled and utilizing military-grade physics, every soldier can make a measurable contribution in the battle for victory.
A Push With No Luck
‘It started out with two players; my CO and I were scouting an enemy city to gather intelligence for the high command. The high command consists of a player-run group that is responsible for strategic management over several forces. They had been chosen by their alliance to come up with the best strategy for an upcoming campaign against the local enemy strongholds. So my CO and I were lying in a little bush between the trees to see what the German force might be planning. We have been lying there for half an hour reporting important intelligence to the high command. After a while the higher command decided it was time to strike first and take the city. Soon forces were mobilized around the zone to prepare for an all out raid.
People were getting into Mobile Spawning Trucks and tanks to prepare for the upcoming attack. In the meanwhile my CO and I were still scouting the city in the bushes and a few minutes after the high command announced the attack we saw several enemy infantry spawning in the city to scout the area. That meant we had a spy in the allies that was reporting every attack to the axis. Nonetheless the High Command decided to launch the attack anyway and everyone rushed in. Because we were on the higher ground behind the trees we could see everything coming, including the enemy armor that was rolling in. After ten minutes the battle started and hell broke loose. Bullets were flying everywhere and we saw a lot of people rushing in and die. In the meanwhile we were killing several enemy infantry that were attempting to scout our forward position.
After an hour of trying to get into the city our army was pushed back behind the mountain and my CO and I were no longer able to hide amidst the chaos. Before we could react my CO was downed by an instant kill headshot. I was shot in the foot and attempted to limp back to find new cover in the surrounding forest. I lost a lot of health and could no longer sprint. That meant I had to fight for my life and kill as many enemies as possible. I managed to kill off three enemy infantry before I was surrounded and killed. This meant me and my CO had to spawn at the MS and help the push into the city.
Things were looking grim due to our lack of air support and high command wasn’t willing to expend the fuel necessary to launch such a distant raid. This meant we only had tanks to help us push in. After 2 hours of trying to get closer some infantry managed to get into the city and take over a depot. We didn’t have the resources to keep this push up and couldn’t afford to lose this stronghold. Unfortunately before reinforcements arrived, our forward soldiers were routed from the depot. In desperation we made a final all or nothing push towards the enemy’s HQ in the center of the city. The fight went on for another several hours and after a while the high command decided to retreat and think of another plan. This meant the attack was over and we weren’t able to take over the city at the current time.
When you first get into World War II Online, you are asked to choose your alliance. You can join the ranks of the French or British army. These two armies make up the Allies and fight to free Europe from the Axis. If you feel like taking over Europe you can join the forces of Germany. Each of these nations has their own wide variety of equipment and map control and thus is used in several different missions. When you have made your choice you can then select between three different personas. You can select to join up with the army, air force or navy. All these personas have different unique playable vehicles that will help you to gain access and take over a town or city.
Gameplay
This game is all about getting control on the map and gaining towns and cities. To capture a city you have to take over various buildings such as depots and other facilities in the city. This is done by the infantry that pushes into the specific buildings; if the infantry manages to get into the building that needs to be captured they will have to wait in order to take over the building. The speed of capturing a building depends of the amount of people that are inside. To get into the city however takes a lot of effort, not only do you need the help of different forces but you need to understand what the enemy tactics are. You cannot spawn in a random place and just simply walk into the city. This is not how it’s done. The attacking force needs some serious teamwork to get into the desired city.
This is where the high command coordinates your air force and navy to assist the infantry units. First of all the attacking force must set up a Mobile Spawn (MS), the MS will help the infantry spawn as nearby as possible to get into the city and attack the defending force. You are also able to get into a tank and help the infantry push the city; these tanks can be the key to get a successful push or to clear the way of enemy infantry and armors. You can also use airplanes to bomb the city or attack enemy airplanes that are up in the sky defending their territory. You can do this alone or with multiple people. If the defending force has too many tanks rolling in or out of the city you can use Anti-Tank artillery weapons to bring the tanks down. Or if there are too many airplanes in the sky and the allied force has trouble getting nearby the city you can choose to get Anti-Aircraft artillery. This artillery will be able to shoot airplanes from a long range to help the allied airplanes bomb the city. These weapons will have to get towed into position ahead of time, as having the infantry push them can take hours moving between battlefields. These weapons are towed by the MS Truck; The MS truck is also useful for housing infantry to rush them to the front lines.
True commanders must understand the strengths and weaknesses of their armed forces to capture and hold points. Let’s take a closer look at what is available.
Infantry
When you get into a mission as infantry you will start up as a normal rifleman. You are able to gain ranks by capturing buildings and killing players. The rifle is the most used weapon because of its great range and power, so don’t think you are weak when you start off with this weapon. However it takes time and practice to learn how to control this weapon to land your shot. Because this game is a realistic simulation you would have to learn to use your map as effectively as possible. If you see an enemy you can user your radar to gauge how far away he is. If you know the range you can change up the range on your rifle to land the perfect shot. If you decide to just take a guess and fire away from a far range you would have to calculate how much the bullet will lower down and where the enemy infantry is going. Don’t feel bad if you don’t manage to kill a single person in the first few days, this game requires a lot of practice before you understand the game mechanics. Once you understand how the game works and have learned typical enemy mentality you will have no problem shooting enemies from several different ranges and areas. After gaining several ranks you will be able to use more weapons, all these weapons require a different tactic to play with it. Some of them are specially made to take down tanks, so think carefully about how you want to engage your targets.
Tanks
Tanks are maybe the most useful unit to choose to get into a city and help the push. Tanks can clear the area of other enemy armor and help the infantry get way into the city to take control. There are several different tanks that you will able to pick and unlock when gaining ranks. These tanks have all unique abilities; some of them are much faster in riding to the front line and some of them are able to shoot from a much further range. There are also tanks specialized in rushing into the city and finishing off the nearby enemy infantry.
Airplanes
The airplane is by far the hardest unit to play in World War II Online: Battleground Europe. This unit can be played with your keyboard or a joystick. However I would advise you to use the joystick because it will make the flight much easier. The keyboard will take a long time to master and is not recommended. There are several kinds of airplanes that will help you take control of the city, classified as either bombers or fighters. Some of the more advanced planes require multiple people to control the plane at once, making things much more challenging and fun.
Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Tank Artillery
The artillery is the most useful in supporting the airplanes and tanks. The artillery is usually set up at maximum distance around the cities to keep them away from the constant combat. The artillery is able to provide support from a long range with heavy weapons to take down airplanes or to bomb the city. Proper timing of artillery shelling usually makes or breaks a campaign.
Graphics
The graphics in World War II Online: Battleground Europe are not the best; this is because of the fact that this game can played with and versus thousands of players. This means your computer will not only have to load the environment such as the trees, grass, and buildings but also the people that are playing nearby. The game has a lot of action going on such as airplane fights in the sky, bombing and other explosions, tanks and trucks rolling in and out and enemy infantry fighting. This will make the game demand a proper computer to be played on.
This game has a lot of graphical visualizations that will make the recommended system requirements rather high. It is recommended that you will need to have at least a 3 GHz dual core processor with 4 gigabytes of memory with a Geforce GTX 250 or Radeon HD 4850 or better video card. If you have no clue about the specs of your system or what I just said, just know you will need a medium-high rated computer to be able to run this game smoothly.
Conclusion
World War II Online: Battleground Europe is a realistic simulation of World War II with a lot of action. I’ve never played an MMOFPS with this kind of attention to detail. Unlike most MMOs, gear won’t dictate your success so much as the coordination you can build with your squadron. It can take quite a while to defend or attack a city, and that gives this game a realistic feeling. I have been playing this game for several years on and off and have joined a squad that has various players that have been in the army. I’ve seen friends and other members joining the high command ranks and grow as an excellent commander over the allies.
The battles I have attended have been one hell of a fun time, and I have been given the opportunity to see it all. I have jumped out of airplanes, rode a tank against impossible odds, and carpet bombed a city in the name of freeing Europe from the Germans. Personally this is the best shooter I have played, not because of the action but also the dedication it requires to actually take over some cities. Have you ever wanted to rewrite history? World War II Online: Battleground Europe is by far the best chance you’ll find online to do just that. I have had loads of fun in this game and recommend everyone to try this game out.
