World War II Online: Blitzkrieg

Developer Cornered Rat Software is attempting nothing less than simulating the entire Western Front of World War II, letting thousands of players duke it out simultaneously. All of Europe is represented at half the scale, providing an enormous amount of terrain for players to conquer and defend. There are a number of strategic points, such as airfields, that players must take and hold to gain and maintain supremacy. To accomplish these goals, both the Axis and Allied teams have access to a variety of resources, ranging from basic foot soldiers to tanks, bombers, and fighter aircraft. A planned patch will add naval units to the game, letting budding admirals command everything from landing craft to aircraft carriers. The design team has taken pains to model everything in great detail, and the experience of flying or commanding a vehicle seemed particularly authentic.

It should be noted that players can't simply jump into the best vehicle and drive or fly to the frontlines. They must earn the right to use these valuable assets. The war is always raging, whether you are logged in or not, and a player's success in missions can lead to promotions within the game. Beginning infantrymen can only gain status by successfully participating in the raids commanders order. With a sufficient amount of prestige, players can begin to plan offensive and defensive actions and allocate troops, vehicles, and aircraft. The game is designed to really reward skill, letting the most capable players become virtual generals if they choose. Of course, players always have the right to stay in the trenches with the rest of the grunts if that's how they prefer to play, but it's nice to see that talented team players will reap appropriate rewards.

The game's biggest asset could become its most damning handicap. Aside from purely defensive structures and guns, there are no AI-controlled opponents. That means every plane, soldier, vehicle, and ship you see in the game has a human lurking behind the controls. It also means that if the game doesn't reach a certain level of popularity, there will be very little to do. Judging from the look and feel of the game at E3, popularity shouldn't be a problem, and I anticipate spending much of my free time helping my fellow teammates secure our objectives. Here's hoping it's worth the $10 monthly fee. --T. Byrl Baker

World War II Online is a multiplayer online game you play via the Internet. A stable Internet connection is required to play. Strategy First charges a small monthly fee for this game, separate from your Internet service provider access charges. The first month of this fee is included in the purchase price of this package. You must provide a valid credit card to register and play. After your first month, you can use your credit card to buy more time.

While the game doesn't have the eye candy many people have come to expect nowadays, it's the playability and community that draws many. How many people buy a game and will still play it a year or even 6 months later? Not many games come to mind that can do this yet WWIIOL can and does. Every month the developers release a new patch that expands the terrain, adds new vehicles, and increases the strategic and tactical depth of the game. Just recently the 1.6 patch was released and this brought the infantry up to today's first-person shooter standards with recoils, reloads and enhanced cover throughout the towns. Things will only get better too, currently the developers are working on a new capture system that will end the frustrating flag rushes that plague the game. Attrition is also in the works, giving players that ability to wear down an enemy before making a final, decisive assault on a town.

I leave you with this, how many games have you played where you have enjoyed the experience of full combined-arms military operations with real people instead of a dumb, scripted AI? How many games let you play as infantry, then let you jump to a plane and mix it up with a dozen friendly and enemy planes knowing that below you a full battle is being fought for control of a strategic town. How many MAC tank games have played where a group of friendly infantry rescued your vehicle from a group of approaching sappers? I can honestly say this game is what wargamers have waited and hoped for since the beginning of computer games; a virtual battlefield combining ground, air and sea.


Have IBM version and love it   November 17, 2001
First of all this game has had its ruff times. When it first came out it was incomplete. Since then the company has worked tirelessly to getting this game up to speed. The game that you get in the box is not the finished version. New patches are always introduced every couple of months (somtimes every couple of weeks) that adds new and improved game play. I have had this game since june 12th and have never had any problems with it. My roomate just got this game a week ago because he was tired of having to sit and watch me play. He has minimum computer specs (cept for 256 mb of ram, which is actually the min) and even a 400mhz processor and it works fine.
Dymanically ww2 online is in a league of its own. I only play the allied side, with them I have the choice of being; 3 types of infantry, 4 kinds of airplanes(including one bomber) 3 types of tanks, a naval ship ( only one so far but it rocks, 8 guns that eat tanks alive) and this will still be added to in future patches. On top of all this you can multicrew tanks, ships and the bomber. If you dont know what multicrewing is, its when two people use the same vehicle. In the bomber one person flys while the other is the bombadier and the tail gunner.
The area of land in this game is huge, and the player numbers are rising into the thousands. They answer questions and let us in on the future advancements that will take place. They even take suggestions from the players.
This is a dynamic game world that is unrivaled and will continue to expand with no end in sight. Jump in and have a blast and ill see ya on the battlefield. If you have any questions about the game I'd be happy to answer them honestly. I love this game and want to get more people playing it for even better battles than we have now. The more the merrier.