[F2P MMOFPS]World War 2 online: Battleground Europe

[MouzurX]

Game: World War II Online: Battleground Europe.
Developer: Cornered Rat Software.
Gametype: MMOFPS.

Gamedescription:
- Realistic FPS.
- Various types of units: infantry, armored vehicles, planes and ships.
- Tactical and player organised gameplay, no AI.
- Huge fights with more than 100 players in 1 area at a time.
- 1 server/instance, no loading.

How to get started:
Go to this link for download instructions and free trial.

Free trial without restrictions lasts 14 days, then free play with restrictions.

When in-game, join an active squad(clan) right away. They will help you with your first steps, the game is very hard. For example there is no crosshairs for infantry.

Video's:
First day walkthrough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZxUN-76kcc

Gameplay compilation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bGzb2Nbx3g

 

[lupi]

Played this when it first came out many moons ago. Had a blast for the first 2 months till they decided to start charging monthly. Probably be interested enough in the new equipment added to at least load this up.

 

[MouzurX]

The game has changed enormously since the release, I still love it(joined in 2005).

 

[Canun]

I was a zero day player, and even paid the monthly fee for over 2yrs. It just got old over time.

 

[imaheadcase]

Its %90 just air battles now. It gets boring real fast.

 

[MouzurX]

90% air battles how do you mean?
Theres plenty of ground battles.
Not really get what you mean by that.

This is the allied time on mission % of the last 3 days...

Anyway guys just try it out, its free.

 

[MouzurX]

 

[imaheadcase]

90% air battles how do you mean?
Theres plenty of ground battles.
Not really get what you mean by that.

This is the allied time on mission % of the last 3 days...

Anyway guys just try it out, its free.

I mean, its like %90 of air battles. I played for a 7 day trial and it was boring as hell. Run a mile takes like 30mins, die in one shot from a shot another mile away.

No real excitement in the game when the world is to big to support the low number of players.

Most people just decide to play air battles in the end. That graph represents prob most people on trial because you start as infantry.

Heck most people don't even care about objectives, they just want to kill other people.

 

[MouzurX]

I mean, its like %90 of air battles. I played for a 7 day trial and it was boring as hell. Run a mile takes like 30mins, die in one shot from a shot another mile away.

No real excitement in the game when the world is to big to support the low number of players.

Most people just decide to play air battles in the end. That graph represents prob most people on trial because you start as infantry.

Heck most people don't even care about objectives, they just want to kill other people.

You went to the wrong places then. Its hard getting used to the game in the begin since you can spawn all over the map but there isn't action at all the towns at the same time.

"If you run for a mile you are doing something wrong" is 1 of the first things i tell new people in-game 😛

You can basically get ingame and spawn into action in 2 minutes with CoD-like fights(aka spawn-> kill 2 guys -> die within 1 minute -> spawn) if you want.

 

[Arsinek]

The concept of this game is great but it needs a different developer. I tried it for a little while, taking into consideration the lack of development muscle behind it its a decent try.

Give it to Infinity Ward! =)

 

[MouzurX]

The concept of this game is great but it needs a different developer. I tried it for a little while, taking into consideration the lack of development muscle behind it its a decent try.

Give it to Infinity Ward! =)

The concept is amazing yes, but i have to agree the developer is not big enough to make this game as good as it can be.
I still like it very much though.

Its so diverse and i think the biggest aspect to me is: massive + tactical teamwork + WW2 + FPS.

Anyway as posted, part of it is free to play now and theres the 14 day full access trial so if you liked it you should try it again.

 

[goobernoodles]

I played it for a few years. Pretty awesome game at times. Teamwork is the base of most awesome times I've had. Playing with a group is a must to experience everything the game has to offer. The overall realism is fantastic.

Huge learning curve though - you have to learn not only how to not die every time, but also learning to configure your controllers can be tedious. Learning how campaigns operate can take some time as well. FB's, cap zones, RTB's etc...

Every now and then I have the urge to re-sub for a month to see if I still like it, but... I always end up feeling too lazy to try and figure out how to configure everything the way I used to have it.

 

[MouzurX]

Kick.

Wednesdays and sundays EU tz evenings show very much organised gameplay. Attacks with 60+ people coordinated to attack 1 town, if you dig that this is your game. Tank columns, air flying in groups of 4, infantry rushing a building together.

Don't pay attention to the graphics, you get used to them.

 

[imaheadcase]

You went to the wrong places then. Its hard getting used to the game in the begin since you can spawn all over the map but there isn't action at all the towns at the same time.

"If you run for a mile you are doing something wrong" is 1 of the first things i tell new people in-game 😛

You can basically get ingame and spawn into action in 2 minutes with CoD-like fights(aka spawn-> kill 2 guys -> die within 1 minute -> spawn) if you want.

Well if i'm doing it wrong, everyone that week of play was doing it wrong. Thats what everyone was doing. In 7 day trial, i tried to like it, but it was so boring. Half that week was wasted finding action.

 

[MouzurX]

Just look at my stats for time on missions(minutes)
http://csr.wwiionline.com/scripts/services/persona/sorties.jsp?page=2&pid=533163#content

It just falls down on knowing where to spawn.

1. Look where the Attack objectives and Defense Objectives are(towns with flashing red/green rectangle)
2. Look where there is double EWS(early warning system), these are the orange infantry/tank icons under towns. The icons will show if there are much enemy units on friendly towns and friendly units on enemy towns.
3. Look where the enemy can spawn, when you attack a town you can spawn on 3 spots:

1. The forward base, is a big spawnpoint between 2 towns, click on the town the enemy is attacking from to see where the FB is.
2. Mobile Spawn Points, these can be set up to 300m from an enemy town.
3. Spawnables, each town has depots(buildings) wich are small spawnpoints. If say i am attacking dinant from ciney i can captue the dinant-ciney depot and spawn in the depot.

When you know where the enemy fbs are, draw a line from that fb to the town, along this line the main attack will be coming.
​

4. When spawned in, look for marks and death-skulls on the map. Marks are made by players saying they spotted something there, death skulls are put on the map when a friendly dies, aka enemies nearby.


Thats basically the 4 steps i do automatically.

 

[Chelan]

I’ve been a lurker at Anandtech for a long time, but this thread got me to finally register…

I appreciate MouzurX making a case for this game and politely responding with good information and opinion. I was a Battleground Europe player for a couple of years until 2007 and was off until I recently re-subscribed last month because I had so many good experiences. I left the game because of the lack of time between work, family, and grad school, but I always checked into see what was going on with the game development. I finally got back on last month and am going through another steep learning curve, along with digging out my joystick and other controls, since so many improvements had been implemented.

Due to time constraints, I can only play one game with any regularity and I selected Battleground Europe over the flashier titles because there’s so much potential to the game and when a squad is working together, the game totally rocks. I couldn’t agree more with the comments from “Goobernoodles “about the realism which makes me forget that the graphics, while better, is not the best.

Anyone interested in a trying the game out needs to try with an open mind and be ready to learn a few things to really see the potential in the game and how fun the teamwork can be. Yes, the developer is a small company and I would like to see them do many things differently and have new features ready yesterday. However, I feel like my investment of $15.00 per month is more than worth it and will stay on to see where this game and community goes.
Best regards

 

[TurtleCrusher]

This screams viral marketing.

 

[Chelan]

This screams viral marketing.

My comments are the real deal. If my positive comments help market this game to people who are interested in taking a look, so be it. They can decide for themselves. Anyway, anyone in marketing isn't going to write using my prose. 😀

I don't write many comments on web sites but I was impressed enought with Battlefield Europe as of now to add my experiences to thins thread since I returned after a 3-years off.

Cheers from Chelan, Washington

 

[Maximilian]

So is this like bad company 2 or...?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I'll be honest and up front about this game. It's pretty cool that the battlefields are so damn huge, but action is so few and far between, it gets real boring. I did play this for a month when my brother was playing it (he still does) and I only registered about 50 or so kills. I seemed like once every half hour or so did I come across any action, even in my squad.

And to Chelan, because you registered to this site jsut for this posts, it reeks even MORE of viral marketing. Just saying. We get a ton of marketing here (more than most realize) and things like this are pretty easy to spot out. I am willing to bet the devs are hurting for more revenue after their engine iverhaul, why not market online in a forum for their MMO game? It makes sense, which is why most here should think critically of this.

 

[Chelan]

Scholzpdx,

Appreciate your comments and I see your point. Not to veer too far off topic, but I’ve been a lurker for some years on Anand’s forums since I don’t have nearly the level of expertise most of the posters have regarding technical matters, so I’m not much of a subject matter expert, which is why I didn’t register until now.

Best regards from Cannon Beach (here to thaw out for a few days…)

 

[MouzurX]

I'm just a regular player FYI.
Been playing from 2005 on and off.

Just like to sent out the fact that theres plenty of opportunity to try the game for free now and i'm willing to guide people around.

When people try it we can discuss it here.

 

[MouzurX]

I'll be honest and up front about this game. It's pretty cool that the battlefields are so damn huge, but action is so few and far between, it gets real boring. I did play this for a month when my brother was playing it (he still does) and I only registered about 50 or so kills. I seemed like once every half hour or so did I come across any action, even in my squad.

Starting out is really hard but as you get into it you can get basically get as much kills as you get in a game like CoD in 10 min.

Especially the first kill usually is hard to get, its really a game you need to adjust to because of the 1-2 shots you're dead thing and the open spacing.

As soon as you really get how the spawning system works and where the enemy spawnpoints are it goes really fast.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

The concept is amazing yes, but i have to agree the developer is not big enough to make this game as good as it can be.
I still like it very much though.

Its so diverse and i think the biggest aspect to me is: massive + tactical teamwork + WW2 + FPS.

Anyway as posted, part of it is free to play now and theres the 14 day full access trial so if you liked it you should try it again.

I actually referenced WW2OL under another thread. I don't care who develops it, but what I like about WW2OL is the huge interconnection of maps you can fight over. What I don't like is the ambient feeling of combat, it's almost as if they were trying to be a detailed sim rather than run and gun. It's hard to explain, but I just don't have fun playing WW2OL even though in theory I love the overall concept. Mix WW2OL's map with Battlefield gameplay and you'd have a real winner. I don't care if Cornered Rat, EA or Joe Blow Studios developed it but WW2OL does need updated for 2011 and for the kind of gameplay we all prefer today. The map as it is now is good, but if mixed with Battlefield gameplay someone could literally drive their DPV from Amsterdam to Southern France if they wanted to, which is something that's not exactly easy to do(if it's even possible) in WW2Online.

I'd also think they might want to condense it into battle area that's about 2/3 of what their current warzone is now, which would still be HUGE, and that only to force more ferocious combat into happening.

 

[Canun]

I actually referenced WW2OL under another thread. I don't care who develops it, but what I like about WW2OL is the huge interconnection of maps you can fight over. What I don't like is the ambient feeling of combat, it's almost as if they were trying to be a detailed sim rather than run and gun. It's hard to explain, but I just don't have fun playing WW2OL even though in theory I love the overall concept. Mix WW2OL's map with Battlefield gameplay and you'd have a real winner. I don't care if Cornered Rat, EA or Joe Blow Studios developed it but WW2OL does need updated for 2011 and for the kind of gameplay we all prefer today. The map as it is now is good, but if mixed with Battlefield gameplay someone could literally drive their DPV from Amsterdam to Southern France if they wanted to, which is something that's not exactly easy to do(if it's even possible) in WW2Online.

I'd also think they might want to condense it into battle area that's about 2/3 of what their current warzone is now, which would still be HUGE, and that only to force more ferocious combat into happening.

The folks at Cornered Rat are all hardcore simmers. All the equipment is historically as accurate as they can make it. I remember driving in a PZIII and running into a Char B1-bis. You could litterally shoot at it in the front all day long and never damage it. You had to shoot one of it's weak points to take it out. They model the rounds, trajectory, and penetration as accurately as possible.