Its in a league of its own. Its more on the simulation shelf but it keeps in all the fun. You have to use the iron sights to aim, no corsshairs, realistic recoil ect. You can also rest your gun on the surface of something to reduce sway and recoil (a window ledge, corner of a burnt out truck, sandbags) it does this auto so you dont have to bind a button to it. This encourages the use of cover which you need to use if you want to progress. The gamemode is to capture all the points on the map. The map varies for example one map may have the soviets attacking and the germans having to defend all the points or both teams must capture all the points on the map. The maps are bigger than DoD:S and some will include tanks, which are very good and fun to use while still keeping the realism aspect there (shells take 10 - 30 seconds depending on the tank to reload, you need a driver and a commanded/gunner to be sucsessful)
If you played the mod (which in my opinion was awesome) you will love the retail version, it is a different game with the core gameplay the same. Basically think of it as rainbow six in ww2 with fluid movement and without all the planning.