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Joram -> RE: Player Reviews (1/11/2006 10:47:18 PM)
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Day 1 player here though I've let my subscription lapse. Figured I'd give these forums a point of view for someone who played this for 3+ years. Left because after 3 years with anything, I kinda get bored with it. Obviously I'm single. :) This is a stream of conciousness mainly but will try to keep it organized. I will start with one statement, this game is unlike any other online game that you have played - guaranteed. So ...
In the beginning, there was lag, then Killer said "Let there be Terrain". Then the server crashed. After about a week of shotty play, it finally stabilized but without the terrain....
Jumping ahead to the review, the biggest thing you should be aware of is this is not an historical simulation of the Battle of France. Originally marketed (perhaps the proper words would be "strongly implied" though the devs would never admit to that either) as a re-creation of the Battle of France, it never really lived up to that. That's a good and bad thing. Now at least, they don't pretend it's a re-creation.
Originally, the Germans romped over the allied forces time and time again which was appeasing to my historical sentiments but frankly, I was on the German side more often than not. The Allieds got tired with the super slow French tanks (albeit with really thick armor) or the super fast British A13 but with paper thin armor whilst the Germans had well balanced Panzer 3s as their main battle tank. Even though the Germans couldn't stand up to a British Matty or French Char, those vehicles were rare enough (and really slow moving) that they rarely were able to stem the German tide.
So naturally, people initially liked to play the germans (who also had an advantage in the air due to flight times for one) and the developers decided that they should make a development plan so each side had different vehicles (exquisitely modelled for the most part) but on a strategic scale was more equitable. So, through much development time, they started adding more vehicles (in "Tiers") such that the forces were more balanced in ability. This is why you see strange things such as the Stuart and M10 (which was added after I left - damnit!) for the French.
The High Commands of each side, made of actual players, actually choose how to research so in each campaign, you may not necessarily get the same vehicles, at least not in the same proportions because they control production too. It's a cool feature but sometimes it leaves the everyday grunt wondering when he is going to get a vehicle he wants!
Now with that aside, what the game does (or did) was allow people to fight over historically accurate battlegrounds with historically accurate vehicles (though there's always someone saying something is wrong!) in the 1940's era. If you can accept the fact that it's not an historical simulation of WW2 in any other regards, then you will probably enjoy the game quite a bit.
As many people have said, there can be instances of waiting long amounts of time with little or no action. Thankfully, the designers have enabled a system where you can spawn closer to battle. No more 30 minute runs from your base to the frontline just to get shot in the head! Though that problem isn't completely eliminated. Vehicles still need to be spawned from forward bases (which is usually about a 5 minute drive to the action) or even rear towns (where the drive can be up to 30 minutes depending on how far back you go). Planes still need to fly to their target unless your field is being "vulched" in which case you probably won't make it off the tarmac. Thankfully, the designers added a lot of automatic and player AA guns (AA guns is one of my favorite classes by the way) so this wasn't as common as it used to be. There's even a navy portion though when I left, that consisted of river boats, destroyers, and a cargo ship for amphibious operations.
I've probably highlighted the bad more than the good here not because I don't like the game, it's more that I don't have the time to get into the ton of things to do in the game. Strategically, it's like a super-duper battle chess. Where the chess pieces are the infantry, tanks, armored cars, fighters, bombers, paratroopers and naval forces. When the high command issues a target, then a local commander gives the order and organizes the attack (hopefully, naturally some commanders are better than others), then you, the player, are the piece that goes and does the fighting. If you are part of a squad, your leader will organize the pieces and plan the route of attack.
You can make it as realistic (or conversely gamey) as you want to be. You can use cover, smoke and deception to try to capture the objectives (each town has several preliminary , or you can just go charging in like some mad russian-wave attack and hope someone survives. Some of the coolest moments are when cresting a hill watching a major attack unfold below you in three major directions. Some of the worst is when an enemy has your spawn so thoroughly camped, you can't even make it out of the barracks or motorpool. You can fight in formations with tanks and planes or just go it alone (though unless an ace, you will most likely die rather quickly!).
Lastly, graphically, the game is just "ok". It wasn't meant to be a graphic blockbuster but it actually isn't bad either. It is certainly a lot prettier than it used to be! Building walls often have clipping issues but the world is truly three dimensional so it adds a lot of hiding places for that sniper in town! Trees do stop bullets but that won't help if there is shrapnel or concussive effect coming around the side. There are no such thing as hitpoints, it's not usually fast paced like BF2 or whatever though you can get into some pretty intense door to door action in the cities. The map is humongous. It would take you all day to walk across the map (you are after all walking across Western Germany and France).
The game has come a long way since launch in 2000, let me tell you, and this re-launch will hopefully spark some new interest in it and allow them to develop other theatres which will add flavor to the game. Ok, stream of conciousness over!
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