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World War II Online: World War II Online Trial Offer
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MMORPG.com has partnered with PlayNet to help them promote their newest free trial offer for their award winning WWII MMORPG "Battleground Europe".
Battleground Europe is an internet-based, massively multiplayer combat simulation based in the timeframe and territories of World War II. The map encompasses all of Belgium and Luxembourg as well as parts of southern Holland, far western Germany, northern France, and even southeastern England.
Want to try it free for 14 days? CLICK HERE
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Comments
why didnt they have a trial like 3yrs ago....
i remember when this, i so wanted to play but it was like, you had to buy to play....
if this is the same game....
i'm all about killin nazis' but they lagged on the trial issue back in '02ish....
gotta prep up for vanguard, burning crusade, railroads, and lotr(even tho that might suck due to no pvp)
holla at me if i'm wrong, always lookin for a fun game.
It's better be hated for who you are, than loved for who you aren't.
Yup, theyve had a few free trials now, ive given it a look at least twice now.
BUT BE VERY CAREFUL,they tend to do their trials so that IF you dont cancel the trial before it ends,you get billed for a month of the game.
I think the game had great promise.As it stand last time i played it though,newbs are just "free kills" for the experienced.
Experience gets you equipment.The more experience you have, the better equipment (tanks, aircraft, etc..) you can use .
As a new player you will find yourself getting slaughtered regularly by things you stand NO chance against.The players who have access to the best gear, far outnumbered the new players last time i played.This has the odd effect of making the battles extremely tank and aircraft oriented,far more than you'd expect in a game shooting for realism / a simulation.Tanks often outnumber infrantry by 2 to 1 or greater.
Add in travel time to this situation, and you can spend 20 minutes running to the battle only to get slaughtered by something you cant even see, or hurt if you could see it,just before you get to the site of the battle.
That said,once you get used to the game,it can be great fun.As a newb, just dont expect very many "fair" fights for quite sometime.
I remember when this game came out, they had no trials, you either buy or dont try it.....one time they had a beta thing to be in the opposing army to get to play, that was back in '03 i think, maybe '02.....
trial specials won't bring that many people in...
Before I started playing in May 2004, I had taken part in free trials in Feb 2002 and in July 2003. Inbetween the time of 2002 and 2004 I had also been invited to many 'Welcome back soldier trials' (I did not take up these offers).
After joining for good I have seen numerous trial offers in various places, so they have been offering free trials over the years.
Also, besides the MMORPG, there is another free trial running since March of this year and due to end in January 2007. (Directly from https://secure.wwiionline.com/scripts/wwiionline/user/promo.jsps;jsessionid=915B6C45DCA2DA6860A6EC06021464D4.2?pid=20). - so in effect there has been a 2 week trial offer ongoing for the last 6 months.
I guess most people do not know about these offers as CRS is a small company.
Gonna pop in here for a personal review .
I was there at the begininng and still here and granted it was a frustrating time but like some we seen the poential of what the RATs was putting together and stuck with it.
What the game is now is definantly nothing to what it was...even that of a year ago, its a whole differnt game.
Sound...between the ambiant sounds and that of the unit types you get the feel of imersion of the action going on around you...if you have surround sound, well expect the neighbors to come calling on what war movie your listening watching
Graphics...The improvments to the game on graphics can be viewed by the various updated screenshots, and once again it is vastly improved and for those who take FPS hits you can tweak thingswithin the settings to improve performance...now its not your eyecandy MOH or other due to the vastness of the game and the amount of players within one area (which would kill your frames) but overall I am sure yu would be quite pleased.
Unit Types...The Rats have over the years expanded the unit choices..and they continue to do so but at slower than usual player expectation...but when new unit types are brought in...you can bet there is really no other game out there that models accuracy to that specific unit type for playability and damage... you want a simulation..well ww2online provides that for you.
Game World...between the countless miles of Western Europe modeled at I believe half scale and the new terrain look and weather states you can enjoy the work that has been put in and to think that just a mile up the road or over that hill to your front there are possibly a 100 players battling it out that you will soon be joiningg, while 50 miles to the north the same thing is going on.
Player Run High Commands...I had the opportunity to work up to the level of Commander in Chief of all Allied Forces...that meant the descisions myself and staff made could and would directly impact players ( Thousands).The HCs are a player run organization that is a intrical part of the game to help organize lead and support the sides they represent....from a squad or brigade attack up to 100s of players on a Corps level attack. The HCs have improved greatly over the years and are still improving..but one thing to keep in mind is that they are player run and its the support of the community and the HCs to the players that make for good or bad days, and one of the coolthings also is you dont have to be a HC affiliated player or squad to enjoy the game.
I can go on for awhile but will cut this short...
The game has improved 100% and continues to get even better, its not all cookies and cream and it does have a high learning curve especialy for those who wish to understand all the dynamics on how things run...but also even as a casual gamer who enjoys FPS games..there is still fun to be had.
Dont be to quick to judge...get ingame for the 30 days..hook up with a squad and or brigade and really take the time to see what this game brings to enjoyment and even frustration
Lexfire , Allied Strike Team CO ArFr V Corps 14e Para Brigade
WWIIONLINE -
Biggest land mass in the history of gaming to play on= Endless replay value
No real benifits from being a 5 year 20 hour a day player other than experiance .........(once ya play the game and get a tiny bit of rank the only thing seperating you from a 5 year player is experiance)
You can after maybe a few days of playing hang with compete and............. BEAT players that been playing 5 years
Try that in warcraft to understand what I mean
No crosshairs and no bunny hopping .......just skill experiance and a lil luck determines who wins
Game has its boring moments and or frustrating moments doesnt every game
This is the little company putting out a big game ........like ive said earlier the biggest ......wanna put the nay sayers to rest .......
Name ONE first person shooter that makes is playerbase PAY to play that has been around longer than this game (5+years now and counting) ?
Ya really cant ...........
The fact is this game is allways having to live down bad press from its troubled beginings ........but its still here ......why ?..........cause its the Toughest PVP game ever created
If your sick of a powerleveled lvl 60 with gear to match ganking your lvl 20 mage try wwiionline where the only thing that determines the winner of a pvp contest is experiance ....and natural skill
If ya want to really test yourself in PVP .........against some of the meanest toughest PVP first person shooters ever created come to wwiionline
The game is constantly being changed. Taking the word of someone who played even a year ago is dubious. If you want a decent and fair run down of the game features wikipedia as pretty good article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Online
In my opinion, this trial is being held just BEFORE the game lives up to it's potential. But, these trials are arranged months in advance, and they thought they would be an a sligtly diferent position than they are now.
The Newest features to make it into the game are a New look and feel that replaces the inapropriate sunny spring days with a bleaker look, gets rid of some of the worst graphics placeholders they had left (though not all), added persistant hulks of destroyed vehicles, and weather.
yes, that was all in one patch.
Look, its a particular type of game. If the idea recreation of WWII with realistic vehicles at realistic engagement distances and a map of size of belgium makes you creme your pants, then it may become the only game you play (for many players it is).
If you don't get why that would be fun, don't try it. We don't need anymore 13 year old twitch monkeys going around and bad mounthing it as if they know something about anything.
This is without question the best game ever made. It isnt the prettiest and it isnt easy on the computer but I have been playing for almost two years and can honesty say I will continue to play until it is gone. The scope and sense of purpose is unmatched by anything else I have ever seen. It isnt easy to learn but get in there and join a squad to help you out. If you like war simulations this is the game for you.
Kiesel
I was playing this game the day it was released. It isn't even possible to compare the current game build to that version. If you haven't seen the game in the past year or so, don't pretend to know what your talking about. Just go try it out. That's the ONLY way to put to rest any questions or speculation on what YOU THINK the game environment is like.
I played from June 10, 2001 - the summer of 2004. I then left, frustrated that some of the features promised were not delivered on. But lets face it, nothing is ever what we all want it to be. I returned on a free trial (yes, I gave my credit card, and NO I was not charged till AFTER the free trial). I've been playing 30 hours/week since. I came back because WW2 Online offers the most REALISTIC representation of WW2 warfare I have ever seen. NOTHING comes close, NOTHING. My gaming days take me all the way back to my Atari 400, so if it was invented, I probably played it.
No other game in the history of online gaming has even come close to the gaming expereince you get in WW2 Online. Here, you have to fear death. You can't just go charging into a building and expect to bunny hop off the walls to evade fire. You have to think, be aware of your surroundings, toss a grenade through the door, then go around the other side and whack the poor fool as he's bleeding out on the floor.
One feature that is touted as unique is also it's biggest downfall. The 1/2 scale world. By most community estimates CRS has anywhere from 10,000-15,000 subscribers. Of course, it's rare all of them are in game. Hence, for years, it was difficult to find a "large engagement" to fight in. That's changed a bit, with brigades. Now, fights are more concentrated and it's easier to find a meaningful battle. The 1/2 scale world is great. But there aren't enough gamers playing at once to take advantage of it to the point it's actually a "positive selling point" in my opinion.
What's most unique about the game? Everything that is used by a player in the game, is modelled in such precise detail, it performs as if it would perform in real life. THAT in itself makes it unique.
Finally I'd rate the game a 8.3 out of 10. Why? Because there is NOTHING to compare it too on the market. You would be comparing apples to oranges if you attempted to do so. The only TRUE way to rate it is to participate in a free trial. Believe me, there isn't some big conspiracy to trick you out into putting in your credit card. CRS is not the only company that requires it, either. So, if your looking for something DIFFERENT, this is it. Once you get past the graphics, (some never will) and adjust to the gameplay (bunny hoppers need not apply - you'll be LOST) you'll see why it's the only game in it's particular class.
It is worth the $15 bones a month I pay.
Signed,
Capt. Giggyboo
www.whitefalcons.com
Battleground Europe (world war 2 online) has to be the most mentally, emotionally & challenging online games i have ever played and i have played a few (much to my wifes dismay
.
It's going through a transitional phase at the moment (new graphics engine being worked on) as it does look dated but since when has graphics ever made the game? If you want a realistic world war 2 simulator and you are prepared to put the time in to learn the game then take a look.
If you feel that in a past life you were a general take a look, join the high command and control the flow and tide of battles, change the logistics to suit the war. Rally your troops and lead them to victory!
If you're bored with playing fps games that rely solely on reflex conditioning rather than cunning this could well be the game for you.
Also if you're bored clicking a skill box and letting your sword of prodding (str +5) do all the work then this more realtime game could be your answer.
If you like your planes to stall, loose wings, overheat, crash and burn or you maybe prefer the idea of hitting the enemy production factories hundreds of miles away 20 thousand feet above their manufacturing heartlands then take a look here. Fly me 109's, spitfires, blenhiems, JU's.
If you wonder how, deadly, cloustraphobic, powerfull, vunerable and dependent on ground troops tanks from the world war 2 era were you really want to play this game, drive legendary tanks such as the Sherman A2M2,Tiger, Churchill 2, Matilda, 4G or shoot unseen in an M10 or STUG.
A lot of love has gone into this game and it's scope is truly astonishing. Something for everyone here.
I was looking for a good tank sim and there really are not that many out there. This one is the BEST tank simulator I've ever played.
People complain that the theatre is too big, or that playing as infantry is tough - WHO CARES! This game is a tankers wet dream:
-lots of room to drive around and a persistent 24/7 game world
-lots of cool tanks, fully modled with functioning components you can damage
-lots of infantry to mow down :-) (myself, I like shooting trucks full of doods)
-aircraft piloted by humans that hunt for you, and anti-tank guns too
I know people dont consider this a tank sim since it has planes, ships and infantry too, but really, you wont find a better tanking experience online.
Trout
So far this game has taken 154,347 minutes out of my life, and I only consider 3 or 4 of them wasted.
If you have any intrest in WWII then this is the only game you need to play. Yes, it's hard, but that makes it all the sweeter when you finally gain the skills to play it. If you've got the guts and the tenacity, you'll love it. If not, you can always go back to playing WoW.
It's an awesome feeling to travel in a column of 20 tanks and deploy for an attack. It's a great feeling when you spend 10 minutes working around the flank of an enemy and blast him in the flank or rear, where his armor is weak. It's a scary feeling to be defending a town with your ATG when you see a dozen enemy tanks crest the hill in front of you....
This is the best PvP game out there.
I just spent the last 4 months playing this game. I have had to unsub due to personal reasons but I assure you I will be returning. As a gamer and a combat veteran I can honestly say there is no better game out there. Tired of playing repetitive maps and not feeling you have accomplished anything? The only time you will see a reset is when somebody wins. Ive seen it take 20 days and i've seen it take 90 days. Keep in mind that it takes a good month to really learn the game and continually learn for your entire career. You cany just jump into a plane and zoom off like some arcade flik. It takes real skill to be a good pilot.
Alot of new players are frustrated by infantry being confined to the simple rifleman at first. There is good reason for this. It forces you to practice good marksmanship skills and learn to manuever properly. Also it can be frustrating joining mid campaign due to higher ranked players having more powerful armored vehicles. You just learn to sneak behind them to hit their weak points. It is a good feeling to destroy a tank with a puny armored scout car. It is not hard to gain enough rank to use more advanced equipment. There are also alot of players who are willing to help you learn the game and the quickest ways to gain rank. After the 6th rank there is not much need to rank up anymore.
If naval battles are your taste imagine being part of a battle with mutiple battleships, troop transports and gunboats battling it out on the high seas, all the while fighters and bombers are trying to sink them from above.
This game requires some patience but the rewards are great. It is a unique experience to see the buildings in your city reduced to rubble and be pinned down inside a bunker while bombs are dropping, tanks are pounding the walls and enemy infantry are rushing the door.
This game utilizes a supply system. Gone are the days of dying and respawning endlessly. If you die your rifle, tank, ship or plane is lost. In no other game can you fly to 30,000 feet and adjust your bomb sights to destroy enemy factories, then have it impact the enemy's abiltiy to produce weaponry. Keep the factories shut down and they cannot upgrade their equipment.
Help the cause by participating in resupply convoys and pray the enemy isn't laying in ambush, or set your own ambush to ensure those new tanks will never make it to battle. Climb aboard a C47 as a paratrooper and be a part of an airborne invasion. Enroll in Officer Candidate School and see if you have what it takes to lead the troops in combat. Be a lone sniper on a hill and pick off the enemy one by one, or join a squad and engage in coordinated attacks. There is no end to the possibilities in this game, not to mention the absence of haxors.
Go to www.youtube.com and check out some of the videos players have created of their ingame experiences, just search battleground europe. If you are looking for a game with substance instead of mindless hack-n-slash or bunnyhopping aimbot toting crybabies this game is definitely worth your while.
if you are interested visit my squad at http://clik.to/lrat please excuse the crappy website I havent had time yet to make something good. You can say hello in the security clearance section of our forums but the entire content is protected due to our specialized tactics we have developed. This might seem silly but in this unbelievable game, operational security actually matters.
I've been playing this game since the minute it became live. (June 6th 2001). I still play about 20-30 hours a week.
It started as a horrible mess with lots of potential. Now it is vastly improved.
WW2Online suffers from bad press by those that tried it a long time ago and those who don't have the skill or patience to give it some time. It also suffers from the fact that if you don't try and find a squad early in the learning process you miss about 75% of what the game has to offer.
The thing that I love about it is there are a ton of different options of what to play. Air, tanks, anti-tank weapons, infantry, navy and a strong strategic element once you get involved in the game. I also love the fact that the campaigns are 100% dynamic and 24/7
So many games out there with little or no team work, but this game requires teamwork to be successful and that is why joining a squad and using teamspeak is so critical for the enjoyment of the game.
Not a huge download, right now its free for a while. Give it a shot and try to run with a squad for your time in game. You'll learn about 5x faster using Teamspeak and running with a squad. You'll also rank up to get the better equipment about 5x faster.
Hope to see ya there.
S!
Ken "KC23" Cook
The bottom line is this game may not be for everyone. If you prefer to fight small fast skirmishes to rank #1 in scores, or battle AI monsters to get uber armor and weapons to cherish, then this game may not appeal to you. During breaks I take from this game (explained below), I play other MMO's and map conquest games and enjoy them for what they are.
But if you also enjoy combat sims and are intersted in the history of World War 2, then this game has a lot to offer.
When you log in, you are entering a virtual online war. Point blank.
It's not a 10 minute map of capture the flag, nor a PvP battle where you're waxed by the Lvl60 dark Elf wizard before you even draw your sword. Even a day one Recruit can win over a 4 year ranking 4 star General vetern. I've done it, so can you.
The game does have stats, so you can see where you stand in the Top 100 and rank against the other players as you climb to the top. Player skill, patience, tactics and learning the strengths and weaknesses of the units is what makes the game great. LUCK plays a good part too at times.
Having played the game for almost 2 years, one thing I can say is that this is the only game where I've experienced "virtual" combat fatigue and NOT boredom. When that happens, I'll go off and play a few offline games or spend some time in other MMO's for a few days, and then I come back refreshed and ready to take the fight to the enemy again!
The visuals and audio in the game are more than enough to bring you into the virtual battlefield. I'll agree they are not as "grandure" as some other WW2 FPS games I play, but in honest comparrison, the shear scale of the game and the limitations of computers and the internet are major limiting factors as to why Battleground Europe/WW2OL isn't all cutting edge eye candy.
You'll learn to tell just by sound if a unit of friend or foe from engine noises and gunfire. However, footsteps sound the same! Are they the enemy's trying to get up behind you? Or a fellow soldier approaching your position? Get your weapon ready! Spot him before he spots you and BAM!
You can tell from a distance if the plane above you is a Bf-110, a Me-109 or a Spitfire or DB-7 bomber. But you'll have to get closer to tell if it's a Me-109E or 109F if you're playing Allied. If you are flying a Spitfire Mk1, and you encounter a Me-109f, then your pilot skills versus his skills are going to make a big difference!
All of this is what adds to the tension and excitement of the game.
A campaign in this game can last well over a month as both sides manuver and fight for an advantage as the better equipment enters the battlefield in Tier levels. New players won't be getting pawned by vets driving Tiger tanks just because of their rank in the first weeks of a new war. Entering the game for the first time once a campaign has been going on for a while can be very daunting to a new player, and still even the recruit level of equipment can be deadly if used right and you'll find yourself climbing in rank.
But as with every game, there are the ups and down. If you truely enjoy the game and have fun, you deal with the rises and falls.
The war rages on 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You can even check the state of the map online at the website and get a 24 to 1 hour playback of how the battlefront is moving. Eventually, one side will win and one side will lose. It's like the Superbowl or World Cup online. Root for your team and get in there and fight to make a difference!
I personally prefer to choose a side at the start of a new campaign and play on that same side til the end, win or lose. There isn't a campaign sidelock, so if you prefer to play Axis and then Allied, you can. It helps to get a feel for all the equipment in the game especially when you are first starting. And there is a lot of equipment to learn. Infantry units, tanks, planes, ships... you'll develope your own style of tactics and combat by learning what's best to use in a current situation as the battlefield sways to and fro.
There are a great people in the game and squads you can join. So if you're looking for a great game that is more than a quick map conquest or about having max levels and the +10 Sword of the Gods, come check it out
This won't be the right game for some of you.
It's a game starting from the actual situation in May, 1940, and progressing toward availability of mid-late-war weapons. There's a *lot* more to understand than there is in the typical fantasy shooter.
It's a combined-arms game. Those who only want to fly, for instance, may have other game-options that are less complex and don't involve ground targets that hide in cover and are highly motivated to bait you into a flak trap or call in their own air support.
The gameplay learning curve seems nearly vertical for new players, with all of the different realistically modeled infantry weapons, armored vehicles, towed guns, aircraft, etc. There's no way that a new player can just jump in and be instantly effective. Some people might find that frustrating.
This is PvP. Not everyone wants to fight against opponents that are as variable and unpredictable combat-skills-wise as other human players. It can be hard on the ego, if you think you're pretty good. And, everyone has those occasional WTH moments, when suddenly you're dead and you don't know whether it was your mistake or just bad luck. Of course, unlike real wars, you get more than one life.
Lots of players will have to un-learn how they might play an ordinary shooter. This is definitely not the kind of game where you want to be bold and blast away...unless you want to end up dead at the hands of an opponent who was looking for that kind of easy kill. This game, like real life, rewards soldiers who think before they act.
It needs a pretty good computer. Lots of gamers will be OK on that, of course, but not all.
It's best experienced as a team game. It's fairly difficult to accomplish much on a solo basis, other than dying. You need to fight with a mission group, with effective communications, group tactics, actual planning and leadership.
Not everyone wants a game where the developers have been working continuously for five years to improve the immersiveness of the combat experience. Infantry missions in WWIIOL can get pretty intense.
Nothing about WWIIOL is ever "finished". Unlike most other games, this development team works on this game full time. There's no plan to stop that. So everything about the game is subject to eventual evolution toward more immersiveness, more realistic complications, more need for teamwork and leadership, more modeled weapons and equipment. And that means a constant need to review how to accomplish soldiers' tasks most effectively.
Oh, and the earlier comments about "mostly tanks and planes"...those comments are maybe a bit uninformed. Yes, it's a great tanks-and-heavy-weapons simulation, and an excellent air-warfare sim with actual strategic goals that affect hundreds of other players. But, the great majority of players play infantry.
WWIIOL is bad for your health.
In no other game has my heart beat so hard that it has threatened to leap from chest. Excessive sweating and shaking aren't much uncommon either! Other games feel pointless and empty when compared. No other game has ever even come close to giving me an adrenaline rush the way WWIIOL does.
It's a great game. It can be fustrating at times, and i threaten to unsub on a regular basis, but i have yet to really go through with it. I simply cannot find anything else to give me the same fix that i get from this game. Development is at a snails pace, but it is always there. The dev team has provided constant support and ongoing development since the game was born 5 years ago, which is a lot more than most other game companies offer! The community is great to be a part of, even though we are often at each other's throats
Every Christmas there is a present from the development team in the form of some new unit (ie. sniper, paratrooper) we can use ingame. It is a very special and unique community to be a part of. Newbies need not be afraid! Yes the learning curve is steep and the game WILL be hard as you learn, however all green tags (newbies have their names in green) are well looked after by the veteran players. Most squads will snap up and look after most green tag players anyway. Playing in a squad is by far the easiest way to learn.
But To be quite honest the game isn't for everyone. It is really quite hardcore. All weapons are modelled to behave realistically and all munitions comply to complex physics calculations! There are no "hitpoints" or accumulative damage. Teamwork and tactics are essential if you want to survive on the battlefield. So if you are into elves and faries or plasma guns, pulse rifles and monsters, then this game may not be your cup of tea. However, if you like a challenge, if you want realism, tactics and teamwork on a grand scale, if you want a WAR, then you need look no further than WWIIOL.
I look forward to seeing some of you on the battlefield.
S!
lapp